Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933) was an American artist and
writer. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and is a direct
descendant of Roger Williams (1603-1683), founder of
Providence, Rhode Island. Chambers was first an art student
and an artist, selling sketches to Vogue and Life magazine,
then decided to dedicate himself to writing. He was a very
prolific writer and besides odd tales he also wrote romantic
fiction, historical fiction, and war and war adventure stories
during WWI. His first novel,'In the Quarter', was written in
1887 a melodramatic recounting of student life in Paris. His
most famous work is probably the collection of stories known
as “The King in Yellow” (1895). It is described as a group of
eerie short stories. Most of the stories in the book are
connected by the common theme of a fictitious drama which
goes by the title- 'The King in Yellow', bad things happen to
those who read it. His style influenced H.P. Lovecraft and
others. His novel 'Tracer of Lost Persons' , a crime drama, was adapted into a long-running radio drama
(1937-1954).
He was a man with many interests, art, history, antiques,
conservation- as he is known to have planted some 20,000 trees, butterflies, oriental art and he enjoyed
hunting and fishing. He wrote many historical novels spurred on by his interest in his ancestor,
Roger Williams. He also wrote about Captain Kidd in his book “The Man They Hung". Sadly he died
after a failed attempt at surgery to cure an intestinal illness, his brother was the famous architect
Walter B. Chambers. Chambers was quoted as saying “I write the sort of stories which at the moment
it amuses me to write”, he was a popular author, had more than one best-seller to his name and wrote
about various subjects, returning now and then to write his weird tales when it suited him. He borrowed
the place Carcosa, from Ambrose Bierce, as the place of his King in Yellow Tales and H.P. Lovecraft
also used this setting for his Cthulhu stories.
Bibliography of novels and story collections from Wikipedia:
In the Quarter (1894)
-
The Red Republic (1895)
-
A King and A Few Dukes
(1896)
With the Band (1896)
-
Lorraine (1898)
Ashes of Empire (1898)
The Haunts of Men (1898) –
short stories
Outsiders (1899)
The Cambric Mask (1899)
The Conspirators (1899)
Cardigan (1901)
The Maid-at-Arms (1902)
The Maids of Paradise
(1903)
In Search of the Unknown
(1904)
A Young Man In a Hurry
(1904) – short stories
The Reckoning (1905)
Iole (1905)
The Tracer of Lost Persons
(1906)
The Fighting Chance (1906)
-
The Younger Set (1907)
Some Ladies in Haste (1908)
The Firing Line (1908)
Special Messenger (1909)
The Danger Mark (1909)
The Green Mouse (1910)
Ailsa Paige (1910)
The Common Law (1911)
The Adventures of a Modest Man
(1911)
Blue-Bird Weather (1912)
The Streets of Ascalon
(1912)
The Japonette (1912)
The Gay Rebellion (1913)
The Business of Life (1913)
Quick Action (1914)
The Hidden Children (1914)
Anne's Bridge (1914)
Between Friends (1914)
Who goes There! (1915)
Athalie (1915)
Police!!! (1915) – short
stories
The Girl Philippa (1916)
The Better Man (1916) –
short stories
The Dark Star (1917)
The Barbarians (1917)
The Laughing Girl (1918)
The Restless Sex (1918)
The Moonlit Way (1919)
In Secret (1919)
The Crimson Tide (1919)
A Story of Primitive Love
(1920)
The Slayer of Souls (1920)
The Little Red Foot (1920)
The Flaming Jewel (1922)
The Talkers (1923)
Eris (1923)
The Hi-Jackers (1923)
America; or, The Sacrifice
(1924)
The Mystery Lady (1925)
Marie Halkett (1925)
The Man They Hanged (1926)
The Drums of Aulone (1927)
The Sun Hawk (1928)
The Rogue's Moon (1928)
The Happy Parrot (1929)
The Painted Minx (1930)
The Rake and the Hussy
(1930)
War Paint and Rouge (1931)
Gitana (1931)
Whistling Cat (1932)
- Whatever Love Is (1933)
- Published posthumously
Secret Service Operator 13 (1934) Copyrighted by Elsie M.
