Book covers, Panther 1975 edition, Arthur Machen: Tales of Horror and the Supernatural, volumes 1 & 2
“I have told you that I was of sceptical habit; but though I understood little or nothing, I began to dread, vainly proposing to myself the iterated dogmas of science that all life is material, and that in the system of things there is no undiscovered land, even beyond the remotest stars, where the supernatural can find a footing. Yet there struck in on this the thought that matter is as really awful and unknown as spirit, that science itself merely dallies on the threshold, scarcely gaining more than a glimpse of the wonders of the inner place.”
- Arthur Machen, 1895, from the story ‘The Novel of the Black Seal’
Arthur Machen, born Arthur Llewelyn Jones in Gwent, Wales, 1863, was an interesting character. His short story 'The Bowmen', mistaken for an actual occurrence during a WWI battle, was responsible for the Angels of Mons episode.
Another quote of his has haunted this website for some time: "But at the last, what do we know?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Machen
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