130,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery 🚀 Auckland Bookstore • Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

The Man Who Was Thursday

a Nightmare: Special Edition
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a metaphysical thriller by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The novel follows an undercover policeman who infiltrates a secret anarchist council, exploring themes not just of political rebellion, but of a deeper, philosophical revolt against divinity. Known for bridging the whimsical style of Lewis Carroll with the surreal darkness of Kafka, this work offers a unique blend of fantasy and existential mystery.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of The Man Who Was Thursday. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This novel will appeal to readers interested in classic crime and thriller fiction, as well as those who enjoy philosophical and metaphysical literature. Fans of literary works that combine fantasy elements with deeper existential themes will find this a rewarding read.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The book has been referred to as a metaphysical thriller. Although it deals with anarchists, the novel is not an exploration or rebuttal of anarchist thought; Chesterton's ad hoc construction of "Philosophical Anarchism" is distinguished from ordinary anarchism and is referred to several times not so much as a rebellion against government but as a rebellion against God.

The novel has been described as "one of the hidden hinges of twentieth-century writing, the place where, before our eyes, the nonsense-fantastical tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear pivots and becomes the nightmare-fantastical tradition of Kafka and Borges."

We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades.

The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781718636200

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 May 2018

Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 9.0mm

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 203.0mm

Weight: 168g

Pages: 164

Also by G K Chesterton

View all
  • The Man Who Was Thursday: Green Popular Penguins
    G.K. Chesterton's 1908 masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday, is a metaphysical thriller and a detective story filled with poetry and politics. Gabriel Syme is a poet and a police detective. Lucian Gregory is a poet and a bomb-throwing anarchist. Syme infiltrates a secret meeting of anarchists and becomes 'Thursday', one of the seven members of the Central Anarchist Council....
    Paperback
    $1400
    Elsewhere:
    $1599
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • On Sale
    19% off
    The Innocence of Father Brown: Green Popular Penguins
    The Innocence of Father Brown is the first collection of stories starring Father Brown, a short, stumpy Catholic priest with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella, and uncanny insight into human evil. Father Brown may be a kindly cleric, but his bumbling nature disguises a sharp detective mind to rival Sherlock Holmes. He uses his experiences as a priest and...
    Paperback
    $1700
    Usually:
    $2100
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Man Who Was Thursday
    The Man Who Was Thursday is G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece, edited and with an introduction by Matthew Beaumont. Can you trust yourself when you don't know who you are? In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty, Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in...
    Paperback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2100
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Father Brown Selected Stories
    A new selection of the much-loved Father Brown stories, now part of the Penguin English Library. 'No man's really any good till he knows how bad he is, or might be' Shabby and lumbering, with a face like a Norfolk dumpling, Father Brown makes for an improbable super-sleuth. But his innocence is the secret of his success – refusing the...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Napoleon of Notting Hill
    The Napoleon of Notting Hill is G. K. Chesterton's wild and whimsical debut novel, set in a future embattled London. London, 1984. Democracy has given up the ghost. England's ruler is randomly selected, and this year it's Auberon Quin, a clerk with an odd sense of humour. Quin mandates that each borough of London become an independent neo-medievalist state, complete...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Backorder
    Ships late December
  • The Complete Father Brown Stories
    The adventures of the well-loved clerical sleuth, collected in a single volume and introduced by Michael D. Hurley. Shabby and lumbering, with a face like a Norfolk dumpling, Father Brown makes for an improbable super-sleuth. But his innocence is the secret of his success—refusing the scientific method of detection, he adopts instead an approach of simple sympathy, interpreting each crime...
    Paperback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $3200
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Man Who Was Thursday
    Chesterton's masterpiece is a surreal, psychologically thrilling novel centring on seven anarchists in turn of the century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. The Man Who Was Thursday is an enigmatic tale that blurs the lines between reality and illusion, drawing the reader into a world of unpredictable twists and philosophical exploration. Introduction...
    Paperback
    $3700
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Puzzles of the Parish
    I think that it is desirable to discuss the affair – here, in the room in which the Bishop’s body was found. A pernicious parson outwits the thieves of a priceless chalice from the parish treasury. A beloved vicar contemplates a perfect crime when a blackmailer comes knocking. Poisoned pen letters lead to a fall from grace for a rector’s...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Wisdom of Father Brown
    From London to Cornwall, then to Italy and France, a short, shabby priest runs to earth bandits, traitors, killers. Why is he so successful? The reason is that after years spent in the priesthood, Father Brown knows human nature and is not afraid of its dark side. Thus, he understands criminal motivation and how to deal with it. The stories...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Bread and Wine
    Though Easter (like Christmas) is often trivialised by the culture at large, it is still the high point of the religious calendar for millions of people around the world. And for most of them, there can be no Easter without Lent, the season that leads up to it. A time for self-denial, soul-searching, and spiritual preparation, Lent is traditionally observed...
    Hardback
    Sold Out
  • The Everyman Chesterton
    The time for a revival of interest in the work of G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), a towering figure in the literary world of the early twentieth century, is long overdue. Novelist, journalist, short-story writer, essayist, biographer, critic, poet, and Catholic apologist, his was a many-faceted talent, as this generous selection made for Everyman by his biographer Ian Ker bears witness....
    Hardback
    Sold Out

