William Thomas Beckford 
Vathek 
Gothic Novel

Vathek, the ninth caliph of the Abassides, ascended to the throne at an early age. He is a majestic figure, terrible in anger, and addicted to the pleasures of the flesh. When a hideous stranger arrives in town, claiming to be a merchant from India selling precious goods, Vathek buys glowing swords with letters on them from the merchant and imprisons him. The next day, he discovers that the merchant has escaped and his prison guards are dead. From that point starts Vathek’s fall from power in a series of licentious and deplorable activities designed to gain him supernatural powers

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William Thomas Beckford (1760-1844) was an English novelist, art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometime politician, reputed at one stage in his life to be the richest commoner in England. He is remembered as the author of the Gothic novel Vathek, the builder of the remarkable lost Fonthill Abbey and Lansdown Tower Bath, and especially for his art collection.