Chambers
The Young Man's Girl (1934)
Copyrighted by Elsie M. Chambers
The Gold Chase (1935)
Copyrighted by Elsie M. Chambers
Love and the Lieutenant
(1935) Copyrighted by Elsie M. Chambers
Beating Wings (1936)
Copyrighted by Elsie M. Chambers
The Girl In Golden Rags
(1936) Copyrighted by Elsie M. Chambers
The Fifth Horseman (1937)
Copyrighted by Elsie M. Chambers
Marie Halkett (1937)
Reprint. Copyrighted by Elsie M. Chambers
- Smoke of Battle (1938) Copyrighted by Elsie M.
Chambers; this novel was possibly finished by Rupert
Hughes.
- Children's books
-
-
River-Land (1904)
Illustrated by Elizabeth S. Green
Forest-Land (1905)
Illustrated by Emily Benson Knipe
Mountain-Land (1906)
Illustrated by Frederick Richardson & Walter King Stone
- Garden-Land (1907) Illustrated by Harrison Cady
- Collections containing reprinted
work by Robert W. Chambers
-
- The Yellow Sign and Other Stories, edited by
S.T
Quotes I've assembled from his works:
-
“I awoke to the
saddest music I had ever heard. The room was quite dark, I had no
idea what time it was. A ray of moonlight silvered one edge of the
old spinet, and the polished wood seemed to exhale the sounds as
perfume floats above a box of sandal wood.” (The Mask, from The
King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers)
-
“I left the river
side, plunging blindly across to the Champs Elysées and turned
toward the Arc. The setting sun was sending its rays along the green
sward of the Rond-point: in the full glow he sat on a bench,
children and young mothers all about him. He was nothing but a
Sunday lounger, like the others, like myself. I said the words
almost aloud, and all the while I gazed on the malignant hatred of
his face. But he was not looking at me. I crept past and dragged my
leaden feet up the Avenue. I knew that every time I met him brought
him nearer to the accomplishment of his purpose and my fate. And
still I tried to save myself.” (In the Court of the Dragon, from
The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers)
-
"I could see your face," I resumed, "and it seemed
to me to be very sorrowful. Then we passed on and turned into a
narrow black lane. Presently the horses stopped. I waited and
waited, closing my eyes with fear and impatience, but all was silent
as the grave. After what seemed to me hours, I began to feel
uncomfortable. A sense that somebody was close to me made me unclose
my eyes. Then I saw the white face of the hearse-driver looking at
me through the coffin-lid -- " (The Yellow Sign, from The King
in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers)
"For some time I tossed about the bed trying to
get the sound of his voice out of my ears, but could not. It filled
my head, that muttering sound, like thick oily smoke from a fat-
rendering vat or an odor of noisome decay. And as I lay and tossed
about, the voice in my ears seemed more distinct, and I began to
understand the words he had muttered. They came to me slowly as if I
had forgotten them, and at last I could make some sense out of the
sounds. It was this:
- "Have you found the Yellow Sign?"
-
"Have you found the Yellow Sign?"
-
"Have you found the Yellow Sign?"
I was furious. What did he mean by that? Then with a curse upon him
and his I rolled over and went to sleep, but when I awoke later I
looked pale and haggard, for I had dreamed the dream of the night
before and it troubled me more than I cared to think." (The
Yellow Sign, from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers)
-
Along the shore the
cloud waves break,
-
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
-
The shadows lengthen
-
In Carcosa
-
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
-
And strange moons circle through the skies,
-
But stranger still is
-
Lost Carcosa
-
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
-
Where flap the tatters of the King,
-
Must die unheard in
-
Dim Carcosa.
-
Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
-
Die though, unsung, as tears unshed
-
Shall dry and die in
-
Lost Carcosa
Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow" Act 1, Scene 2. by
Robert W. Chambers
“Books are the blessed chloroform of the mind.
”
― Robert W. Chambers
“Ah," she said, "to come is easy and takes hours; to go is different—and may take centuries.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow
