Produced by Robert Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Some Opinions of the Press on the First Edition of this Work. ---------- “The beauty of ‘Thoth’ is that you never have the faintest idea what will happen next. This is the glory of romance, to keep up the reader’s curiosity from page to page.... But what could hardly be bettered is the veiled yet awful picture of the women, the mothers of the ruling race in this wonderful city.... The central and vivifying idea is, to us, absolutely novel.”—_Saturday Review_. “‘Thoth’ has imagination, delicacy, and finish.”—_Athenæum_. “It is admirably written, many of its passages are not likely to be forgotten.”—_Graphic_. “‘Thoth’ is a weird and mysterious romance, manifesting unusual literary skill, and displaying no small amount of imagination.” —_Academy_. “Very curious and notable little book.”—_Daily News_. “The story is one of great power and of the highest imagination.... One of the cleverest things of the day.”—_Glasgow Herald_. “An excellent romance, strongly imagined, and worked out with praiseworthy delicacy and skill.”—_Scotsman_. “The book is full of imaginative beauty of a rare order.”—_Leeds Mercury_. “The tale is told with such a wealth of imagination and power of graphic description, that it is not only possible to take a lively interest in the fortunes of the heroine, but even difficult to cease following them till the last page is reached.”—_Guardian_. ---------- WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THOTH _A ROMANCE_ [Illustration] THIRD EDITION WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXXIX _All Rights reserved_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. ---------- I gladly avail myself of this occasion to thank my critics for the very friendly reception they have accorded to a book which was issued, in the fullest meaning of the term, anonymously—that is to say, even without the knowledge of a single personal friend. At the same time, I wish to make an explanation which is partly of the nature of a protest.