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The Closed Book: Concerning the Secret of the Borgias
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- GenresClassics
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First published January 1, 1904
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About the author
William Le Queux
420 books29 followersWilliam Tufnell Le Queux was born in London on 2 July 1864. His father, also William of Chateauroux, Indre, was a French draper's assistant and his mother was English.
He was educated in Europe and studied art under Ignazio Spiridon in Paris. He walked extensively in France and Germany and supported himself for a time writing for French newspapers. It was one of his sensational stories in 'The Petit Journal' that attracted the attention of the French novelist Emile Zola and it was supposedly he who encouraged Le Queux to become a full-time writer.
In the late 1880s he returned to London where he edited the magazines 'Gossip' and 'Piccadilly' before joining the staff of the newspaper 'The Globe' in 1891 as a parliamentary reporter. But he resigned in 1893 and decided to abandon journalism to concentrate on writing and travelling. And his extensive travelling saw him visit Russia, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and the Sudan and in 1912-13 he was a correspondent in the Balkan War for the Daily Mail. On his travels he found it necessary to become an expert revolver shot.
His first book was 'Guilty Bonds' (1891), which concentrated on political conspiracy in Russia to such a degree that it was subsequently banned in that country. A series of short stories 'Strange Tales of a Nihilist' followed in 1892 and from then on he was producing books on a regular basis until his death, and beyond, as a number of posthumous works were published.
His works mainly related to espionage activity and it was said that he was employed for a number of years as a member of the British Secret Service, where he was an expert on wireless transmission. He did claim to have been the first wireless experimenter to have broadcast from his station at Guildford in 1920/21 and he was president of the Wireless Experimental Association and a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
He stated at one time that he began writing to help finance his work for British Intelligence for whom he was required to undertake much travelling and to make personal contact with royalty and other high-ranking people. He recorded some of the latter meetings in his autobiography entitled 'Things I Know about Kings, Celebrities and Crooks' (1923).
He was at one time Consul of the Republic of San Marino and he possessed Italian, Serbian and Montenegrin decorations. He was also a keen collector of medieval manuscripts and monastic seals.
However, all his activities did not stop him turning out novel after novel and at the time of his death he had well over 100 books to his credit.
After several weeks' illness, he died at Knocke, Belgium, in the early hours of 13 October 1927. His body was returned to England and on 19 October he was cremated at Golders Green with the Reverend Francis Taylor of Bedford conducting the service, which was attended by Le Queux's brother and a few intimate friends.
Gerry Wolstenholme
January 2013
He was educated in Europe and studied art under Ignazio Spiridon in Paris. He walked extensively in France and Germany and supported himself for a time writing for French newspapers. It was one of his sensational stories in 'The Petit Journal' that attracted the attention of the French novelist Emile Zola and it was supposedly he who encouraged Le Queux to become a full-time writer.
In the late 1880s he returned to London where he edited the magazines 'Gossip' and 'Piccadilly' before joining the staff of the newspaper 'The Globe' in 1891 as a parliamentary reporter. But he resigned in 1893 and decided to abandon journalism to concentrate on writing and travelling. And his extensive travelling saw him visit Russia, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and the Sudan and in 1912-13 he was a correspondent in the Balkan War for the Daily Mail. On his travels he found it necessary to become an expert revolver shot.
His first book was 'Guilty Bonds' (1891), which concentrated on political conspiracy in Russia to such a degree that it was subsequently banned in that country. A series of short stories 'Strange Tales of a Nihilist' followed in 1892 and from then on he was producing books on a regular basis until his death, and beyond, as a number of posthumous works were published.
His works mainly related to espionage activity and it was said that he was employed for a number of years as a member of the British Secret Service, where he was an expert on wireless transmission. He did claim to have been the first wireless experimenter to have broadcast from his station at Guildford in 1920/21 and he was president of the Wireless Experimental Association and a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
He stated at one time that he began writing to help finance his work for British Intelligence for whom he was required to undertake much travelling and to make personal contact with royalty and other high-ranking people. He recorded some of the latter meetings in his autobiography entitled 'Things I Know about Kings, Celebrities and Crooks' (1923).
He was at one time Consul of the Republic of San Marino and he possessed Italian, Serbian and Montenegrin decorations. He was also a keen collector of medieval manuscripts and monastic seals.
However, all his activities did not stop him turning out novel after novel and at the time of his death he had well over 100 books to his credit.
After several weeks' illness, he died at Knocke, Belgium, in the early hours of 13 October 1927. His body was returned to England and on 19 October he was cremated at Golders Green with the Reverend Francis Taylor of Bedford conducting the service, which was attended by Le Queux's brother and a few intimate friends.
