The Novel of the White Powder: An early 20th century tale of drugs and madness

Machen came from a long line of clergymen, and when he was two, his father became vicar of a small parish about five miles north of Caerleon, and Machen was brought up at the rectory there.

In his early years he received an excellent classical education, but family poverty ruled out university, and he was sent to London to sit exams to attend medical school but failed the exams. He did show literary promise with the publication of the poem ‘Eleusinia’ in 1821. But life in London was difficult and it was only in 1884 that he published again and was taken on to translate several French works which thereafter became the standard editions for many years.

In 1887, his father died. That same year he married Amelia Hogg, a maverick music teacher with a passion for the theatre. He also began to receive legacies from Scottish relatives which allowed him to devote more time to writing.

After publishing in literary magazines in 1894 he published his first book ‘The Great God Pan’. Its sexual and horrific content very much helped sales.

Over the next decade or so he wrote some of his best work but was unable to find a publisher mainly due to the collapse of the decadent market over Oscar Wilde’s scandalous trial.

In 1899, his wife died and during his long recovery he took up acting and travelled around the country as part of a travelling company. Three years later he was publishing again and had remarried.

Re-publishing of earlier works helped anchor both his reputation and his income. By the time the Great War opened Europe’s wounds he returned to the public eye with ‘The Bowmen’ helped by the publicity around the ‘Angel of Mons’ episode.

However, by the late 20’s new works had dried up and his back catalogue was no longer a source of regular income.

In 1932 he received a Civil List pension of ₤100 per annum but other work was not forthcoming. His finances finally stabilised with a literary appeal in 1943 for his eightieth birthday and allowed him to live his remaining years in relative comfort.

Arthur Machen died on 15th December 1947 in Beaconsfield. He was 84.

A man is prescribed a medicine that turns him from a hard studying student of the law to something so compellingly awful that only Machen himself could have willed it into reality.