Fantasy Pain, Barry: The One Before (illus). v1. 07 Dec 2022

[GrannyGrump]

A humorous fantasy, featuring personality types interacting on a quest plot. The motivating object is the Sahib-i-dírína, a magical ring from the Orient. It has the property of causing the wearer to assume the emotional structure (but not the personality or memory) of the previous wearer. It happens to be in the hands of an eccentric traveller and savant, Nathaniel Brookes, and it is eagerly sought after by Oriental religionists and their commercial agents in England.

Interesting, not for the somewhat slight plot line, but for the amusing character grotesques, outstanding of whom are a pair of gossiping young housemaids.
(— Everett F. Bleiler, “The Guide to Supernatural Fiction”)

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**** Available with or without the 87 illustrations by Tom Browne.

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Barry Eric Odell Pain (28 Sep. 1864 – 05 May 1928) was an English journalist, poet, humorist and writer. During his lifetime, he was perhaps best known as a writer of parody and lightly humorous stories, but now is also noted for his tales touched with fantasy, horror, and the supernatural. He also wrote stories of mystery and suspense. His humor has been characterized by some modern critics as “a surreal forerunner to Monty Python.”

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The One Before, by Barry Pain (1864–1928), illustrated by Tom Browne (1870–1910), was first published in 1902. This book is in the public domain where copyright is “Life+90” or less, and in the USA.
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