BALLANTINE CHAMBER OF HORROR BOOK SERIES

[mysto]

I must have found an old thread and I wanted to add to it. After 3 or more attempts (I kept getting forgery errors) I am going to try and post a new thread here. I hope this stays put!!

I collected all the Ballantine horror books way back in the early ‘60s and just looked them over recently. I compiled a list of what I have and then stumbled over this blog so I thought it would be helpful to post my list here here. I don’t list the Kirsh book you mention, but I do remember it and may have it with my BB Science Fiction books. Some of the SF books sure did sound like horror titles. WOLFBANE by Henry Kuttner comes to mind. I think that one even has a Powers cover. My SF books are in a box up in the attic so I should dig them out at some point, but I always thought of the Kirsh book as Science Fiction for some reason.

I sure do recall that THE GRAVEYARD READER was the first one of the horror series. It was a very special book for me because THE GRAVEYARD RATS (coincidently also by Kuttner) was the most frightening thing I had ever read. The book also introduced me to HPL with THE OUTSIDER. I even have the hard cover version of it. It’s the only one without a K in the number for some reason.

Not long after getting this, I started getting into Arkham House books and eventually the excellent Ballantine Adult Fantasy series and so on. Anyway, I hope this helps.

I am also posting some notes I had taken as I was looking these over:

THE BALLANTINE HORROR PAPERBACKS

1. 257. THE GRAVEYARD READER. ED. GROFF CONKLIN. 1958
2. 326K. DEALS WITH THE DEVIL. ED. BASIL DAVENPORT. 1959.
3. 370K. ZACHERLEY’S MIDNIGHT SNACKS. 1960
4. 377K. THE SOUND OF HIS HORN. SARBAN.
5. 380K. TALES TO BE TOLD IN THE DARK. ED. BASIL DAVENPORT. 1959?
6. 401K. INVISIBLE MEN. ED BASIL DAVENPORT. 1960
7. 417K. ZACHERLEY’S VULTURE STEW. 1960
8. 441K. THE VICTORIAN CHAISE LOUNGE. MARGHANITA LASKI. 1960
9. 431K. THE DOLL MAKER. SARBAN. 0ct. 1960
10. 458K. SOME OF YOUR BLOOD. THEODORE STURGEON. 1961
11. 466K. THINGS WITH CLAWS. ED. WHIT & HALLIE BURNETT. 1961.
12. 480K. THE OTHER PASSENGER. JOHN KIER CROSS. 1961
13. 498K. RINGSTONES. (Abridged) SARBAN. 1961
14. 508K. NIGHT’S BLACK AGENTS. (Abridged) FRITZ LEIBER. June 1961
15. 522K. TALES OF LOVE AND HORROR. ED. DON CONGDON. 1961
16. 531K. THE CLOCK STRIKES 12.(Abridged) H. R. WAKEFIELD. 1961
17. 540K. SARDONICUS AND OTHER STORIES. RAY RUSSELL. 1961
18. 542K. NOT LONG FOR THIS WORLD. (Abridged) AUGUST DERLETH
19. 563K. ALONE BY NIGHT. ED. MICHAEL AND DON CONGDON. 1961
20. 577K. SHADOWS WITH EYES. FRITZ LEIBER. 1962
21. 587K. NINE HORRORS AND A DREAM. JOSEPH PAYNE BRENNAN
22. 629K. THE SURVIVOR AND OTHERS. H.. LOVECRAFT & AUGUST DERLETH
23. F 641. THE FIEND IN YOU. ED. CHARLES BEAUMONT. 1962. 50 Cents
24. F 650. THE FRANKENSTEIN READER. ED. CALVIN BECK. 1962. (THE LAST ONE?) .50cents

NOTES
INVISIBLE MEN doesn’t seem to be advertised in the back of any of these.

Later: it is on the back of ZACHERLEY’S MIDNIGHT SNACKS. In the later ones with fairly complete lists, it is not there. Possibly because of the nudity on the cover and they may have figured kids like me were buying the books? THE FRANKENSTEIN READER seems to have been the last one. It and THE FIEND IN YOU are with 50-cent cover price. All others have 35 cents on the cover. Basil Davenport’s DEALS WITH THE DEVIL & TALES TO BE TOLD IN THE DARK are abridged re-prints. I have the hard cover of TALES TO BE TOLD IN THE DARK and there are 3 stories dropped from the BB edition. Two by Machen and Whip-Poor-Will by James Thurber. Davenport’s INVISIBLE MEN is possibly a BB original.

Well, I hope this is still info that was of some value.

[mysto]

Well, that didn't come out correctly!  I give up.  If someone wants to fix this up, it may be of value to someone!

[dem]

Feb 17, 2013 9:33:10 GMT mysto said:

Well, that didn't come out correctly!  I give up.  If someone wants to fix this up, it may be of value to someone!

It's of value to this reader, thank you very much, Mysto. I've cleaned up the formatting (not sure what happened there!) . Do you want me to add your commentary to the original thread ?

Ballantine 'Chamber of Horrors' series

[mattofthespurs]

A very helpful list.
Thanks to the Mysto and Demonik for their endeavours.

[doug]

I finally got my hands on a nice copy of Joseph Payne Brennan's "Nine horrors and a Dream"!!

Nine Horrors and a Dream

Even though I own 3 hardback collections it took me ages to find an affordable copy of this paperback edition. Finding copy of "Shades of Midnight" was easier.

Take care.
Doug