Dr Nikola's Experiment Explained

Dr Nikola's Experiment
Author:Guy Boothby
Country:U.K.
Language:English
Series:Dr. Nikola
Genre:Fiction
Publisher:Hodder and Stoughton
Release Date:1899
Media Type:Print
Pages:340 pp
Preceded By:The Lust of Hate
Followed By:Farewell, Nikola

Dr Nikola's Experiment (1899) is a novel by Australian writer Guy Boothby. It was his fourth novel to feature his recurring character Dr. Nikola. It was published in book form in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in 1899.[1]

Abstract

"Using Dr. Nikola for all he is worth, Guy Boothby brings us in this book to an experiment which is rather thrilling than original. With the stuff obtained at such fearful risk from the Thibetan monastery he proposes to do for an ancient Spanish Don all that the Devil did for Dr. Faustus. The old fellow is taken away to a Northumbrian castle, and mesmerised, and electrified, and physicked back to youth and energy again. But it is beyond the doctor, alas, to restore the mind, which has decayed, and his rejuvenated Don is a powerful and malignant idiot."[2]

Publishing history

Following the book's initial newspaper serialisation, and then publication by Ward, Lock and Bowden in 1898[3] it was subsequently published as follows:

The novel was translated into Swedish (1899).

Critical reception

The Australian Star noted that this "is a book which will not disappoint readers who like their Boothby, nor diminish the author's brilliant if peculiar fame."

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dr Nikola's Experiment. Austlit. 1 July 2023.
  2. Web site: Dr. Nikola's Experiment . Australian Star. 4 December 1899. The Australian Star, 4 December 1899, p2. 1 July 2023.
  3. Web site: The Lust of Hate (1898) . National Library of Australia. 1 July 2023.
  4. Web site: Dr. Nikola's Experiment Appleton (1899) . National Library of Australia. 30 June 2023.
  5. Web site: Dr. Nikola's Experiment Copp Clarke (1899) . National Library of Australia. 1 July 2023.