October: The leaves are changing, the days are getting shorter, the temperatures are getting colder. I generally set aside more blood and thunder fiction and read weird/supernatural/horror until Halloween.
A series that has really grown on me is Wordsworth’s Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural. This series started in 2006 and lasted until petering out in 2015. Richard, who guest blogs here now and then, sent me the E. F. Benson collection and I think the Henry S. Whitehead collection.
These books are great. Trade paperbacks priced very affordably. Wordsworth mainly reprinted fiction out of copyright. The emphasis was on pre-pulp British ghost writers. I currently have 2 Le Fanu, M. R. James, and W. F. Harvey collections on my coffee table for nightly reading until October 31st.
This series is a great way to explore and accumulate classic British ghost fiction. Some of these titles are still available. The only issue is I have heard is there was tampering with Robert E. Howard’s prose. There is a rumor that the series might be back. I would like to see H. R. Wakefield reprinted.
I put together a list of titles in the series.
| Author | Title |
| Askew, Alice & Claude | Aylmer Vance, Ghost Seer |
| Atherton, Gertrude | The Bell in the Fog and Other Stories |
| Baldwin, Louisa; Galbraith, Lettice | The Shadow on the Blind and Other Stories |
| Beckford, Peacock, Walpole | Castle of Otranto; Vathek; Nightmare Abbey |
| Benson, A.C.and R. H. | The Temple of Death: Ghost Stories |
| Benson, E. F. | Night Terrors |
| Bierce, Ambrose | Terror By Night: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories |
| Blair, David (editor) | Gothic Short Stories |
| Boothby, Guy | Doctor Nikola, Master Criminal |
| Bowen, Marjorie | The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories |
| Brahmah, Ernest | The Eyes of Max Carrados |
| Broster, D. K. | Couching at the Door |
| Caldecott, Sir Andrew | Not Exactly Ghosts / Fire Burns Blue |
| Chambers, Robert W. | The King in Yellow |
| Collins, Wilkie | The Haunted Hotel & Other Strange Stories |
| Crawford, F. Marion | The Witch of Prague & Other Stories |
| Crowley, Aleister | The Drug and Other Stories |
| Davies, Stuart David | The Tangled Skein |
| Davies, Stuart David | The Shadow of the Rat/ The Tangled Skein |
| Davies, Stuart David (editor) | Return From the Dead (anthology) |
| Davies, Stuart David (editor) | Children of the Night: Vampire Stories (anthology) |
| Davies, Stuart David (editor) | The Casebook of Sexton Blake |
| Doig, James | Australian Ghost Stories |
| Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan | Tales of Unease |
| Everett, H. D. | The Crimson Blind & Other Stories |
| Gilchrist, R. Murray | A Night on the Moor & Other Tales of Dread |
| Gray, Rosemary (editor) | Scottish Ghost Stories |
| Gray, Rosemary (editor) | Irish Ghost Stories |
| Harvey, W. F. | The Beast With Five Fingers: Supernatural Stories |
| Hearn, Lacfadio | Oriental Ghost Stories |
| Hodgson, William Hope | Carnacki: The Ghot Finder |
| Howard, Robert E. | The Right Hand of Doom & Other Tales of Solomon Kane |
| Howard, Robert E. | The Haunter of the Ring & Other Tales |
| James, Henry | Ghost Stories of Henry James |
| James, M. R. | Collected Ghost Stories |
| Kipling, Rudyard | Strange Tales |
| Le Fanu, J. Sheridan | Madam Crowl’s Ghost and Other Tales of Mystery |
| Le Fanu, J. Sheridan | The House in the Churchyard |
| Le Fanu, J. Sheridan | In a Glass Darkly |
| Le Fanu, J. Sheridan | Uncle Silas |
| Leroux, Gaston | The Phantom of the Opera |
| Lovecraft, H. P. | The Haunter of the Dark |
| Lovecraft, H. P. | The Horror in the Museum |
| Lovecraft, H. P. | The Whisperer in Darkness |
| Lovecraft, H. P. | The Lurking Fear |
| Marsh, Richard | The Beetle: A Mystery |
| Nesbit, Edith | The Power of Darkness: Tales of Terror |
| Northcote, Amyas | In Ghostly Country |
| Onions, Oliver | The Dead of Night: Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions |
| Poe, Edgar Allan | Tales of Mystery and Imagination |
| Radcliffe, Ann | The Italian |
| Reynolds, George W. M. | Wagner the Werewolf |
| Sinclair, May | Uncanny Stories |
| Stoker, Bram | Dracula’s Guest and Other Stories |
| Stoker, Bram | Lair of the White Worm/ The Lady in the Shroud |
| Valentine, Mark (editor) | The Werewolf Pack (anthology) |
| Valentine, Mark (editor) | The Black Veil and Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths (anthology) |
| Wharton, Edith | The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton |
| Wheatley, Dennis | To the Devil a Daughter |
| Wheatley, Dennis | The Haunting of Toby Jugg |
| Wheatley, Dennis | The Devil Rides Out |
| Whitehead, Henry S. | Voodoo Tales |
| Classic Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories (anthology) |
If there was an issue with the REH texts then I’m willing to bet its because Wordsworth was innocently working from corrupted sources rather than doing anything underhand themselves.
It certainly was a great series while it lasted. If the rumours of its coming resurrection are true (beginning with Machen) one can only hope it will be better supported this time. Anyone who professes an interest in Mystery/Weird fiction of this period should consider possession of a few volumes from the series a mandatory requirement.
I’d dearly love to see a Wakefield volume too. But as he only died in 1964 he remains beyond Wordsworth’s reach for the forseeable future, sadly.
Great and very helpful checklist. There are a few volumes that can be added to it like the Bulldog Drummond omnibus, Crowley’s Simon Iff stories, and the Charlie Chan collection. The most significant omissions I would draw attention to though are NIGHT SHIVERS by JH Riddell, Elizabeth Gaskell’s TALES OF MYSTERY & THE MACABRE and ALL SAINTS’ EVE by Amelia B Edwards.
Aren’t most of these volumes still on amazon.com? When someone turns over a print on demand book to amazon, it seldom goes out of print, so basically, those books will always be available.