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Post by dem bones on Mar 22, 2009 15:09:32 GMT
Here's E. F. Bleiler on James Hume Nisbet (1849-1923): "British author, born Scotland, resident intermittently in Australia, where died. Unsuccessful artist, art teacher, turned to fiction writing, where became prolific author of rubbishy romances and adventure stories." The stories in Weird & Wonderful he describes as "crude and sensational" - he means it dismissively - but then, it seems, Bleiler delivers much the same verdict on Not At Night, Creeps and any horror fiction that actually sold a few copies. So, not a great critical hit it seems, and those who put store in such considerations need read no further. For the rest of us, these five seem to be the most (only ones?) anthologised to date: The Haunted Station: ( The Haunted Station and Other Stories, 1894) The narrator, a young Doctor wrongly convicted of deliberately poisoning his wife, is saved from the gallows by influential friends and is sentenced to transportation to Western Australia. While working on a chain gang, he escapes with two fellow convicts and after a breathless pursuit during the course of which a fellow fugitive is shot dead and he breaks an arm, he arrives at a remote station house which he takes to be deserted, but closer inspection reveals the skeletons of a mother and her daughter in an upstairs bedroom, and down in the servant's quarter, the stripped bare bones of three domestics! Comes the stormy night when the murdered woman's husband arrives (a pantomime villain if ever there was: all "fiery eyes", scarlet lips and black mustache), trailing weeds and slime from his "saturated garments". The terrible history he relates - of treachery, revenge from beyond the grave and demonic possession - aided and abetted by the timely manifestation of the woman and her ghostly child - sends our man tearing from the house which, conveniently, is then blasted with a fork of lightening. The Old Portrait: ( Stories Weird and Wonderful, 1900) Utterly charming Victorian horror. When he scrubs away the “bloated, piggish visage of a landlord” from the canvas, he discovers the masterly portrait of a beautiful woman underneath. Fascinated, he spends Christmas Eve gazing at his find. Come midnight, and the lovely lady floats out of the frame "leaving behind her a vault filled with coffins, some of them shut down whilst others lay or stood upright and open, sharing their grisly contents in decaying and stained cerements" ..... The Vampire Maid: ( Stories Weird and Wonderful, 1900) A reclusive artist takes up residence in a cottage and falls for the attractive invalid Ariadne Brunnell. As her health recovers, so his deteriorates until he makes the horrific discovery that sends him fleeing across the moors. The Phantom Model: ( The Haunted Station and Other Stories, 1894) Algar Gray, a personable and talented young artist, forsakes the luxury of his Fulham studio to take an attic room in the meanest, most poverty stricken quarter of the East End to be near his perfect model, a beautiful "Ratcliffe Highway stroller" whose indifference to everything is summed up in her asking him if he's "Jacky the Terror? .... I thought perhaps you had spotted me out for the next one, not that I care much whether you are or not ..." It transpires that, six years earlier, struck down with tuberculosis, the doctors had given her four months to live whereupon she threw in her job as a match-girl and taken to the streets, preferring to die in alcoholic oblivion. She agrees to model for him and has the good grace not to expire until his portrait (a depiction of Dante's ideal love, Beatrice) is complete, but her ghost haunts him everywhere he goes, finally luring him to the wharf to share her watery grave. The Demon Spell: ( The Haunted Station and Other Stories, 1894) ” … a mangled corpse lying on the muddy pavement, and a demoniacal, dark, pock-marked face bending over it, with the lean claws outspread, and the dense fog instead of a body, like the half-formed incarnation of muscles.”A pretty medium materialises the ghost of Ripper victim Polly. Polly warns Nisbet who the killer has earmarked as his next victim (you’ve guessed). Our hero bursts in on him just as he’s about to get down to business. The Vampire Maid and The Old Portrait are available to read online at Horrormasters
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Post by lobolover on Mar 22, 2009 21:19:57 GMT
Sadly, those are the only ones . And not even Internet Archive has it and when it aint there, it's nowhere . My god, The Haunted Station, why would it be that hard to scanlate I wonder ?
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Post by Anthony Hogg on Aug 23, 2018 16:12:05 GMT
Hello,
I am editing a paper that mentions "The Vampire Maid," but I want to establish its earliest date of publication.
I presume it was published in a magazine before appearing in Stories Weird and Wonderful (1900); does the book reveal which one?
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Post by dem bones on Aug 24, 2018 3:48:08 GMT
First read it in Richard Dalby's Dracula's Brood which cites the source as Nisbet's "Christmas Annual, Stories Weird & Wonderful." I don't have a copy of Otto Penzler's The Vampire Archives but according to isfdb he claims the story saw magazine publication in 1890, doesn't identify where. Maybe you could contact him via f***book or some place.
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Post by Anthony Hogg on Aug 24, 2018 15:46:27 GMT
Thank you for the suggestion, dem bones. I've reached out to Otto on Facebook. Fingers crossed he's got an idea of which magazine it was.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 25, 2018 13:12:11 GMT
Good luck! You'll have noticed that The Vampire Archive's bibliography - which, in my view, owes a huge unacknowledged debt to Margaret L. Carter's research, not just The Vampire In Literature but the updates she regularly provide during The Vampires Crypt's years - Daniel Seitler provides Richard Dalby's date rather than the editors. Which is not suggesting Mr. Penzler is in error, just that it would be interesting to get conformation of his source as clearly some other bibliographers have taken the "prior magazine publication" for granted.
