Author Description

Twenty ghostly tales from the supernatural masters of the Victorian age. Wimbourne Books presents the twelfth in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 12 in the series spans the years 1837 to 1901, contains ghost stories set at or around Christmas, and includes stories from a wide range of authors including Robert Louis Stevenson, Charlotte Riddell and Eliza Lynn Linton. Readers new to this genre will discover its pleasures; the Victorian quaintness, the sometimes shocking difference in social norms, the almost comical politeness and structured etiquette, the archaic and precise language, but mostly the Victorians’ skill at stoking our fears and trepidations, our insecurities and doubts. Even if you are already an aficionado of the ghostly tale there is much within these pages to interest you. Wait until the dark of the snowy night (preferably on Christmas Eve), lock the doors, shutter the windows, light the fire, sit with your back to the wall and bury yourself in the Victorian macabre. Try not to let the creaking floorboards, the distant howl of a dog, the chill breeze that caresses the candle, the shadows in the far recesses of your room, disturb your concentration. Includes the stories; The Spectre of Tappington (1837) – Richard Harris Barham; The Old Bell-Ringer’s Story (1856) – Mark Lemon; The Dead Man’s Story (1858) – James Hain Friswell; Horror: A True Tale (1861) – John Berwick Harwood; The Steel Mirror: A Christmas Dream (1867) – William Wilthew Fenn; Haunted by Spirits (1867) – George Manville Fenn; A Strange Christmas Game (1868) – Charlotte Riddell; How We Parted (1869) – Annie Hall Thomas; Christmas Eve at Beach House (1870) – Eliza Lynn Linton; A Three-Cornered Ghost (1870) – Charles Henry Ross; Number Two, Melrose Square (1879) – Theo Gift; Old Vanderhaven’s Will (1880) – Mary E. Penn; The Old House in Vauxhall Walk (1880) – Charlotte Riddell; Mark