The Novel of the Black Seal

By Arthur Machen and White, Cooper

A single word, "Ishakshar", recurs like a challenge to everything scholarship claims to know. In this Gothic horror novella, Miss Lally, a young governess and secretary, becomes involved in Professor William Gregg's ethnological investigation of an ancient, possibly nonhuman race. Disappearances, strange illnesses, archaic inscriptions and the mysterious Black Seal form a disturbing body of evidence, drawing scientific rationalism towards questions it may be unable to answer. Miss Lally's first-person account is joined by Gregg's written statement, creating a framed narrative in which testimony, research and uncertainty continually reshape the mystery. Scholarly clues stand beside rural folklore, while the investigation moves from ordered domestic surroundings to the Grey Hills of Monmouthshire and their nearby communities. The contrast between documented evidence and supernatural belief gives the novella its distinctive tension: each fragment appears to promise knowledge, yet also exposes how little history and ethnology can securely explain. Beneath the inquiry lies a darker possibility-that ancient survivals may persist beyond the boundaries of accepted human knowledge. The work examines obsession, degeneration and the danger of pursuing an explanation when the available evidence threatens the assumptions used to interpret it. Its documentary structure and recurring verbal motif make the mystery feel assembled from records whose implications remain deeply unsettling. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9378417841
• ISBN13: 9789378417849
• Release Date: March 2027
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 36 Pages
• Weight: 0.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"