Frontis. b/w. photo. of Machen, titles, contents list & introduction to front. In the notebook Machen contemplated and abandoned ideas for the novel that was to become The Hill of Dreams, and he also made notes towards the composition of fiction that was eventually to be published as Ornaments in Jade, The White People and A Fragment of Life. In the notebook one may also encounter ideas towards what was to become the novel The Secret Glory. Machen also made intriguing notes for fiction that was never finished, and explored what constituted Great Literature, a process that contributed towards the composition of Hieroglyphics, his very personal and idiosyncratic book of literary criticism. One can see that this process also helped Machen shape and criticise his own fiction Arthur Machen was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. The death of his first wife led him to a spiritual crossroads, and he experienced a series of mystical events. After his experimentation with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, to which he was introduced by his close friend the poet & mystic A. E. Waite, the orthodox ritual of the Church became ever more important to him, gradually defining his position as a High Church Anglican who was able to incorporate elements from his own mystical experiences, Celtic Christianity, and readings in literature and legend into his thinking.