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Post by dem bones on Dec 29, 2011 8:21:55 GMT
I'm pleasurably ploughing through an old hard-cover anthology I inherited from my maternal grandfather, The Mammoth Book of Thrillers, Ghosts and Mysteries - published in the mid '30s, I believe. It has The Mezzotint in it, and one of my absolute favourites, E. F. Benson's The Confession of Charles Linkworth. I particularly like the occasional illustrations, and the fact that each story is headed by a delightful line drawing of the author, and a brief biography. Not everything in it is, as the title indicates, strictly a horror or ghost story, but there are more than enough chills to be found within its pages, nonetheless. The cover has a bat on it, which I love. me too, and the book is such a treasure, it's deserving of it's own thread. J. M. Parrish & John R. Crossland (eds.) – The Mammoth Book Of Thrillers, Ghosts & Mysteries (Odhams, 1936) A. J. Alan – The Diver Michael Arlen – The Ghoul Of Golders Green Arnold Bennett – The Murder Of The Mandarin J. D. Beresford – Powers Of The Air Algernon Blackwood – Keeping His Promise Gerald Bullett – Dearth’s Farm G. K. Chesterton – The Hammer of God Agatha Christie – The Blue Geranium Joseph Conrad – The Secret Sharer A. E. Coppard – The Tiger Walter De La Mare – The Looking Glass Guy De Maupassant – The Hostelry Lord Dunsany – A Large Diamond Jeffrey Farnol – The Cupboard J. S. Fletcher – The Other Sense Pamela Hansford Johnson – Ghost Of Honour O. Henry – Roads Of Destiny C. D. Heriot – The Trapdoor C. F. Hoffman – Ben Blower’s Story Tom Hood – The Shadow of A Shade Aldous Huxley – The Dwarfs Washington Irving – Guests From Gibbet Island M. R. James – The Mezzotint Jerome K. Jerome – The Dancing Partner D. H. Lawrence – The Woman Who Rode Away Somerset Maugham – Honolulu Oliver Onions – Rooum Barry Pain – The Green Light Eden Phillpotts – The Iron Pineapple J. B. Priestly – The Demon King Alexander Pushkin – The Queen Of Spades Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch – The Seventh Man Saki – Laura W. B. Seabrook – Goat-Cry, Girl-Cry May Sinclair – The Mahatma’s Story H. De Vere Stacpool – Deep In The Forest R. L. Stevenson – The Island Of Voices Edgar Wallace – Man Of The Night Hugh Walpole – Major Wilbraham H. G. Wells – The Inexperienced Ghost Rebecca West – The Salt Of The Earth Anon – A Tale Of A Gas-Light Ghost
Sealed Section
E. F. Benson – The Confession Of Charles Linkworth Ambrose Bierce – The Moonlit Road L. P. Hartley – A Visitor From Down Under W. H. Hodgson – The Voice In The Night W. W. Jacobs – His Brother’s Keeper Edgar Allen Poe – Berenice A. E. D. Smith – The Coat Bram Stoker – The Squaw P. C. Wren – Presentiments
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Post by dem bones on Aug 4, 2012 5:39:18 GMT
Great Ghost Stories (Chancellor, 2005) A truncated version of Parrish & Crossland's aforementioned The Mammoth Book Of Thrillers, Ghosts & Mysteries (Odhams, 1936). Contents as above but for the following, which have all been dropped, presumably for reasons of space. Agatha Christie - The Blue Geranium Rebecca West – The Salt Of The Earth Anon – A Tale Of A Gas-Light Ghost Ambrose Bierce – The Moonlit Road W. W. Jacobs – His Brother’s Keeper A. E. D. Smith – The Coat Bram Stoker – The Squaw P. C. Wren – PresentimentsDoes the instant remainder market still exist in the digital age?
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Post by ramseycampbell on Aug 4, 2012 9:43:59 GMT
Am I imagining this, or does the Chancellor edition have an introduction by Mike Moorcock?
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Post by dem bones on Aug 4, 2012 10:00:28 GMT
I think that's the Bracken hardcover edition of the same selection, Ramsey, which trades under the title Tales Of Terror & The Supernatural: A Classic Collection. Moorcock's introduction is dropped from the paperback rush job.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Aug 4, 2012 10:29:55 GMT
Contents as above but for the following, which have all been dropped, presumably for reasons of space. Also at least the Christie story is not a ghost story.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 4, 2012 17:12:12 GMT
i can't remember Christie's story to tell you the truth, but neither the Coppard or Hoffman selections are ghost stories, and they're retained in place of, say, The Coat and The Moonlit Road which certainly are, so perhaps the editing was a little random. The hardcover edition, published by Bracken as Mysteries and introduced by Giles Gordon, reinstates all the material dropped from this edition bar the Christie and Rebecca West, and dispenses with Huxley, Priestly, Wells, Maugham and Walter De La Mare. 'scuse me for an extreme anorak moment ....
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Aug 4, 2012 17:24:04 GMT
i can't remember Christie's story to tell you the truth It is a locked-room murder mystery featuring Miss Marple, unless I am much mistaken.
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Post by pulphack on Aug 5, 2012 5:44:39 GMT
You are indeed correct, sir. A tale revolving a sick old gentleman done to death by poison in the wallpaper, released by the heat of lamps and candles. Not in the wallpaper from manufacture, obviously...
