THE HOUSE OF MANY VOICES. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1911. Octavo, pp. [i-ii: blank] [iii-vi] vii-viii 9-313 [314: printer's imprint] [315-316: blank], title page printed in orange and black, publisher's burgundy cloth, front panel stamped in gold and ruled in blind, spine panel stamped in gold. First edition. A presentation copy with an unsigned inscription "with the author's compliments" on the verso of the half title leaf. "'The House of Many Voices,' by Mr. Bernard Capes, is a complex story of love, adventure, and villainy, combined in fairly equal proportions. Although the plot turns on two misanthropists -- Sir George Mason, a dumb-mute, and his attendant, Dr. Ravenel -- who live at Lone Priory, the background is a medieval castle owned by a baronet, who decides on signalising the Coronation of Edward VII by jousts belonging to the time of Richard II. The description of the rehearsals of this pageant remind one of the famous Eglinton Tournament. Sidney Sturge, R.A., engages a talented artist named Thorne to design the costumes. Among the principal performers is Patricia Beresford, the companion to Lady Eleanor Leagrave, who had once been engaged to Thorne, but who dismissed him on discovering that he was a card-sharper. Sir James Penney, a plucky but bantam baronet, defends her when she is charged with stealing the historic Coke diamond, and, in reward for his chivalry, obtains her hand. In the last chapter the mysteries connected with the 'House of Many Voices,' are cleared up, and in Sister Grisélides, of Le Bon Pasteur, we again meet the distressed damsel for whom the young Englishman in the Prologue found a refuge when the Franco-Prussian War was devastating the land. Mr. Bernard Capes' latest story is one which will suit all tastes, however fastidious they may be. The plot turns on a tardily-delivered letter, which is based on an incident that actually occurred during the siege of Paris" (THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW, October 1911, p. 473). Cloth rubbed at spine ends and corner tips, several small spots to cloth, inner hinges cracked, a good copy. (#171066).
Price: $250.00
No statement of printing.