An Ossuary of the North Lagoon: and Other Stories - Paperback

Frederick Rolfe's Rare Short Story Collection

Frederick Rolfe, writing under the pseudonym Baron Corvo, crafted seven distinctive short prose works now collected in An Ossuary of the North Lagoon: and Other Stories. While Rolfe gained recognition for his novel Hadrian the Seventh and his unconventional life, his mastery of short fiction reveals a writer with exceptional stylistic range and narrative innovation.

What's Inside This Collection

This volume assembles three Venetian narratives written during Rolfe's final years in Venice, capturing the atmospheric decay and peculiar beauty of the lagoon city. The collection also features two tales centered on the enigmatic Princess of Cinthyanum, showcasing Rolfe's ability to blend fantasy with his characteristic ornate prose style.

The opening story, "The Tattooed Wedding Ring," stands as a pioneering work of experimental fiction from the early 20th century. Its unconventional narrative structure and bold thematic choices demonstrate Rolfe's willingness to push beyond the boundaries of Edwardian literary conventions.

Literary Significance

These stories represent pseudo-biographical pieces that blur the line between Rolfe's lived experiences and his fictional imaginings. His Venetian settings draw from his intimate knowledge of the city where he spent his final, impoverished years, lending authenticity to the atmospheric details and local color that permeate these narratives.

Previously available only in scarce limited editions sought by collectors and scholars of late Victorian and Edwardian literature, this publication makes Rolfe's short fiction accessible to contemporary readers. The stories reveal a writer working at the intersection of Gothic sensibility, literary fantasy, and character-driven narrative.

About Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo)

Frederick Rolfe remains one of British literature's most eccentric figures. His adoption of the "Baron Corvo" persona reflected both his artistic pretensions and his complex relationship with identity and social status. These stories showcase the unique voice that made him a cult figure among readers who appreciate ornate prose, psychological complexity, and narratives that resist easy categorization.

Frederick Rolfe, a.k.a. Baron ­Corvo, though best known for his novel Hadrian the Seventh and his eccentric personality, was also a master of the short story, which found expression in odd pseudo-biographical pieces and unique fictions that expressed his own unique sense of style. The present ­collection contains seven of Rolfe's best short prose works: three Venetian narratives written toward the end of his life, two tales featuring the Princess of Cinthyanum, and two other peculiar tales, the first of which, 'The Tattooed Wedding Ring, ' must certainly be seen as an early example of experimental fiction. Previously confined to hard-to-find limited editions, these stories are here available for the first time to a broader public.