toff
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 72
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Post by toff on Jan 1, 2024 17:19:52 GMT
Some additional introductory material I'd added online, for people that like that sort of thing:
Editorial Review "While the Christmas ghost story was never dominant in America, Christopher Philippo has gathered some compelling examples of the form in The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, vol. 4" - Thomas Ruys Smith, editor. Christmas Past: An Anthology of Seasonal Stories from Nineteenth-Century America. Louisiana State UP, 2021.
From the Author The publisher had paused the Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories series in 2019 after three volumes. Wanting something different, the charge for volume four in 2020 was to collect North American Christmas ghost stories. No previous Christmas ghost story anthology by any publisher had attempted any kind of focus or theme beyond having Victorian examples, modern ones, or a mix of the two. In 2014, an online Washington Post headline proclaimed "ghosts haunt Britain at Christmas but steer clear of America." The Smithsonian Magazine in 2017 had stated regarding Christmas ghost stories that "it was a tradition the Puritans frowned on, so it never gained much traction in America." Neither assertion was accurate, but one can see how such an impression might have been inadvertently created by earlier anthologies. Of twelve collections printed between 1978 and 2005, five had no American stories. Of the seven that did, just ten American authors were represented, with fourteen different stories. However, given that American newsdealers had carried British periodicals and that many Americans had British heritage, one would expect many Americans to have been familiar with the tradition. As Daniel Howe wrote in his Victorian America (1976), "Victorianism was a transatlantic culture—though in the largest sense it was only an English-speaking subculture of Western civilization. Inevitably, the English-speakers within the Western world shared many common influences, which were reinforced by the expansion of printed communication during the 1830s and the subsequent laying of the transatlantic cable." By the same token, one would suppose savvy American periodical publishers might give some consideration to the reading tastes of the British, given that British newsdealers did offer American publications. They did: while the tradition wasn't as common as in the UK, Americans hadn't written just a few Christmas ghost stories, but a good many. Even aside from the transatlantic culture, the prominent New Yorker Washington Irving had described the oral ghost story Christmas tradition in his popular Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon (1819). Arguably, it would have been remarkable if there were not more than just a few in the United States who'd taken up the mantle (or burial shroud, as it were). Additionally, if the seventeenth-century Puritans could be considered to have any influence on writers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it might have been to encourage the stories. Increase Mather's 1687 book, A Testimony Against Several Prophane and Superstitious Customs, stated "Christmas Holidays were at first invented and instituted in compliance with the Pagan Festivals," and complained Christmas was celebrated after the manner of the Saturnalia and Januaria of "the Heathens," and even deserved the name of "the Devil's Mass." Cotton Mather in his Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620, Unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698 had referenced accounts of supposed witches having a "merry meeting" with devils or dæmons at Christmas. There's never been a complete bibliography of English-language ghost stories, much less of Christmas ones specifically. To compile an anthology, editors must either raid earlier anthologies (and it is clear some do), or do research. Traditionally, that would have meant time spent in libraries looking for possibilities then winnowing them down to the best. Roald Dahl's introduction to his 1987 Book of Ghost Stories described his hunt at the British Library and elsewhere as having turned up 749 stories, tracked in a notebook as to quality. On a scale of ten, most were zeroes. Twenty four were good, and ten others had possibilities, he decided. The process of compiling this volume was not dissimilar with respect to the number of stories read relative to the number selected. However, between the January 2020 proposal for the book and its acceptance came the COVID lockdown in New York. That was by no means an impediment. The editor was already adept at using free and subscription databases of periodicals for family, local, and film history research, and had gained some reputation for skill with them. Even with libraries closed to the public, some correspondence with reference librarians and subject specialists was still possible as well. The earliest story in the volume is "The Green Huntsman, or The Haunted Villa: A Christmas Legend of Louisiana" from 1841, predating Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The author, Joseph Holt Ingraham, was well-known in his day, less so now. The same could be said of some other authors in the