(#170421) "LA BELLA" AND OTHERS. BEING CERTAIN STORIES RECOLLECTED. Egerton Castle, and Agnes Castle.

"LA BELLA" AND OTHERS. BEING CERTAIN STORIES RECOLLECTED. London, Paris & Melbourne: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1892. Octavo, pp. [i-v] vi [vii-viii] [9-11] 12-320, rebound in quarter leather and marbled boards. First edition. "A collection of eight short stories, some reprinted from popular periodicals of the day such as CORNHILL and TEMPLE BAR. Most are melodramatic adventure stories involving European and Russian nobility engaged in various intrigues characterized by love affairs, duels, and murders. Two of the stories are weird tales. In 'The "Son of Chaos",' Rob Brodie, a disgruntled medical student and researcher, interested in alchemy, attempts to transmute inert matter into organic life using a combination of musical vibrations, sunlight, and mirrors, with hideous results. In 'Master Huldebrand,' a Bavarian court capellmeister falls in love with the princess to whom he gives music lessons and is later compelled to play a concert in honor of her upcoming wedding to an archduke. Huldebrand's beautiful, sad music literally kills the princess, who has also fallen in love with him. Her death drives him insane, confined to a lunatic asylum where he believes he is a Church bell endlessly tolling the princess's death. While the first half of "Master Huldebrand" is overlong and slightly tedious, the second half is a very well-done tale of madness and musical horror" (Boyd White). Leather rubbed, a sound reading copy. (#170421).

Price: $100.00

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