John Meade Falkner published his first novel, The Lost Stradivarius , in 1896. Set in the aristocratic milieu similar to the one Falkner grew up in, the story at first closely mirrors his own—that of a young man studying at Oxford—before taking a turn for the uncanny. From there it delves progressively deeper into old blasphemy and new madness.

The Lost Stradivarius proved to be the debut of a solid figure in the turn-of-the-century British literary milieu, influencing figures like M. R. James and Dorothy L. Sayers .