The Black Pearl
Melbourne, George Robertson & Company, 1911 [first edition in English].
Octavo, 244 pages plus 7 plates.
Brown pictorial cloth stamped in black and white; covers a little worn and marked; spine sunned; acidic paper tanned and a little foxed; a few leaves with minor chips to the leading edge where carelessly opened; a couple of unobtrusive marks; ink ownership stamp on the front free endpaper; a few other minor signs of age and handling; a good copy.
French-born Marie Lion (1855-1922) emigrated to Australia in 1881, and settled in Adelaide in 1892. She was an artist and art teacher, and published novels under the pseudonym Noel Aimir, an anagram of her name. 'In 1910 Marie Lion wrote and published her first novel "Vers la lumière" under the pseudonym Noël Aimir, an anagram of her name. This was translated by her friend, the artist Maude Wholohan, and published in 1911 as "The Black Pearl", the only one of her three novels to have been translated into English. A semi-autobiographical work, it largely described her own experiences while staying with the eminent Stirling family of Strathalbyn' (Institute for the Study of French-Australian Relations website). Lion met Annie Besant several times in Adelaide and India, which explains the theosophical and Indian themes of the novel (despite its South Australian setting).
Item #147010
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