One of a series of Miss Marple tales where a circle of friends and relatives discuss odd cases and events from their past, and the old dear solves it all from the fireside.
An odd choice in the first place, as her Harley Quinn tales and a few others have supernatural or horrific overtones (though usually no more than that). My personal fave is The Idol House Of Astarte, which involves pagan rituals and seemingly being struck down by a goddess. The truth, of course, is far more prosaic...
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Post by dem bones on Aug 5, 2012 18:40:03 GMT
After blithely insisting that neither of them are ghost stories, i came over all uncertain and had to double check. They're not, but it was worth the effort, and the Coppard - a legit 'when animals attack' circus horror - is particularly horrible. Dudley Cowes A. E. Coppard - The Tiger: A. E. Coppard - The Tiger: Entirely against its will, a full-grown Indian tiger of "indescribable ferocity" is delivered to Barnabe Woolf's Menagerie, and Yak Pederson has only until the Autumn to master the brute. Pederson is in lust with the vision in green tights that is Marie the Cossack, the pride of Canning Town, who takes great delight in goading him that she's happily married to Jimmy Fascota and wouldn't sleep with him if he were the last man on earth. The tiger comes with it's own keeper, Pompoon, a hunch-backed, tongue-less old negro, who is one of only two people the creature doesn't instinctively hate, the other being Marie. Above all, he detests Pederson. It crushes Pederson's pride so that even Marie gets to feel sorry for him, and that's her undoing. Pederson gets her drunk and finally has his evil way with her. When she wakes up in his arms, Marie is so disgusted that she punches him full in the face. The big Dane responds in kind and their brawl spills out of the tent, Peterson alternately beating her, fending off blows from an axe and proclaiming his undying love for her. Marie, maddened by rage, lifts the latch on the tiger's cage ... C. F. Hoffman - Ben Blower's Story: After a fierce night's drinking, Ben Blower staggers back aboard The Flame, lifts the cover from the boiler and climbs inside to grab some sleep. The heavy lid slams down. Entombed alive, And him a claustrophobic! Things can't get any worse, so obviously they do.
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Post by galleytrot on Sept 29, 2012 13:45:37 GMT
I've owned several copies of this classic over the years, and in one of them I found the actual, original seal from the 'sealed section' at the end of the book. Thought you might like to see it: Attachments:
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Post by dem bones on Sept 29, 2012 16:34:56 GMT
Another minor mystery solved. i'd wondered if it was a sealed section in anything other than name. Thank you, and welcome to Vault!
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Post by olliebeak on Feb 17, 2014 19:26:41 GMT
Hi again, demonik - THIS is the book that I 'accidentally' bought thinking that it was 'The Great Book of Thrillers' . I wasn't all that far out, as you can see - and it turned out to be very enjoyable after all. Now that I've got the correct book on its way, I can have them both, side-by-side on my book shelf .
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Post by dem bones on Feb 17, 2014 20:22:45 GMT
Hi again, demonik - THIS is the book that I 'accidentally' bought thinking that it was 'The Great Book of Thrillers' . I wasn't all that far out, as you can see - and it turned out to be very enjoyable after all. Now that I've got the correct book on its way, I can have them both, side-by-side on my book shelf . As accidents go, that wasn't such a bad one as they're both wonderful books. It's not just the cracking selection of stories, I love the illustrations, the synopses and those often rather fanciful portraits of the authors. Perhaps the nearest equivalent we have today is the Mammoth Books, but even they only run to a measly 600 pages! If you're after more of the same, Odhams/ Daily Express also published Fifty Masterpieces Of Mystery, and Fifty Years Of Ghost Stories, maybe a few more. Fifty Strangest Stories Ever Told, purportedly 'non-fiction,' contains the odd 'true' horror tale, including something on the thuggee cult by the magnificently named Heron Leper.
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Post by olliebeak on Feb 17, 2014 21:29:27 GMT
Went for a bit of a nosey at those books you mentioned. 'The Fifty Strangest Stories Ever Told' contains a story called 'The Hell-fire Monks of Medmenham' by Eric Bennett - I've been inside The Hell-Fire Caves www.hellfirecaves.co.uk/ and they're in a wonderful spooky setting . There was a movie made about the original Hell Fire Club - www.imdb.com/title/tt0053903/ - starring Keith Michell / Adrienne Corri / Peter Cushing / Peter Arne.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 17, 2014 22:18:23 GMT
Went for a bit of a nosey at those books you mentioned. 'The Fifty Strangest Stories Ever Told' contains a story called 'The Hell-fire Monks of Medmenham' by Eric Bennett - I've been inside The Hell-Fire Caves www.hellfirecaves.co.uk/ and they're in a wonderful spooky setting . There was a movie made about the original Hell Fire Club - www.imdb.com/title/tt0053903/ - starring Keith Michell / Adrienne Corri / Peter Cushing / Peter Arne. Sir Francis Dashwood and the Hellfire Caves have also inspired some gorgeous paperback cover artwork. The written content isn't bad either. Donald McCormick - The Hellfire ClubDaniel P. Mannix - The Hell Fire ClubRichard Harrington – Hellfire TodayAnd were it not for the influence of the brimstone mob, we may have been spared denied the Gregory Pendennis spine-snapper, Halloween Serial - Maybe by our resident master of the macabre.
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