Franciscus Columna / The Last Novella of Charles Nodier

Name: Franciscus Columna / The Last Novella of Charles Nodier
Author: Charles Nodier

By Charles Nodier

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French Literature

About This Book

The narrator encounters Abbot Lowrich, an eccentric bibliophile, and accompanies him to a Treviso bookseller in search of an elusive early-printed masterpiece. The shopkeeper produces a triple-wrapped folio that proves to be the coveted first edition, a discovery that unnerves Lowrich because of a prior pledge concerning the volume. The episode mixes a lively portrait of quirky, learned conversation with a keen interest in rare books, setting up comic tension around bibliographic obsession, the economics of collecting, and the abbot's imaginative but pedantic temperament.

About the Author

Charles Nodier

Charles Nodier was a French author and bibliophile, known for his contributions to the Romantic literary movement. He was born in 1780 and became a prominent figure in Parisian literary circles, where he mingled with other notable writers of his time. Nodier's works often explore themes of fantasy and the supernatural, as seen in his notable novella "Smarra ou les démons de la nuit," which reflects his fascination with dreams and the macabre. He also wrote extensively on the subject of books and collecting, as demonstrated in "The Bibliomaniac" and "The Book Collector." His literary legacy includes a rich tapestry of stories that blend the whimsical with the eerie, making him a unique voice in 19th-century literature.