Anastasius - Hardcover

by Thomas Hope (Author), John Rodenbeck (Foreword by), Jerry Nolan (Introduction by)

Here is the book that took the world by storm, and then was lost. In 1817 Thomas Hope began work on a book that was destined to astonish the West by lifting the curtain of ignorance which had encouraged enmity against the East. Hope s hero Anastasius was fearless, curious, cunning, ruthless, brave, and above all, sexy. Born the son of a respected Greek dragoman, he converted to Islam early on, a move which allowed the renamed Selim to take the reader along as he journeyed deep into the vast and dangerous Ottoman Empire. During the 35 years described in the book (1762 1798) the swashbuckling Anastasius/Selim infiltrated the deadly Wahhabis in Arabia, rode to war with the Mamelukes in Egypt and sailed the Mediterranean with the Turks. He was imprisoned, shipwrecked and hunted. He embraced lovers, killed enemies and had his heart broken forever in Trieste. In Anastasius can be found some of the most eloquently written English since Shakespeare. When completed in 1819, it was a work of such academic interest, raw excitement and descriptive power that the fabled London publisher, John Murray, released it. The first edition was an overnight sensation and the second sold out in twenty-four hours. Foreign editions quickly followed. This remarkable new edition features all three volumes together for the first time. Plus, in a series of commissioned Appendixes, an international team of academic experts have examined Hope s life, political impact and artistic legacy, the latter being a ground-breaking investigation of the famous portrait of the author depicted as a noble of the Ottoman Empire. In accordance with its academic mission, the royalties of this new edition are being donated to the National Portrait Gallery. To have discovered this book in 1819 would have opened a portal into a forbidden part of the world which the average reader could never have expected to visit. Yet open the book today and Anastasius will once again weave his enchanting tale of travel, love and war, all the while demonstrating the human harmonies still linking East and West.

Author Biography

Thomas Hope (1769-1831) was descended from a family of Scottish bankers who resided in Holland. When hostile French Revolutionary troops occupied Amsterdam in 1795, the wealthy mercantile aristrocrats relocated to London. Rather than enter the family business, this free-thinking young man of the Enlightenment used his enormous wealth to finance an eight year journey across Europe, Asia Minor and Africa. Neither missionary nor imperialist, rather an insightful traveller wise beyond his years, the cultural explorer initially recorded his impressions in more than 300 museum quality drawings. Upon returning to England, fate appeared to have defined Hopes life in a conventional, if gently artistic manner. He had married the daughter of a respected clergyman, fathered four sons, established a London home full of artistic treasures, authored celebrated works on costume and furniture and was, to all appearances, admired and respectable. Then his repressed soul reawakened with a furious and mysterious literary shout. In 1817 Hope began work on a book, Anastasius, that was destined to astonish the West by lifting the curtain of ignorance which had encouraged enmity against the East. Yet this was no mere retracing of his earlier travels. In an unexpected move, Hope created an extraordinary narrator-hero who strode upon the stage and commanded the worlds attention. Ultimately described as one of the great books of the world, Hopes Magnum Opus influenced Thackeray, Twain and Melville before falling into an undeserved obscurity. Excerpt from Anastasius - Copyright (c) 2008. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.