"The Damned" by Algernon Blackwood

0:00:00 Chapter 1
0:19:42 Chapter 2
0:28:36 Chapter 3
0:46:27 Chapter 4
1:01:56 Chapter 5
1:34:51 Chapter 6
2:16:07 Chapter 7
2:46:40 Chapter 8
3:04:05 Chapter 9

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Published in 1914

Chelsea: today this is a wealthy area in West London on the north bank of the Thames. In the early 20th century, it would have been something more like the bohemian quarter of London, home to numerous notable artists and authors.

sine qua non: an essential condition; a thing that is absolutely necessary (literally: without which, not)

Doré: Gustave Doré, a 19th century French artist, most notable for his wood-engraving illustrations of the Vulgate Bible (La Grande Bible de Tours)

centime: One-hundreth of a franc

monkey tree: Araucaria araucana, or more commonly, monkey puzzle tree. An evergreen tree native to Chile and Argentina.

wellingtonia: this is presumably the Sequoiadendron giganteum (i.e. giant sequoias or giant redwoods), a coniferous tree native to the western US, but also grown in Europe. The Sabiaceae and Meliosma are tropical plants, so probably wouldn't be growing out in the open in the UK...

Crystal Palace: built in Hyde Park the house the Great Exhibition of 1851, but was afterwards moved to Penge Place in South London. It was eventually destroyed in a fire in 1936. J. Draper's London History Channel has a really well done video about the Cyrstal Palace (video title is "The Largest Building In The World (in 1851): The London History Show"). Highly recommend both the video and the channel for those who are interested in such things.

School-treats: it's hard to figure out the usage of this phrase here. Any older English peeps in the audience have any idea? I believe it's to do with revivalist gatherings for students where treats are an inducement for the kids to attend?

guinea: a British coin worth 21 shillings. In today's money, one guinea would be on the order of £120, so 5 guineas would be £600 today.

parquet: a patterned wood surface, especially one made of parquetry, i.e. work in the form of usually geometrically patterned wood laid or inlaid especially for floors

The worm that dieth not and the fire that that is not quenched: That would be from Mark 9:48

Manetti: There is a 15th century Italian mathametician by the name of Antonio di Tuccio Manetti, who made investigation into the site, shape and size of Dante's Inferno. Obviously that can't the one being referred to here, since the one in the story must be late 19th or early 20th century, but I also don't think the name was chosen at random.

Julius Weinbaum: This name, however, does not evoke any obvious historical parallel. If you've a thought regarding it, please leave a comment below.

au fond: basically. Why stick a random French phrase in here like this? *sigh* It's certainly not a French phrase any English speaker would use today.

The pictures use are

Ch 1: Oakley Street - Chelsea with Pier Hotel 1910

Ch 2: 'A Chelsea Interior ' (The Carlyles at Home with their Dog Nero at 5/24 Great Cheyne Row, London), by Robert Scott Tait

Ch 3: Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, photo by Ian Slannard, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en)

Ch 4: "Private library of Cardinal Newman, Birmingham Oratory" by Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivs 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)

Ch 5: portrait of a man and woman, 1900-1910 in the John Oxley Library in Queensland, Australia

Ch 6: "The Garden of Evil" by Back-to-Babel, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivs 3.0 Unported license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Ch 7: "Mansion hallway" by FaderFX, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)

Ch 8: The picture used is "Cooper Hewitt - Smithsonian Design Museum - Grand Staircase - Slide Scan" by Onasill - Bill Badzo - Happy DayFollow, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

Ch 9: "Andromeda and the Milky Way above the Oregon Tree (Grant Grove Kings Canyon National Park)" by Justin Kern, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivs 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)

To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11074/pg11074-images.html