collection, though some were relatively unknown or even anonymous. Genre fans may nonetheless recognize at least the names of Robert W. Chambers and Robert W. Service, if not others. The last story is "Merry Christmas" by Stephen Leacock from 1917, about which some explanation is necessary (and is given in the introduction). The Victorian era, strictly defined, runs from 1837 to 1901. However, British and other historians sometimes extend the era (as opposed to Queen Victoria's rule) to 1820-1914, using the British entry into World War I as the bookend. What has been written regarding English theatre and literature does appears to be true of the Christmas ghost stories of the British Isles and the Americas as well: "It is arbitrary and unprofitable to break off the history of the English theatre in 1901 or 1910, for the Victorian era continued, as far as the drama was concerned, until 1914, when it collapsed before the onslaught of the Great War. Consequently the title Late Victorian Plays is offered for this collection, rather than the more accurate but unwieldy 'Late Victorian, Edwardian, and Early Georgian Plays'." - Rowell, George, ed. Late Victorian Plays: 1890-1914. London: Oxford UP, 1972. vii. "Since Edward's reign was a comparatively short one, it does not have such a distinct literary identity as the Elizabethan or Victorian ages do, and there are hardly any 'Edwardian writers' who were not also late-Victorian writers beforehand or Georgian writers afterwards. Literary history therefore tends to treat the period either as a late extension of Victorian literature or as an interregnum before the arrival of modernism." - Baldick, Chris. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. London: Oxford UP, 1996. 103. For a book related to the United States, it made more sense to use the year of the American entry into the war to close it than the British one. Far from an unusual choice of framing, the Victorian Society in America founded in 1966 does the same with its focus on "the fields of cultural and social history of the United States dating from 1837 to 1917."
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Post by dem bones on Jan 2, 2024 11:46:25 GMT
Thank you! Any idea if Valancourt intend adding further volumes?
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toff
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 72
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Post by toff on Jan 3, 2024 23:02:18 GMT
The books sell consistently, and people like them, but they're not one of their top sellers is my understanding. Thus future volumes depend on things like whether there's active demand and how many other books they have in development in a given year. There might be a higher chance of an audiobook of selections from the volumes published thus far.
Possibilities that have occurred to me:
world CGS - a problem here is that the pickings that I've found so far of Victorian era stories and poems that come from other parts of the world than North America and the British Isles and that have been translated into English are pretty slim. There's not enough yet that one can winnow it down further to just the best of them; one might have at present either a very slim volume of the best, or one that is a full volume that includes more mediocre content than would be ideal.
CGS by women - I know there's anthologies of non-Christmas GS by women. I don't think anyone's done CGS specifically yet? While I don't actually think they're stories particularly different than ones written by men, female authors are nonetheless underrepresented in CGS anthologies published over the past 50 years or so.
humorous CGS - there's tons. Not sure there's a demand, though. People seem more inclined to want the "scary ghost stories" as in the song.
CGS poetry - tons and tons. Relatively few reviews of the volumes thus far show any love for poems, though.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 6, 2024 9:59:29 GMT
I'm sure they could all work, though an all-poetry volume might prove a hard sell. There must be a decent 'humorous' pre-WW1 Christmas ghost selection waiting to be compiled (preferably illustrated — period artwork, photos, ads, etc). I think Peter Haining attempted something of the sort — minus illos - with Christmas Spirits before changing track halfway through. Didn't hang together too well, that one. Incidentally, I tried to loan some Valancourts via the public library [London/ Berkshire/ Bedfordshire] but doesn't seem they've a single title in the system.
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toff
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 72
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Post by toff on Jan 6, 2024 20:10:37 GMT
I already have enough material right now to do all of those Christmas ghost volumes: all women, all humorous stories (with or without humorous poems), and all poetry.
I could see Valancourt going for an all female authors volume at some point. Humor or poetry maybe I'd have to look elsewhere. The humor might be enlightening with respect to the wide range of what some Victorians thought was funny. Everything from hokey to dark humor to really eccentric. Poetry, I could even just self publish just so that's it's available for anyone that really would want it.
