William Harrison Ainsworth 3 hr 56 min read

A man drinks the elixir of eternal life, and pays for his endless years with an endless, damning bargain.

William Harrison Ainsworth's 1844 Gothic romance spans centuries of London, from a Rosicrucian's tomb to a Faustian compact, following the immortal Auriol through mystery, murder, and dread. Lush, atmospheric Victorian horror from a bestselling master of the historical Gothic. Read it for a moody nineteenth-century tale of immortality and its terrible price.

In its time

Published in 1844, during the 1840s, mystery, mesmerism, and the proto-scientific tale in the age of poe and gautier.

Reading it

3 hr 56 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).

Illustrated by

Hablot Knight Browne