The Sorrows of Satan (The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire) [Inspired Novels, Spring, 1965, Issue No. D-2]

Amherst, Wisconsin: Palmer Publications, 1965. White, pictorial wraps, moderate cover wear. Cover depicts painting of dramatic Victorian scene. Pages fine. Bind fine. The Sorrows of Satan relates the supreme desire of Satan to achieve salvation. This Inspired Novels edition limited to apprx. 2,000 copies of this late 19th century tale. A quarterly publication resurrecting "inspired" novels. Published by famed sci-fi author, editor and publisher of the periodical, Fate, Ray Palmer. Interestingly, Palmer also strongly supported the Shaver Mystery purporting an inhabited hollow earth. The setting is London, 1895, and the Devil is on the loose. He is searching for someone morally strong enough to resist temptation, but there seems little chance he will succeed. Britain is all but totally corrupt. The aristocracy is financially and spiritually bankrupt; church leaders no longer believe in God; Victorian idealism has been banished from literature and life; and sexual morality is being undermined by the pernicious doctrines of the "New Woman." Everything and everyone is up for sale, and it takes a special kind of moral courage to resist the Devil's seductions. One of the first modern bestsellers and was influential in establishing some of the major trends in twentieth-century bestselling fiction. Widely ignored in literary circles, The Sorrows of Satan is increasingly regarded as an influential fin de siècle text. Critics disfavoured what they termed Corelli's moralistic and prosaic style, but, it nonetheless had strong supporters in Oscar Wilde and various members of royalty. The Faustian plot follows the story of a penniless, starving author named Geoffrey Tempest. Tempest receives three letters; the second is a note from a solicitor detailing that he has inherited a fortune from a deceased relative, and, the third is an introduction from a foreign aristocrat, Lucio, who befriends and guides him in how to best use his new wealth. Tempest is blissfully unaware, despite warnings, that Lucio is the devil incarnated. Marie Corelli (1, May 1855 - 21, April 1924) was a British novelist who emerged as a literary superstar from the publication of her first novel in 1886 until World War I when her popularity waned. Corelli's novels sold more than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, and Rudyard Kipling, despite the fact critics derided her work as "the favorite of the common multitude." 264 pages. Insured post.. First Edition Thus. Soft Cover. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.