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Dr Nikola's Experiment (1899) is a novel by Australian writer Guy Boothby. It was his fourth novel to feature his recurring character Dr. Nikola. It was published in book form in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in 1899.

Abstract

"Using Dr. Nikola for all he is worth, Guy Boothby brings us in this book to an experiment which is rather thrilling than original. With the stuff obtained at such fearful risk from the Thibetan monastery he proposes to do for an ancient Spanish Don all that the Devil did for Dr. Faustus. The old fellow is taken away to a Northumbrian castle, and mesmerised, and electrified, and physicked back to youth and energy again. But it is beyond the doctor, alas, to restore the mind, which has decayed, and his rejuvenated Don is a powerful and malignant idiot."

Publishing history

Following the book's initial newspaper serialisation, and then publication by Ward, Lock and Bowden in 1898 it was subsequently published as follows:

• Appleton, 1899, USA
• Copp Clarke Company, 1899, Canada

The novel was translated into Swedish (1899).

Critical reception

The Australian Star noted that this "is a book which will not disappoint readers who like their Boothby, nor diminish the author's brilliant if peculiar fame."

See also

• 1899 in Australian literature

References

1. ^ "Dr Nikola's Experiment". Austlit. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
2. ^ "Dr. Nikola's Experiment". Australian Star. The Australian Star, 4 December 1899, p2. 4 December 1899. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
3. "The Lust of Hate (1898)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
4. "Dr. Nikola's Experiment Appleton (1899)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
5. "Dr. Nikola's Experiment Copp Clarke (1899)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

• 1899 Australian novels
• 1899 books