Lost Stradivarius

The discovery of a beautiful Stradivarius violin in a hidden cupboard at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, appears to be a stroke of good fortune for music student John Maltravers. But there is something sinister in the violin's history--something corrupt that threatens to re-emerge as the bewitched Maltravers plays and replays a devilish tune he is powerless to resist.

First published in 1895, The Lost Stradivarius has garnered a revered status as a true classic of strange fiction, described by the famed critic E. F. Bleiler as the novel M. R. James might have written, had he written novels.

About the author

John Meade Falkner (1858-1932) was an English novelist, poet and businessman, best known for his legendary smuggling novel Moonfleet (1898), one of only three novels he wrote alongside The Lost Stradivarius and The Nebuly Coat. A polymath with fascination for the arcane and antiquarian, Falkner became a prominent rare book collector. Alongside his fiction, he authored a number of regional guidebooks, including a Handbook for Travellers in Oxfordshire (1894).

Product details

• Authors: J. Meade Falkner, Falkner J. Meade
• Assisted by: Ashley Mike (Introduction)
• Publisher: British Library
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 24.07.2025
• EAN: 9780712355384
• ISBN: 978-0-7123-5538-4
• No. of pages: 240
• Series: British Library Tales of the Weird
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Guides; Classic fiction (pre c 1945), FICTION / Ghost, FICTION / Occult & Supernatural, FICTION / Gothic, Occult fiction, Classic horror & ghost stories, Classic horror and ghost stories, FICTION / Horror / General