One of the best examples of cursed-antique literature, which would influence M. R. James and his Cambridge set along with many writers of the early-twentieth century periodicals and pulp magazines. Told in an impressively timeless-feeling epistolary form as the tale wends from coming-of-age tale towards occult, pagan weirdness.
21st October 2025
Paperback
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Summary
One of the best examples of cursed-antique literature, which would influence M. R. James and his Cambridge set along with many writers of the early-twentieth century periodicals and pulp magazines. Told in an impressively timeless-feeling epistolary form as the tale wends from coming-of-age tale towards occult, pagan weirdness.
Description
The discovery of a beautiful Stradivarius violin in a hidden cupboard at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, appears to be a stroke of good fortune for music student John Maltravers. But there is something sinister in the violin's history something corrupt which threatens to re-emerge as the bewitched Maltravers plays and replays a devilish tune he is powerless to resist. First published in 1895, The Lost Stradivarius has garnered a revered status as a true classic of strange fiction, described by the famed critic E. F. Bleiler as the novel M. R. James might have written, had he written novels.
About the Author
John Meade Falkner (18581932) was an English novelist, poet and businessman, best known for his legendary smuggling novel Moonfleet (1898), one of only three novels he wrote alongside The Lost Stradivarius and The Nebuly Coat. He was a polymath with an interest in the arcane and antiquarian finds, in his time becoming a prominent rare book collector. Alongside his fiction he wrote a number of regional guidebooks, including a Handbook for Travellers in Oxfordshire (1894).
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21st October 2025