Gerry Wolstenholme
January 2013
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 15, 2019
Allan Kennedy, een archeologist, heeft in Italië een boek gekocht, de Arnoldus, waarin achtereen een monnik, die een vriend was van Lucrezia Borgia, een soort dagboek geschreven heeft. De bladzijden van het boek zijn echter vergiftigd, en Allan ontsnapt maar net aan de dood. Hij leest het verhaal van de monnik, en ontdekt dat deze de juwelen en het gif en tegengif van L. Borgia jarenlang in zijn bezit gehad heeft, dit alles zelfs heeft meegenomen naar Groot Brittanië, en daar verstopt heeft. Tijdens de vervolgingen van de Kerk heeft hij ook de schatten van de abdij waar hij verbleef verstopt.
In zijn bijlage bij de Arnoldus vertelt hij het geheim van de bergplaatsen van al deze schatten.
Allan en zijn vrienden gaan hiernaar op zoek, maar ze zijn niet de enigen. Er zijn nog kapers op de kust, maar die hebben heel wat minder goede bedoelingen.
Spannend boek, de intriges zijn natuurlijk volgens de geest van de tijd, maar het was aangename lectuur.
In zijn bijlage bij de Arnoldus vertelt hij het geheim van de bergplaatsen van al deze schatten.
Allan en zijn vrienden gaan hiernaar op zoek, maar ze zijn niet de enigen. Er zijn nog kapers op de kust, maar die hebben heel wat minder goede bedoelingen.
Spannend boek, de intriges zijn natuurlijk volgens de geest van de tijd, maar het was aangename lectuur.
March 1, 2021
5/10.
This novel contained a book with poisoned pages before it became mainstream!
This novel contained a book with poisoned pages before it became mainstream!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2019
What a fantastic tale! Never before have I read something that seems so implausible, yet at the same time so entirely truthful! I really cannot ascertain whether this book is a fanciful tale or whether it is actually non-fiction as stated in Wikipedia.
One thing is for certain, Le Queux was very well researched and well-travelled; the names of all the historical characters and places within are only a Google search away. I must profess to having known virtually nothing about the House of Borgia before reading this, although I'm not sure if having read Macchiavelli's The Prince would have been of assistance or hindrance. Whilst I have no doubt that much of it is exaggerated (Le Queux was well-known for this), it was still a great read and Le Queux brilliantly maintained a level of plausibility throughout. Of course the writing style is rather antiquated (1904), but that only lends itself an air of authenticity.
I suspect that Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code was highly influenced by this book. Indeed The Closed Book reads much like Treasure Island meets James Bond meets Robert Langdon. Ancient sites of England and Scotland harbouring old secrets, a race against time, mysterious assassins and long lost artefacts....However Le Queux's tale is all the more satisfying for having been written 100 years before Brown's highly contentious garbage ever hit the shelves.
One thing is for certain, Le Queux was very well researched and well-travelled; the names of all the historical characters and places within are only a Google search away. I must profess to having known virtually nothing about the House of Borgia before reading this, although I'm not sure if having read Macchiavelli's The Prince would have been of assistance or hindrance. Whilst I have no doubt that much of it is exaggerated (Le Queux was well-known for this), it was still a great read and Le Queux brilliantly maintained a level of plausibility throughout. Of course the writing style is rather antiquated (1904), but that only lends itself an air of authenticity.
I suspect that Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code was highly influenced by this book. Indeed The Closed Book reads much like Treasure Island meets James Bond meets Robert Langdon. Ancient sites of England and Scotland harbouring old secrets, a race against time, mysterious assassins and long lost artefacts....However Le Queux's tale is all the more satisfying for having been written 100 years before Brown's highly contentious garbage ever hit the shelves.
December 27, 2019
A new writing style from Le Queux and i think this book was a pioneer of this style as well. Excellent and nothing to complain for. Actually i knew the existence of this book for long time. I chose to avoid it as i didn't wish to know more about the house of Borgia. Yet several good review here made me think otherwise and decided to gave it a try. With no regret of course. It's about Allen Kennedy, an English expatriate lived in Italy. He was a collector of medieval manuscript. One day he bought a rare Book of Arnoldus written by Godfrey Lovel, a monk formerly in service of Lucrezia Borgia before his repentance. His Reverend was in confidence of his former mistress. This book carried evil which will befall those readers who tried to decode the hidden location of the late Duchess of Ferrara treasures buried by this monk. It included the fabulous wedding gifts jewels especially the emerald parure, and the notorious Borgias poisons, the instrument and the antidote. A fan of Da Vinci Code would loved to read this.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews