# The Great God Pan (1890)

> The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, first published 13 Dec 1890: publication record, synopsis, a verified quotation and sources.

Canonical page: https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-great-god-pan/

Title: The Great God Pan
Author: Arthur Machen
Attribution: Published in 1894 in one volume with 'The Inmost Light' as The Great God Pan and The Inmost Light.
Form: Novella
First appearance: 13 Dec 1890 (timeline year 1890)
Themes: Science, The unseen, Women in peril, Confession and documents

## Publication record

- In one issue of The Whirlwind, 13 Dec 1890. An early form of the story appeared in one issue of The Whirlwind. The day rests on two independent reference works (SF Encyclopedia, Jess Nevins) and no scan of the issue was seen. [1, 2]
- Revised edition, 1894: John Lane (Keynotes Series, vol. V); US issue Roberts Brothers, Boston, London. 'The Great God Pan' much revised, published with 'The Inmost Light' as The Great God Pan and The Inmost Light. The Boston title page reads 'Roberts Bros., 1894; London: John Lane, Vigo St'. The exact month of 1894 was not established. [3, 1, 4, 5]

## Synopsis

In a house near a river, the surgeon Dr Raymond tells his friend Clarke that a small operation on the brain will lift the veil between ordinary sight and the real world, and that the ancients called what lies behind it the god Pan. The patient is a young woman, Mary. Years later in London, men of standing are found dead by their own hands, and a woman who goes by several names is connected with each. Clarke, who keeps papers on the affair, and a clubman named Villiers put the pieces together from memoirs, letters and street talk. Machen makes terror out of fragments, rumour and what nobody will say aloud.

## Setting

Late-Victorian London and a Welsh border village, with a prologue at a doctor's house. Places: London; Soho; Paul Street; the borders of Wales [6]

## From the text

> I do not know whether any human being has ever lifted that veil; but I do know, Clarke, that you and I shall see it lifted this very night from before another’s eyes.

Chapter 1 (The Experiment). Project Gutenberg ebook #389: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/389 (Gutenberg ebook 389 gives the book text in eight chapters; the file does not state whether it follows the 1894 or a later (1922/1926) revision)

## Facts

- Machen's story reached print in two stages. An early form appeared in The Whirlwind on 13 December 1890; the full tale, 'much rev', was published in 1894 as The Great God Pan and The Inmost Light. [1, 2, 3]
- John Lane issued the 1894 book as volume V of his Keynotes Series, a run begun in 1893. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds Aubrey Beardsley's cover design for it. [4, 7]
- The story is told through a club-story frame, memoirs and reported testimony. The SF Encyclopedia notes its manifest and acknowledged influence on H. P. Lovecraft. [1, 6]

## Notes on dates and attribution

- Date of the book: the V&A record for the Beardsley cover design gives 1895 for the reproduction and calls the Keynotes volume 'Published 1894-1896'; the title-page scan, the Dictionary of Welsh Biography and the SF Encyclopedia give 1894. Resolved: 1894.
- The exact month of the 1894 publication is not established by an authoritative source; only the year is shown.

## Sources

1. Machen, Arthur (entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction). SF Encyclopedia. https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/machen_arthur (accessed 2026-10-09)
2. 'The Great God Pan' (1894), Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction notes. jessnevins.com. http://jessnevins.com/victoriana/greatgodpan.html (accessed 2026-10-09)
3. The Great God Pan and The Inmost Light (Boston: Roberts Bros., 1894; London: John Lane), scanned title page and text. Internet Archive (University of Toronto copy). https://archive.org/download/greatgodpanandin00machuoft/greatgodpanandin00machuoft_djvu.txt (accessed 2026-10-09)
4. Cover for 'The Great God Pan and the Inmost Light', Keynotes Series vol. V, design by Aubrey Beardsley (E.390-1899). Victoria and Albert Museum. https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O901594 (accessed 2026-10-09)
5. Machen, Arthur (1863-1947), Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. https://biography.wales/article/s2-MACH-ART-1863 (accessed 2026-10-09)
6. The Great God Pan (ebook 389). Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/389/pg389.txt (accessed 2026-10-09)
7. Aubrey Beardsley's Keynotes. John Coulthart (feuilleton). https://johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2015/04/17/aubrey-beardsleys-keynotes (accessed 2026-10-09)