THE LAST GALLEY

Impressions and Tales

 (co) London: Smith, Elder and Co., 26 Apr 1911, vi+2+298pp(14)pp,

ill. N. C. Wyeth (title & frontispiece, p ii), H. Rountree (1+ frontispiece, between 272-273);

  • Preface, v-vi

    I have written "Impressions and Tales" upon the title-page of this volume, because I have included within the same cover two styles of work which present an essential difference. The second half of the collection consists of eight stories, which explain themselves. The first half is made up of a series of pictures of the past which maybe regarded as trial flights towards a larger ideal which I have long had in my mind. It has seemed to me that there is a region between actual story and actual history which has never been adequately exploited. I could imagine, for example, a work dealing with some great historical epoch, and finding its interest not in the happenings to particular individuals, their adventures and their loves, but in the fascination of the actual facts of history themselves. These facts might be coloured with the glamour which the writer of fiction can give, and fictitious characters and conversations might illustrate them; but none the less the actual drama of history and not the drama of invention should claim the attention of the reader. I have been tempted sometimes to try the effect upon a larger scale; but meanwhile these short sketches, portraying various crises in the story of the human race, are to be judged as experiments in that direction.

    ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

    WINDLESHAM, CROWBOROUGH, April, 1911.

I

  1. The Last Galley 3-14

  2. The Contest 15-25

  3. Through the Veil 26-33

  4. An Iconoclast 34-44

  5. Giant Maximin 45-67

    1. The Coming of Maximin 45-54

    2. The Rise of Giant Maximin 55-62

    3. The Fall of Maximin 62-67

  6. The Coming of the Huns 68-83

  7. The Last of the Legions 84-93

  8. The First Cargo 94-104

  9. The Homecoming 105-123

  10. The Red Star 124-136

II

  1. The Silver Mirror 139-153

  2. The Blighting of Sharkey 154-172

  3. The Marriage of the Brigadier 173-186

  4. The Lord of Falconbridge 187-222

  5. Out of the Running 223-244

  6. "De Profundis" 245-259

  7. The Great Brown-Pericord Motor 260-272

  8. The Terror of Blue John Gap 273-298

 

The Last Galley. Tales and Impressions, (co)

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 20 Jun 1911, xii+321(3)pp,

ill. N. C. Wyeth, H. Rountree;