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Last edited by Dominic Dela Cruz
September 27, 2010 | History

Old World Romances 4 editions

Cover of: Old World Romances by Edgar Allan Poe
About the Book

From the book:THE "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal - the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour. But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

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4 editions First published in 2004

Edition Read Borrow Buy
Cover of: Old World Romances
2004, 1st World Library
Old World Romances
Perfect Paperback in English
Cover of: Old World Romances
September 30, 2004, 1st World Library
Old World Romances
Paperback in English
Cover of: Old World Romances
July 30, 2005, 1st World Library
Old World Romances
Hardcover in English
Cover of: Old World Romances
2006, 1st World Library
Old World Romances
eBook in English

History Created October 25, 2009 · 5 revisions
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September 27, 2010 Edited by Dominic Dela Cruz merge authors
June 22, 2010 Edited by ImportBot add details from OverDrive
April 28, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Linked existing covers to the work.
February 6, 2010 Edited by WorkBot add more information to works
October 25, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page