The Treasure Of Heaven, A Romance Of Riches by Corelli, Marie - 1908

Dodd, Mead & Company, NY, 1908; First Edition, second printing; 8vo, 427 pages; illustrated blue cloth; frontispiece photogravure portrait plate of the author. Victorian romantic novel by Marie Corelli (1855-1924), who strove to reconnect Christian religion with its earlier mystical antecedents, and whose personal life was the subject of frequent controversy. Special author’s preface dispelling her detractors and explaining her reluctance to Dodd Mead’s use of her portrait on the frontispiece as regrettably necessary in order to put an end to the vicious caricatures and wild speculation at the time as to what she actually looked like. Despite the attacks, Corelli remained by far the most widely read author of her time and the personal favorite of Queen Victoria. Among her intimate friends were counted the likes of Mark Twain, Ouida, Sarah Bernhardt, George Meredith, Algernon Swinburne, and the Empress Frederick of Germany, and she was the only author invited to the coronation of Edward VI. Tennyson sang her praises for "Adrath" (1889), and Henry Miller once observed, "If there is ever a revival of her work, be assured that she will be as much reviled and condemned now as she was in her lifetime. Marie Corelli makes of you either an addict or a sworn enemy." Second printing, with "temoprary" on line 25 of page 57. Fine, in beautiful Victorian binding featuring a climbing rose. Brief gift inscription to Mabell Caley in an attractive cursive hand on first blank front end paper dated Christmas, 1908. The Caleys were pioneer founders of the city of Sierra Madre, CA, where their home today is preserved as a State Landmark. A sparkling and most attractive copy.