That's a shame about the lack of availability in the library system.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 10, 2024 12:42:53 GMT
In case you've not seen it, thought this (or some of it) might be of interest; Another artist with a feeling for the Christmas scene who contributed to the ILN was Sam Read: he was described by a fellow artist as "the best 'moated grangeist' I ever came across ... In limning haunted houses, sprites' balls, anything Elizabethan in the way of architecture, with a good garden or snow-clad landscape, he was an excellent master. With lights streaming through mullioned windows, chill moonlight throwing shadows of massive balustrades, or anything suggestive of good Santa Claus he was also an adept." No doubt he would have been an excellent illustrator of the Gothic tales of an earlier period. — James Edward Holroyd, Extra Christmas Numbers, Illustrated London News, 2 Nov. 1978 Samuel Read, The Haunted House, 3 Sept 1854 James Edward Holroyd - Extra Christmas Numbers: Illustrated London News, 2 Nov. 1978 Thomas Hood - The Haunted House [verse]; Illustration: Samuel Read ( Illustrated London News, 3 Sept 1854 M. L. - Cold Without [verse] Illustration: Samuel Read. M.J.J.- Wayfarer in the Snow [verse] ( Illustrated London News, 22 Dec. 1855 Samuel Read - The Haunted Tower ( Illustrated London News, 12 Dec. 1877 Samuel Read - An Evil Omen ( Illustrated London News, 11 Dec. 1878 Photographing Fairies and the Beauty of the World, Nov. 30 1907 Samuel Read, Cold Without, 22 Dec. 1855 Download Original Mag PagesText [James Edward Holroyd essay only]:
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Post by Swampirella on Jan 10, 2024 12:47:35 GMT
Beautiful, thanks for posting them and the downloads.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 10, 2024 12:59:55 GMT
Wonderful artwork. Thanks.
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enoch
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 117
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Post by enoch on Jan 10, 2024 17:08:34 GMT
Those Samuel Read works are magnificent!
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toff
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 72
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Post by toff on Jan 10, 2024 20:47:28 GMT
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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Jan 13, 2024 23:47:10 GMT
In case you've not seen it, thought this (or some of it) might be of interest; Another artist with a feeling for the Christmas scene who contributed to the ILN was Sam Read: he was described by a fellow artist as "the best 'moated grangeist' I ever came across ... In limning haunted houses, sprites' balls, anything Elizabethan in the way of architecture, with a good garden or snow-clad landscape, he was an excellent master. With lights streaming through mullioned windows, chill moonlight throwing shadows of massive balustrades, or anything suggestive of good Santa Claus he was also an adept." No doubt he would have been an excellent illustrator of the Gothic tales of an earlier period. — James Edward Holroyd, Extra Christmas Numbers, Illustrated London News, 2 Nov. 1978
READ, Samuel RWS 1815-1883 Landscape and architectural painter and illustrator. He was born at Needham Market, Suffolk in 1815 and was placed in a lawyer’s office at Ipswich and then as an assistant to an architect. Neither professions suiting him, he went to London and learnt drawing on wood under J.W. Whymper (q.v.). He also studied with W.C. Smith and became an accomplished watercolour painter, sending many works to exhibitions. In 1844 he began to work as an illustrator for The Illustrated London News, a connection which lasted until his death. In 1853; just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, Read was despatched to Constantinople, the first occasion that the paper had sent an artist abroad on an assignment. He also travelled to Germany and North Italy and Spain as well as visiting and recording nearly every well-known ecclesiastical or manorial landmark in Great Britain. Over the years his pictures became an institution in The ‘News and he was unofficially retained as Art Editor. His drawings of cathedrals, ruins and mysterious castles are delightfully dank and gloomy, always covered in thick undergrowth and with the appearance of having been painted in partly melted candle wax. He died at Sidmouth on 6 May 1883, having been elected OWS in 1880. Simon Houfe (1981). The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800–1914. Antique Collectors’ Club. p. 428
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Post by dem bones on Jan 15, 2024 9:38:27 GMT
Samuel Read "Coming Events Cast Their Shadow Before" ILN, 19 Dec. 1863 Thank you for sharing. No surprise I'd heard of neither A Host of Ghosts and a Ghost for a Host, The Ghost That Ran Away with the Organist nor E. J. Cooper's "homicidal compositions" (I'm not exactly a poetry person, but from the reviews, the latter sounds the best bet). As this thread still looks to have some life in it, perhaps we should rename it 'Christmas Ghosts' or something, shift it to the Bibliographical aids and continue on there?
