The Lost Stradivarius

by Falkner, J. Meade | Classic horror & ghost stories
Published 24/07/2025 by British Library Publishing in the United Kingdom as part of the British Library Tales of the Weird series
Paperback | 240 pages, Illustrations
129 x 190 x 18mm | 194g

The discovery of a beautiful Stradivarius violin in a hidden cupboard at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, appears to be a stroke of good fortune for music student John Maltravers. But there is something sinister in the violin's history something corrupt which threatens to re-emerge as the bewitched Maltravers plays and replays a devilish tune he is powerless to resist.

First published in 1895, The Lost Stradivarius has garnered a revered status as a true classic of strange fiction, described by the famed critic E. F. Bleiler as the novel M. R. James might have written, had he written novels.