Innominato · the Wizard of the Mountain

A great price for the whole 'Collected Stories"!

Brianza, Lombardy, 14th Century Italy. A mysterious and solitary astrologer inhabits a magnificent castle overlooking Lake Como. The Innominato (Nameless) is known to provide advice and assistance to those in need of 'special' favours. Rumoured to be an augur, wizard and necromancer possessing immense power of unknown origin, he is spoken of with fear and respect by locals and deep suspicion by the Church:

"I don't believe it possible for any man to be endowed with knowledge such as he is reported to have, without trafficking in the powers of darkness; and I have more than once heard that the Innominato is strongly suspected of sorcery..."

Touring Europe in the 1840s the author, on reaching this small and breathtakingly beautiful corner of Italy, was intrigued by rumours of the ghost of an ancient sorcerer in the locale of a huge ruined castle. Fortuitously coming across a dead monk's collection of local lore surrounding this figure, he preserved and now presents them for your stimulation.

An array of spellbinding tales from a noted author at the height of his powers, this collection marks the eventual return of a lost classic to the ranks of Victorian horror and dark fiction. Compelling Gothic themes, exotic environs and engrossing plots are populated by a range of both pure and evil characters: decaying vampires, beautiful virgins, sinister phantoms, marauding bandits... These and more await in this collection of deliciously ghoulish and macabre stories as well as the Innominato himself: known to have made himself much beloved and yet also a man 'much dreaded for his sanguinary propensities.' Good or Evil? You decide...

The author William Gilbert (1804-90), the father of W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, became a well-known and much-respected writer after a career as a naval surgeon. A noted author of various novels and biographies, he also produced short stories for a range of magazines including Argosy. Some of these, all concerning the enigmatic wizard and astrologer, the Innominato, were collected and published in the volume The Wizard of the Mountain in 1867 now incredibly rare. These stories are now collected and reproduced in Oleander's edition Innominato - The Wizard of the Mountain and are once again available to enjoy.

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