(description) 

Author: William Beckford.
Title: VATHEK Translated from The Original French.
Publisher: London, Geroge Clarke, 1832. Fifth Edition (stated).
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5 " X 5 ".
Pages: 284 pages.
Binding: Very good half morocco leather binding, finely bound by R. Wallis binder (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean - as shown, ex-libris of Edward Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville on the first endpaper - as shown).

The book: Rare and beautiful edition of VATHEK, a gothic novel penned by William Beckford. This 1832 edition, published by George Clarke and bound in half morocco by Wallis Bindery, is a testament to the lasting appeal of this masterpiece of gothic literature.

The author: William Beckford (1760-1844) was an English novelist, a profligate and consummately knowledgeable art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometime politician, reputed at one stage in his life to be the richest commoner in England. His fame rests on his Gothic novel Vathek and his construction of the remarkable lost Fonthill Abbey and Lansdown Tower (Beckford's Tower), Bath.