History of a World of Immortals without a God / Translated from an unpublished manuscript in the library of a continental university

Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
ANTARES SKORPIOS.
DUBLIN :
WILLIAM M C GEE, 18, NASSAU STREET.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO.
1891.
Printed at The University Press, Dublin .
‘That we are to live hereafter, is just as reconcilable with the scheme of atheism, and as well to be accounted for by it, as that we are now alive is; and therefore nothing can be more absurd than to argue from that scheme, that there can be no future state.’—Bishop Butler.
Concerning the Birth and Education of Dr. Gervaas Van Varken, and his Loathing and Abhorrence of the whole Human Race—How he met an Ancient Parsee merchant in Bombay, and got an introduction to the Great Magician of Thibet—How he went to Thibet; what he learned there, and how he departed from it.
Van Varken drove a tolerably brisk trade, and, being of extremely miserly habits, succeeded in accumulating a respectable amount of capital. He was a man of very morose and sulky disposition, and, when he had reached the period of middle age, married a Vrouw who was not only gifted with a moral character closely resembling his own, but had, moreover, embraced Calvinistic views of the most austere type.
This disagreeable couple were blessed with a small family consisting of one son, called Gervaas, after the name of his father, and this Gervaas, junior, was the author of the diary before us.