"There is a feeling in the air as if it were not the end of the century, but the end of the world." -- M. E. Braddon, Thou Art the Man (1894)
The decade spanning 1890 to 1900 was one of the most exciting in the history of English-language fiction. It was the decade that gave birth to Sherlock Holmes, Dorian Gray, Dracula, and The Beetle. It also witnessed the birth of the "bestseller" as publishers abandoned ponderous and expensive three volume novels for inexpensive one volume editions, launching the careers of such writers as Marie Corelli and Hall Caine, whose books sold in the millions of copies. This exciting new series from Valancourt Books will feature a variety of forgotten popular fiction from this exciting period in literary history.
