Theophile Gautier's gothic tale of a man's magical adventures when he serendipitously walks into a Parisian curiosity shoppe to purchase a bauble, and becomes owner of a 3,000 year-old ancient Egyptian princess' mummified foot.
William Wirt Sikes (1836-1883) was a writer and journalist who was appointed to the U.S. Counsel at Cardiff, Wales in 1876. It was there that he undertook the studying and preservation of Welsh folkore and history. He is said to have employed as many as thirty pen names during his writing life.