A rare-book dealer hunts three cursed copies of a text that may summon the Devil.
Who drives the story
A New York rare-book dealer hired to verify which copy of The Nine Gates is authentic; a skeptic who follows engravings and provenance until the evidence stops being deniable, and he walks through the castle gates himself.
A wealthy collector who buys a copy of The Nine Gates and commissions the authentication; convinced he alone can summon the Devil, he seizes the book back, performs the rite, and burns screaming when it fails.
The mysterious woman shadowing Corso across Europe, saving him with seemingly supernatural powers; she guides him to the true engraving and is depicted in it, riding a beast before the castle at dawn.
Widow of Andrew Telfer, who sold Balkan the book before killing himself; she seduces Corso to get the copy, fails, and later dies strangled by Balkan at her family's manor during the cult's rite.
Toledo book restorers and former owners of Balkan's copy who reveal the "AT" and "LCF" signatures; they vanish, leaving the authentic ninth engraving to drift down from a bookcase.
Paris owner of the third copy who refuses Corso until he proposes the three-plus-three-plus-three theory; she lets him into her library and is strangled there as it burns.
Also in the story
Owner of the second copy in Sintra, Portugal; Corso confirms his three "LCF" engravings, then finds him drowned and his copy burnt, those plates torn out.
How they are connected
The mysterious woman shadowing Corso across Europe, saving him with seemingly supernatural powers; she guides him to the true engraving and is depicted in it, riding a beast before the castle at dawn.
Widow of Andrew Telfer, who sold Balkan the book before killing himself; she seduces Corso to get the copy, fails, and later dies strangled by Balkan at her family's manor during the cult's rite.
Widow of Andrew Telfer, who sold Balkan the book before killing himself; she seduces Corso to get the copy, fails, and later dies strangled by Balkan at her family's manor during the cult's rite.
The Ceniza BrothersBoris Balkan
Toledo book restorers and former owners of Balkan's copy who reveal the "AT" and "LCF" signatures; they vanish, leaving the authentic ninth engraving to drift down from a bookcase.
Owner of the second copy in Sintra, Portugal; Corso confirms his three "LCF" engravings, then finds him drowned and his copy burnt, those plates torn out.
Paris owner of the third copy who refuses Corso until he proposes the three-plus-three-plus-three theory; she lets him into her library and is strangled there as it burns.
Go deeper
Authenticity as obsession · The price of acquisition · Skepticism tested by evidence · Who the book was really for
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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