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jan 15, 2024 18:41:43 GMT
As this thread still looks to have some life in it, perhaps we should rename it 'Christmas Ghosts' or something, shift it to the Bibliographical aids and continue on there? Gets my vote. Or start an entirely new one over there.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 15, 2024 19:09:36 GMT
Good idea.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 29, 2024 11:27:21 GMT
Tom Browne: A Christmas Apparition, The Tatler, 30 Nov. 1904 A Terrible Tale Told Round a Christmas Fire. A sickly-looking young man, who gave the name of Walter Booth, aged 19, at present an inmate of the Islington workhouse, London, but who was formerly a butcher, was placed at the bar of the Clerkenwell Police-court, charged by James Arnault, a pauper in the same establishment, with committing a murder under the following extraordinary circumstances:- It appeared from the evidence that on Christmas-day several of the men in the Islington workhouse were sitting round the fire, and for the purpose of amusement agreed to tell tales or relate wonderful events. Some told ghost stories, and others murders, and it was observed that while the first murder was being related the prisoner became very uneasy, groaned loudly, seemed very much troubled in his mind, and ultimately left the room. On his return one of the men was telling a laughable story, and although it caused a great deal of laughter, the prisoner seemed duller than usual. The prisoner, when asked what was the matter with him, said he had committed "a most horrible and atrocious crime;" that it very much troubled him: that he could get no rest night or day, and wherever he went, and whatever he was about, the thoughts of the deed he had committed were always uppermost in his mind. Everybody now became anxious to hear the particulars, and the prisoner was advised to "repent" and make a "full confession" of his misdeeds. The prisoner, after some hesitation, then said, that two years ago he was walking along the banks of the Regent's Canal, the afternoon being very dark, and a slight fog prevailing at the time, when being short of money, and having promised to go out with some friends, he was determined to rob the first person he met. He had not proceeded very far before he met an elderly gentleman, very respectably attired, and he demanded his money or his life. A struggle ensued between them, they fell to the ground together, but he being young was quickly on his feet, and he took out a butcher's knife (he produced the knife from his pocket, and drew their attention to marks of blood that were still upon it), and plunged it deep into his victim's body; he drew it out reeking only to replunge it deeper: he saw the blood flow beneath the oft-repeated strokes, and when his victim was quite dead, he coolly rifled his pockets, taking from them a quantity of loose gold, a purse containing several notes, and a gold watch and chain, and then threw the body into the canal, and having watched it disappear he proceeded to meet his friends. He had not proceeded far, however, before he began to reflect, being still on the bank of the canal, and could almost with the same knife have stabbed himself and died, consoled with the idea that no one would ever find him out, as he intended to jump into the water after using the knife. But he thought afterwards that he had better not take his own life, but would go and have a spree with his friends, intending afterwards to repent. He went out that evening, got drink, and was robbed of the whole of the money of which he had become so foully possessed, and the image of the slaughtered man always haunting him, caused his illness, in consequence of which he was then an inmate of the workhouse. Arnault gave information to the police of what he had heard, and they, upon an examination of their books, found that about the time the prisoner stated he had committed the crime, and near the spot indicated by the prisoner, a body of an old man was taken out of the canal, but he was proved never to have been possessed of much money, and there were no marks of violence or stabs found on the body. The body then found was that of the father of a policeman who happened to be in court on other business. In answer to a question from the magistrate, the witness Arnault stated that he had had a quarrel with the prisoner. The prisoner, who is very ill, and in a consumption, said, in defence, that it was only a terrible tale which he had told round the Christmas fire, for the amusement of his companions, and he never thought he should be given in custody and locked up for it. He was entirely innocent of the charge of murder. Mr. Tyrwhitt said, after a long and patient examination, that there was no foundation whatever for the charge. It was evidently a Christmas story, and he should discharge the prisoner. The prisoner then left the Court with his friends. — Banbury Advertiser, 15 January 1857
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