Showing results by author "Edwin Pugh" in All Categories

Seven strange stories of intriguing optical illusions. The Diamond Lens by Fitz James O'BrienThe Devil's Spectacles by Wilkie CollinsThe Secret of the Smoked Spectacles by William Le QueuxMy Black Mirror by Wilkie CollinsThe Man who was Blind by Edwin PughA Coincidence by A. J. AlanTitbottom’s Spectacles by George William Curtis.

Ferdinand was born blind. Now aged 25, he hears of an Italian doctor who is rumoured to be able to cure cases like his own. His family persuade the doctor to travel to England and attempt to heal his eyes.The cure is lengthy and arduous. Ferdinand must lie in a darkened room for weeks, his eyes bound up in an irritating plaster and wet bandages. The doctor is optimistic of success, but warns that any cure might only be temporary. Worse still, just as the cure is almost at an end, the doctor vanishes secretly and in great haste to another, more profitable patient in South America. Ferdinand completes the cure according to the directions left by the absent doctor and finally the day arrives for him to remove the bandages and see whether the cure has worked....

The Cockney Novelists flourished towards the end of the 19th century and spilled over into the next. They included Arthur Morrison, Edwin Pugh, William Pett Ridge and Clarence Rook. Authors being authors, they, of course, dealt with their subject matter in different ways. As a group they moved away from treating the London working classes as comedy cameos or social stereotypes.