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The French Illusion
    Bestselling author John Grisham delivers a new gripping, suspenseful page-turner about aParis honeymoon gone horribly wrong - and the nightmare that follows. After Paul and Chelsea Tanner's fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • King’s Ransom
    New Release
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Chain Reaction
    Jack Reacher, \"the coolest continuing series character\" (Stephen King), returns in a brand new, pulse-pounding read from Lee and Andrew Child. The world’s bestselling hero is back in a brand new, high-octane adventure! ‘She knew that finding Reacher would not be easy . . .’ Washington DC. General Susan Turner needs help from the only guy she knows will get...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The Family Cross
    In the gripping new thriller in James Patterson's globally bestselling series, Alex Cross faces his most personal case yet as a ruthless conspiracy targets Washington's most vulnerable... and his own family. Discover the latest gripping thriller in the globally bestselling Alex Cross series - now the inspiration for the original series CROSS on Prime Video starring Aldis Hodge as Alex...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Heights
    In The Heights by #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sir Ian Rankin, murder comes to London's most exclusive high-rise - and every resident is a suspect... MURDER COMES TO LONDON'S MOST LUXURIOUS HIGH-RISE: AND EVERY RESIDENT IS A SUSPECT. The Heights: a gleaming, high-end high-rise looming over Hyde Park. Newly built from steel and smoked glass, it is a billionaire's playground offering sumptuous suites...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • New Release
    Death Row
    With all hope of an appeal fading away, the fate of a condemned murderess takes a shocking turn in a breathtaking short story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid! A thrilling novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden! Death is coming for her… unless she finds the truth first. Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering...
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Signed Copy
    On Sale
    19% off
    Dying Days
    Award-winning writer delivers a pulse-pounding espionage thriller. Missing soldiers, MI6 secrets and European partisans collide in a deadly game where the lines between lies and reality are fast disintegrating. In the dying days of the Second World War, a new conflict is about to ignite. May, 1945: After fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Tito's Yugoslav Army and Allied...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On Sale
    19% off
    New Release
    Fury In Death: An Eve Dallas thriller (In Death 63)
    In the new crime thriller from the bestselling author, Lt. Eve Dallas journeys into the darkness where murder is born… NYSPD homicide detective Eve Dallas has seen a lot in her time but even she is shocked by the savagery of a beating which leaves a wealthy biotech executive dead in his home office. The victim’s corpse is so mangled...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On Sale
    19% off
    New Release
    Tom Clancy Pressure Depth
    Jack Ryan Jr leads a team of divers in a race to beat the Chinese Navy to a weapon of terrible destructive power in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Jack Ryan Jr. is on Guam to work on a project for Hendley Associates. It's a perfectly ordinary insurance matter, but trouble finds the Ryans...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Country Road Murders
    On Sale
    10% off
    New Release
    The Country Road Murders
    From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding thriller about justice, vengeance and the roads that lead us home. No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades — LEE CHILD Cross Rivers is the kind of small town where everyone knows your name – and your secrets. Silas Tucker...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On Sale
    15% off
    Every Lake
    Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...
    Paperback
    $2800
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.