The Treasure of Heaven

The Treasure of Heaven

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure of Heaven, by Marie
Corelli This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
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Title: The Treasure of Heaven A Romance of Riches
Author: Marie Corelli
Release Date: May 25, 2006 [EBook #18449]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Illustration: Copyright 1906 By Marie Corelli Signature: Marie Corelli
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN THIS YEAR BY GABELL,
LONDON
The Treasure Of Heaven

A Romance Of Riches By Marie Corelli
AUTHOR OF "GOD'S GOOD MAN," "THELMA," "THE
SORROWS OF SATAN," "ARDATH," "THE STORY OF A DEAD
SELF," "FREE OPINIONS," "TEMPORAL POWER," ETC.
NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 1906
Copyright, 1906, by DODD, MEAD & COMPANY Published, August,
1906
To Bertha 'A faithful friend is better than gold.'
Author's Note
By the special request of the Publishers, a portrait of myself, taken in
the spring of this year, 1906, forms the Frontispiece to the present
volume. I am somewhat reluctant to see it so placed, because it has
nothing whatever to do with the story which is told in the following
pages, beyond being a faithful likeness of the author who is responsible
for this, and many other previous books which have had the good
fortune to meet with a friendly reception from the reading public.
Moreover, I am not quite able to convince myself that my pictured
personality can have any interest for my readers, as it has always
seemed to me that an author's real being is more disclosed in his or her
work than in any portrayed presentment of mere physiognomy.
But--owing to the fact that various gross, and I think I may say
libellous and fictitious misrepresentations of me have been freely and
unwarrantably circulated throughout Great Britain, the Colonies, and
America, by certain "lower" sections of the pictorial press, which, with
a zeal worthy of a better and kinder cause, have striven by this means to
alienate my readers from me,--it appears to my Publishers advisable
that an authentic likeness of myself, as I truly am to-day, should now
be issued in order to prevent any further misleading of the public by
fraudulent inventions. The original photograph from which Messrs.
Dodd, Mead & Co. have reproduced the present photogravure, was
taken by Mr. G. Gabell of Eccleston Street, London, who, at the time of

my submitting myself to his camera, was not aware of my identity. I
used, for the nonce, the name of a lady friend, who arranged that the
proofs of the portrait should be sent to her at various different
addresses,--and it was not till this "Romance of Riches" was on the
verge of publication that I disclosed the real position to the courteous
artist himself. That I thus elected to be photographed as an unknown
rather than a known person was in order that no extra pains should be
taken on my behalf, but that I should be treated just as an ordinary
stranger would be treated, with no less, but at the same time certainly
no more, care.
I may add, in conclusion, for the benefit of those few who may feel any
further curiosity on the subject, that no portraits resembling me in any
way are published anywhere, and that invented sketches purporting to
pass as true likenesses of me, are merely attempts to obtain money
from the public on false pretences. One picture of me, taken in my own
house by a friend who is an amateur photographer, was reproduced
some time ago in the Strand Magazine, The Boudoir, Cassell's
Magazine, and The Rapid Review; but beyond that, and the present one
in this volume, no photographs of me are on sale in any country, either
in shops or on postcards. My objection to this sort of "picture
popularity" has already been publicly stated, and I here repeat and
emphasise it. And I venture to ask my readers who have so generously
encouraged me by their warm and constant appreciation of my literary
efforts, to try and understand the spirit in which the objection is made.
It is simply that to myself the personal "Self" of me is nothing, and
should be, rightly speaking, nothing to any one outside the circle of my
home and my intimate friends; while my work and the keen desire to
improve in that work, so that by my work alone I may become united in
sympathy and love to my readers, whoever and