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 25, 2018 22:55:21 GMT
Good luck! You'll have noticed that The Vampire Archive's bibliography - which, in my view, owes a huge unacknowledged debt to Margaret L. Carter's research, not just The Vampire In Literature but the updates she regularly provide during The Vampires Crypt's years - Daniel Seitler provides Richard Dalby's date rather than the editors. Which is not suggesting Mr. Penzler is in error, just that it would be interesting to get conformation of his source as clearly some other bibliographers have taken the "prior magazine publication" for granted. Would be interesting to see what the source is - or sources, as at that time stories were often printed in different magazines/newspapers, eg Nisbet's "The Old Portrait" appeared in a couple of Australian newspapers in 1896 (search on Trove), but was presumably first printed in the UK, and the British Newspaper Archive shows it was reprinted in 1900 in that flagship of literary excellence, The Blackburn Standard.
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Post by Anthony Hogg on Aug 27, 2018 5:01:37 GMT
Good luck! You'll have noticed that The Vampire Archive's bibliography - which, in my view, owes a huge unacknowledged debt to Margaret L. Carter's research, not just The Vampire In Literature but the updates she regularly provide during The Vampires Crypt's years - Daniel Seitler provides Richard Dalby's date rather than the editors. Which is not suggesting Mr. Penzler is in error, just that it would be interesting to get conformation of his source as clearly some other bibliographers have taken the "prior magazine publication" for granted. If Otto discloses it, I will certainly let you know what he says. James, Fancy seeing you here! I was looking for you as well (I think I came across you on LinkedIn), as I know you've written about this genre before. I accept the possibility that "The Vampire Maid" may simply have appeared first in "Stories," but, just in case... I actually sought out a copy of the book, but noticed the NLA's copy is missing.
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 27, 2018 8:03:46 GMT
I actually sought out a copy of the book, but noticed the NLA's copy is missing. I think it's there - it's bound up with a couple of other Nisbet books, but the catalogue entry doesn't make that clear so it's hard to locate. I'm pretty sure this is the one you need to order: [Seven romances] Bib ID 1341205 Format BookBook Author Nisbet, Hume, 1849-1923 Description [London, 1892-1900] 1v. (various pagings) ; 23cm. Notes 7 novelettes.
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Post by Anthony Hogg on Sept 3, 2018 7:16:12 GMT
I actually sought out a copy of the book, but noticed the NLA's copy is missing. I think it's there - it's bound up with a couple of other Nisbet books, but the catalogue entry doesn't make that clear so it's hard to locate. I'm pretty sure this is the one you need to order: [Seven romances] Bib ID 1341205 Format BookBook Author Nisbet, Hume, 1849-1923 Description [London, 1892-1900] 1v. (various pagings) ; 23cm. Notes 7 novelettes. Hole in one, James! I contacted the NLA today and their reference librarian said: Must inquire further to see if it has the info sought...
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Post by Anthony Hogg on Sept 3, 2018 7:18:50 GMT
In the meantime, in case you were wondering what the other six romances were, they are: Comrades of the Black Cross, The Rebel Chief, A Sweet Sinner, The Black Drop, The Bushgirl's Romance and The Bushranger's Sweetheart.
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Post by jamesdoig on Sept 3, 2018 10:02:43 GMT
Must inquire further to see if it has the info sought... It's worth inquiring, but I don't think the book includes those details - from memory it's one of those 6d paperback shockers of the period.
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Post by Anthony Hogg on Sept 11, 2018 22:19:48 GMT
Update: I have since seen a scan of the cover, title page and preface of "Stories." Alas, no mention of previous publication dates; indeed, the preface is very short. The "Seven Romances" copy at the NLA has penciled notations on previous publication dates, e.g. 1892 for Bushrangers Sweetheart, but Vampire Maid does not. Indeed, the reference librarian who responded to me said: "I have searched several of our databases British periodicals, 19th Century UK periodicals, Oxford Reference and the Times Literary Supplement. They all return articles and advertisements of Nesbit's books but as soon as you add vampire to the search there is nothing." She suggested The Haunted Station and Other Stories (1894) as a possible source, but I can confirm that "Vampire Maid" wasn't published in it (see below). Last, but not least, she mentioned checking the NLA's microfilm copy of Nisbet's Paths of the Dead: A Romance of the Present Day, 4th ed. (1899), but didn't seem to have any luck there, either. So, on the surface---barring further evidence---it really does seem that "Vampire Maid" was first published in 1900. Since writing the previous email, I have also tried contacting Otto Penzler via his website, mysteriouspress.com/about-us/about-otto-penzler.asp, but have not heard back as of this writing. In the meantime, I wish to tip my hat for the help here and the amazing efforts of the NLA staff. Kudos! Sadly, those are the only ones . And not even Internet Archive has it and when it aint there, it's nowhere . My god, The Haunted Station, why would it be that hard to scanlate I wonder ? You're in luck, mate. Click here: digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?embedded=true&toolbar=false&dps_pid=IE6495422&_ga=2.36952233.80393928.1536703516-441971702.1536703516
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