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Rating: The Garden of No. 19 by Edgar Jepson (1863-1938) is a cult novel: The book can be considered his response to The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, his brotherly friend. Aleister Crowley considered it a must-read for those wanting to delve into certain topics. Now Dagon Press by Pietro Guarriello finally makes it available in Italian for the first time in the series “I Magri Notturni.” This is a fundamental recovery to understand the cultural climate of the era when sects and esoteric associations flourished. In particular, members of the Golden Dawn included Crowley, Yeats, Machen himself, Blackwood, Sax Rohmer, and Bram Stoker.
Read today, The Garden of No. 19 still maintains its dark and sulfurous charm, a bit like certain stories by Aleister Crowley. According to supernatural fiction expert John Pelan, in this novel Jepson reaches the level of Machen and Blackwood. In my view, even though Jepson lacks the literary style of the former and the ability to create a genuine supernatural atmosphere of the latter, I must admit that it’s a claim not far from the truth. At times, I felt the same tension that could be found in the aforementioned The Great God Pan.
The protagonist John Plowden, a young lawyer, buys a new residence at number 20 Walden Road (in the Hertford Park district) in a suburban area of London where he finally hopes to live in peace. Unfortunately, he discovers that his tranquility will be severely tested by terrifying noises (suggesting the presence of a mythological beast) coming from the nearby garden of number 19. It’s the beginning of a series of unsettling events that lead him to meet Mr. Woodfell and his daughter Pamela, with whom he immediately establishes a very close relationship. Woodfell is obsessively engaged in the search to awaken ancient demons from the Abyss, seeking the help of some adepts, among whom is also Ambrose Marks (a character inspired by the friend Arthur Machen). Over everything looms a terrifying statue of Pan kept hidden in the garden. After a series of increasingly dangerous rituals, the ending will be tragic with the old Woodfell now mad, obsessively repeating the phrase “Pan is not dead!”.
In the appendix, there are three horror stories by Jepson. The volume also includes five illustrations from the original 1910 edition. The volume can be purchased on Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.it/GIARDINO-DEL-N-19/dp/B09T5LCN57 or by writing to studilovecraft@yahoo.it. This is the site of Dagon Press: http://studilovecraftiani.blogspot.com/.
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