Uncaptioned first page of thirteenth installment (Chapters 31-32) by John McLenan for Bulwer-Lytton "A Strange Story" in "Harper's Weekly" (2 November 1861)

Uncaptioned headnote vignette on first page of thirteenth installment (Chapters 31-32)

John McLenan

1861

Wood engraving

11 cm. by 5.5 cm. (4 ⅜ inches by 4 ⅛ inches)

Bulwer-Lytton's A Strange Story

Harper's Weekly 5 (2 November 1861): 702.

Image scan and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated in the Vignette: The Child at the Grave

Halting opposite Margrave he uttered some words in a language unknown to me, and stretched one hand over the young man’s head. Margrave at once became stiff and rigid, as if turned to stone. Sir Philip said to me:

“Place one of those lamps on the floor, — there, by his feet.”

I took down one of the coloured lamps from the mimic tree round which the huge anaconda coiled its spires, and placed it as I was told.

“Take the seat opposite to him, and watch.”

I obeyed.

Meanwhile, Sir Philip had drawn from his breast-pocket a small steel casket, and I observed, as he opened it, that the interior was subdivided into several compartments, each with its separate lid; from one of these he took and sprinkled over the flame of the lamp a few grains of a powder, colourless and sparkling as diamond dust. In a second or so, a delicate perfume, wholly unfamiliar to my sense, rose from the lamp.

“You would test the condition of trance; test it, and in the spirit.” [Chapter XXXII, p. 702 N. B. This headnote vignette appears at the head of Chapter XXXI in the serial, but is positioned realising the text in volume at the head of Chapter XXXII.]

Commentary: Sir Philip Derval has an interview with Margrave in the natural history room

The story hinges upon a number of plot secrets, all of which Bulwer establishes in this thirteenth weekly instalment (2 November 1861). The mainspring of the plot is sprung when two new characters arrive in L —: the English traveller from the Middle East, Sir Philip Derval, student of white magic under Haroun of Aleppo, through whom he acquired the secret of the Elixir of Life; and the enigmatic young Margrave, who is in fact the ruthless Louis Grayle (the murderer of Haroun) in disguise. Margrave will murder Derval, and then cast the blame on Fenwick. The reader will have a difficult time accepting the fact that the blithe, handsome Margrave is, in fact, the dour Louis Grayle. Trapped in the natural history room with only Fenwick and Derval, Margrave clearly fears the old traveller (in the headnote vignette, surrounded by mysterious smoke) as he "shrinks back into his seat, shrinking, collapsing, nerveless" (702).

Bibliography

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly V, 10 August — 8 March 1862.

Bulwer Lytton, Edward (Lord Lytton). A Strange Story. The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Vol. VII. New York: P. F. Collier, n. d. Pp. 7-242.

Created 21 November 2007

Last modified 26 June 2026