“The Traveller’s Story of a Terribly Strange Bed” by Wilkie Collins #GBSS12/27

“The Traveller’s Story of a Terribly Strange Bed” by Wilkie Collins 

Number 12 of 27 Great British Short Stories 

Premise: Someone wins a lot of money gambling, but there’s a catch

Wikipedia page here

Review: Fun, overwrought etc

Outa ten: 8

Keywords: Paris, crime

Quotes: none

Words: 

Valance – A bed valance, or bed skirt, is a decorative piece of fabric that wraps around the bottom of your bed, concealing the space between the mattress and the floor.

Dimity – Dimity is a collective term for figured cloths of harness loom decorated with designs and patterns. It is a strong cotton cloth with various stripes and illustrations. Dimity is bleached or washed after looming, less often dyed—unlike fustian, which is usually dyed.

Entresol – a low storey between the ground floor and the first floor of a building; a mezzanine floor.

Look up: La Maistre, Voyage autor de ma Chambre” A Journey Around My Room (originally published in French as Voyage autour de ma chambre) is a 1794 book by Xavier de Maistre. It was written to stave off boredom whilst the author was serving a 42-day sentence of confinement to his room for participating in an illegal duel. The book is written in the style of a travelogue and discusses the contents and furniture of his room as well as imaginary situations and dialogues. The theme of the work is that pleasure can be found in one’s everyday surroundings. At the end of the work he notes his regret at having to return to society. The work is thought to have been first published in English in 1871. A sequel, A Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room, was published in 1825.

Copy here – https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62519/62519-h/62519-h.htm

Harz Mountains – The Harz (German: [haːɐ̯ts] ^ⓘ), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart (hill forest)

Afterlives of the story/connections to other stuff:

See the Wikipedia entry

Also, lots of good perspectives and questions here – https://www.victorianweb.org/authors/collins/pva271.html

Could probably usefully be read alongside various Edgar Allan Poe stories

Is it online? In here