Vathek

First published in English in 1786, this tale follows Vathek, a caliph of the Abbasid line whose eye can kill and whose hunger for knowledge and sensation is boundless. With his sorceress mother Carathis he bargains with a Giaour for the treasures of the pre-Adamite sultans, and he travels from Samarah toward Istakhar, committing crimes along the way, including the sacrifice of fifty children. He takes the innocent Nouronihar from her betrothed. The narrative is an Oriental Gothic quest toward subterranean palaces of forbidden knowledge. It is a short romance of appetite and damnation, not a history of the caliphate.

Quarter bound in black cloth, multicoloured patterned paper boards designed by Bawden. Brown slipcase.