Marie Corelli — The Devil&Apos;S Motor a Fantasy

London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1910. Cloth. A very scarce, beautifully illustrated copy of this fantasy work by Marie Corelli Illustrated throughout with tipped-in colour plates by Arthur Severn. Designed to smell of motor oil -quite successfully. Marie Corelli (1 May 1855 – 21 April 1924) was a British novelist. She enjoyed a period of great literary success from the publication of her first novel in 1886 until World War I. Corelli's novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, and Rudyard Kipling. Corelli expressed a passion for the artist Arthur Severn, to whom she wrote daily letters from 1906 to 1917. Severn was the son of Joseph Severn and close friend to John Ruskin. In 1910, Arthur Severn and Corelli collaborated on The Devil's Motor with Severn providing illustrations for Corelli's story. In a decorative red cloth with gilt detailing. Externally generally smart, though with some marks to the spine and some light bumping. Internally, binding strained in places. Pages have some marginal age-toning and the occasional handling mark. Very Good . Ill.: Arthur Severn. Very Good .