First children horror/ghostly anthology

[humgoo]

While it's acknowledged that W.J. Wintle's Ghost Gleams was the first ghost story collection specially aimed at children, do we know what's the first Terrify-the-Small antho? ISFDB tells us that Helen Hoke's first antho appeared in 1958, but were there earlier examples of horror/ghostly anthologies catering for kiddies? Thanks a lot!

[dem]

I'm sure we had a similar query before, but can't find the thread. Also pretty sure we never nailed it. Maybe this time! One that predates the Helen Hoke selection is Phyllis R. Fenner [ed.]'s Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts: Stories of Spooks and Spirits, Haunts and Hobgoblins, Werewolves and Will-O'-The-Wisps (Franklin Watts, 1952).

[johnnymains]

I think Andrew Lang's The Strange Story Book (Longmans, Green And Co., 1913) should be the first book aimed at children.

[helrunar]

Interesting to hear of this, Johnny. I think I read some of the Lang Fairy Books as a kid but the memory has long since faded. Some years ago I bought a copy of The Blue Fairy Book I found in a consignment shop marked five bucks--I purchased it purely for the cover art, an exquisitely printed image of a Witch on a broom flying through a starry night sky, but did read some of the tales. I was surprised at how harrowing, indeed violent, some of the action described was. The rather bland writing style wasn't terribly atmospheric. The only one I can recall at the moment was a version of one of the myth of Perseus where Hermes and Athena were simply described as a tall, beautiful man and woman. The illustration revealed the true identity of these mysteriously powerful individuals who provided the hero with the magical instruments which allowed him to triumph in his quest.

The violence was startling--one story involved various people being hacked to bits and it was all retailed in a calmly matter-of-fact manner.

I don't think Andrew Lang himself wrote many of these stories--my recollection is that he didn't write any at all in the book I found.

H.

[humgoo]

Sept 6, 2021 20:34:47 GMT johnnymains said:

I think Andrew Lang's The Strange Story Book (Longmans, Green And Co., 1913) should be the first book aimed at children. Puzzled as to why this hasn't been mentioned to begin with, to be honest.

Thanks a lot! I took a quick look at the Archive, and saw that it's the last book of the Fairy Books series. Not exactly the type of antho I was thinking of, but it does contain a retelling of Defoe's "The Apparition of Mrs. Veal", in the opinion of some the first modern ghost story. (Retelling is okay, as long as it's not the super annoying "Teeny-Tiny"!)

Sept 6, 2021 13:05:57 GMT dem said:

One that predates the Helen Hoke selection is Phyllis R. Fenner [ed.]'s Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts: Stories of Spooks and Spirits, Haunts and Hobgoblins, Werewolves and Will-O'-The-Wisps (Franklin Watts, 1952).

Yup, I think it's more the type of antho I was thinking of. If you come across anything like this bearing an earlier date, please let us know!

[dem]

Not got a copy but this may well be a contender: Franklin K. Mathiews [ed], The Boy Scouts Year Book of Ghost and Mystery Stories, D. Appleton-Century Company, 1933.

[ramseycampbell]

Sept 6, 2021 13:05:57 GMT dem said:

I'm sure we had a similar query before, but can't find the thread. Also pretty sure we never nailed it. Maybe this time! One that predates the Helen Hoke selection is Phyllis R. Fenner [ed.]'s Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts: Stories of Spooks and Spirits, Haunts and Hobgoblins, Werewolves and Will-O'-The-Wisps (Franklin Watts, 1952).

Ah, I remember reading the Fenner when I was eight or so and finding it insultingly timid.

[humgoo]

Sept 11, 2021 9:54:50 GMT ramseycampbell said:

Ah, I remember reading the Fenner when I was eight or so and finding it insultingly timid.

So we've at least identified one of those books which you say (in The Gruesome Book) "wouldn't have scared a neurotic three-year-old"!

[johnnymains]

Another early, vaguely ghostly/mostly boys own book is this one:

The Religious Tract Society, London (c. 1890)

Contents:

A Night Adventure in France
A Climb to the Highest Point in Everest
Early Australian Explorers
The Mouse and the Merchant
Strange Adventures of Linnaeus
The Cornish Apprentice
Released by the King's Death
The Downward Path
A Manx Adventure
The Crimson Chamber
A Glimpse of the Reign of Terror
An Adventure on a Bridge
The Winter Post Across the St Gothard
The Missing One
A Gallop For Life
Night Upon The Alps
The Forlorn Shop
A Night in the Old Oak Chamber
The Fatal Shot

[johnnymains]

This one's a collection, at least one ghost story in it.

THE CHASE OF THE METEOR AND OTHER STORIES by Bynner Edwin Lassetter

(Little Brown & Co, Boston, 1891)



CONTENTS

The Chase of the Meteor
Jammer's Ghost
The Extra train
The Discontented Dowager
Hercules Jack
Our Special Artist
The Tramp's Dinner Party
Black Beard's Last Struggle
A Cruise in a Soap Bubble

[enoch]

Sept 11, 2021 9:54:50 GMT ramseycampbell said:

Sept 6, 2021 13:05:57 GMT dem said:

I'm sure we had a similar query before, but can't find the thread. Also pretty sure we never nailed it. Maybe this time! One that predates the Helen Hoke selection is Phyllis R. Fenner [ed.]'s Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts: Stories of Spooks and Spirits, Haunts and Hobgoblins, Werewolves and Will-O'-The-Wisps (Franklin Watts, 1952).

Ah, I remember reading the Fenner when I was eight or so and finding it insultingly timid.

My mother read that Fenner book to me when I was very small.  It wasn't scary at all, but "Dead Men on Parade," in which a salvage diver gets trapped inside a sunken ship while the dead, staring bodies of the drowned crew slowly swirl around him,  managed to stick in my memory, at least.  I did enjoy the illustrations in this book though, so much so that I tracked down a copy years later and bought it.  To be fair to Ms. Fenner, her anthologies of fairy and folk tales for children are excellent.  Now, the Helen Hoke anthologies had some stories that absolutely petrified me.  It's where I first encountered such gems as John Wyndham's "Close Behind Him" and Guy Preston's "The Inn."