Vicky Van

Reproduction of the original: Vicky Van by H.G. Wells

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

Chester Calhoun lives with his sister and his aunt in a house on the upper east side, and across the street lives beautiful and mysterious society hostess Victoria Van Allen, known to her friends as Vicky Van. Vicky is a an enigma. She lives in a stunningly appointed house with a servant but no one really knows anything about her. She's vivacious and a little bit Bohemian, but entirely respectable. Vicky often hosts bridge parties for well-heeled New York socialites. One night, a wealthy millionaire is stabbed to death at one of these salons, and Vicky Van disappears before the police can be summoned.Chester is convinced that Vicky didn't do it, despite the circumstances. The police discover that the millionaire was not merely a random millionaire, but a well-known businessman with ties to Vicky's past. Fleming Stone is summoned and for once he has an assistant. Fibsy is one of the rare sidekicks who is actually allowed to figure out the solution to the mystery. The surprise twist ending is one of Carolyn Wells' best.

In the past, the books were often not merely the masterpieces of literary art but also visual artworks, valued high, thanks to the handmaid artistic hardcovers. This historical book opens the curtain of the ancient art of bookbinding, including the preparation and gilding of edges, marbling, cloth-work, and many other aspects that turn a book into a piece of visual art.

Reproduction of the original.

This work tells the love story of the royal couple against the changing background of 19th-century Germany. It looks at the differing political sympathies of the couple, revealed through letters, and re-examines the prevailing view that the domineering Vicky never bothered to conceal her distaste for everything Prussian and flaunting her sense of British superiority. In many ways ahead of her time, she was something of a pioneer feminist, refusing to accept the oft-accepted maxim that women were second-class citizens. Insufficient consideration has been given to her health and the possibility that her judgement and reason may sometimes have been affected, albeit mildly, by the family's inheritance of porphyria that led to the 'madness' of her great-grandfather George III.