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Fire-Tongue — cover
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Aeneas Press edition 20th Century

Fire-Tongue

by Sax Rohmer 1883–1959

The book, and the century it came out of.

A man dies gasping the words fire-tongue, and Paul Harley of Chancery Lane follows the phrase to a household in Surrey and a cult that reaches back to India. Rohmer created Fu Manchu and made a fortune from him across some forty books and films; this 1921 mystery runs the familiar machinery of the mysterious East, and the reader should see it working and judge it. Illustrated with 57 full-page plates — paintings by Houbron and Goodwin among them.

Some of Paul Harley’s most interesting cases were brought to his notice in an almost accidental way.
The first sentence of Fire-Tongue
A note on this edition

Fire-Tongue, by Sax Rohmer, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.

It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.

The edition
Format
Ebook
Extent
about 200 pages
Reading time
about 4 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501675148
The plates

57 paintings are bound into this edition

Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.

Saint Paul’s from the South, Albert Goodwin
Saint Paul’s from the South Albert Goodwin 1898
Notre-Dame at Dusk, Charles Guilloux
Notre-Dame at Dusk Charles Guilloux 1898
Interior with a Bust, Vilhelm Hammershøi
Interior with a Bust Vilhelm Hammershøi 1900
‘God Save The Queen’: Queen Victoria arriving at St Paul’s Cathedral on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, 22 June 1897, John Charlton
‘God Save The Queen’: Queen Victoria arriving at St Paul’s Cathedral on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, 22 June 1897 John Charlton 1898
Decorating the Christmas tree, Marcel Rieder
Decorating the Christmas tree Marcel Rieder 1898
In a Welsh Valley near Betws-y-Coed, Benjamin Williams Leader
In a Welsh Valley near Betws-y-Coed Benjamin Williams Leader 1898
The setting

A page from this edition

Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.

A page of Fire-Tongue as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Fire-Tongue as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Fire-Tongue, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Mystery & Crime shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.

Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785501675148, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.

Before you buy

Questions readers ask

Is this the whole of Fire-Tongue?
Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
What exactly did you change?
The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Sax Rohmer's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
Are the pictures really in the book?
Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
How long is it?
About 200 pages, which is roughly about 4 hours of reading.
What do I actually get?
An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
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Fire-Tongue
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