>>41535727>Ana stumbled slightly, quickly turning to CrowleyWhat makes them so valuable?
>she seemed shocked at first, but quickly understood that this probably meant nothing to Crowley as it did to her>she quickly smiled, turning and continuing to walk at an easier pace for him to followYou see Crowley, Sir DeGille is considered to be one of those unsung geniuses of the literary world. He spent his entire life working on his Stargazer epic, living a frugal and near-penniless life as he devoted all of his energies into his writing, at the cost of
everything! Money, food, companionship...
Some call him obsessed. Others say he was simply mad! Others still whisperer of darker forces that moved him constantly into writing, to the point where it was painful to him to even be away from his desk!
>she gave a small hop, clearly enjoying telling this storyThere are many papers about DeGille that speak of his eccentricities in life. But since the man had practically nobody around him, not a friend nor family, much of his life has been lost. What little we do know only come from his letters to the publishers he continuously hounded to get his work in print, and his landlord who often took pity on him and tried to push him into the daylight every so often.
>she lets out a small sighDeGille's persistence did pay off eventually, and he got his work published. Once. And
only once!
>she turned her head to grin at CrowleyI shouldn't need to tell how valuable first editions tend to be, let alone for a book that has only had
one edition for decades!
DeGille's work went highly underappreciated in his own time, and there are stories that many bookstore owners ended up using their unsold copies of the Stargazer for kindle, making the entire collection even more rare!
It wasn't until recently that DeGille's work found its place in history, and more editions have been made. But DeGille only ever lived to see the one fail, and he died without seeing any amount of success.
>she lets out another sigh, slipping her hands into her pocketsThe book itself is about the titular stargazer, Mardenney Trillsby, a lonely young man who is stricken by a horrible illness when he was a baby, preventing him from ever stepping outside his home for too long.
So instead, he spends all of his nights gazing at the stars, and imagining the wonders that could exist just outside his window, and past the clouds. The books detail the stories in his imagination, or according to some interpretations, the adventures he's dragged into by all sorts of creatures, aliens, gods and spirits.
Every book is written like a letter Mardenney is sending to his mother back home, hence the name. But more so than the extensive writing, the original illustrations made by DeGille himself, only add to the majesty of his magnum opus! His style for each book are quite simply unique; since it took him decades to complete the entire set, the images of each book show all of the fluctuations in his quality and influences, with no two books ever having the exact same style of illustration. Even in his later years, when his hands were nearly broken and unusable, he
still continued to draw for the final books!
>she inhaled, letting out a very pleased exhale soon afterwardsNeedless to say, DeGille was as fascinating of a character as he was tragic! There are so many unknowns to his story, so many wild theories, rumors and stories about his personal life...
It's almost breathtaking to think that one random, lonely man could inspire so many so long after his death...
>she let out another long, dreamy sigh, but quickly giggledS-Sorry, I've been rambling on for quite a while haven't I~!
