Horror & Gothic
A Gothic Story London, for Charles Dilly, 1780.Second edition. 8vo. Contemporary calf, rebacked in modern calf.One of the foundational texts of the Gothic novel. First published in 1777 as The Champion of Virtue, retitled for this 'second edition'. Reeve noted in the 1778 preface that "This Story is the literary offspring of The Castle of Otranto, written upon the same plan, with a design to unite the most attractive and interesting circumstances of the ancient Romance and modern Novel, at the same time it assumes a character and manner of its own, that differs from both; it is distinguished by the appellation of a Gothic Story, being a picture of Gothic times and manners." Rare.
Horror & Gothic
London, Edward Arnold, 1904.
First edition, first impression, issue with 'art museum' to p.55. Large 8vo. 4 plates, 16pp. advertisements dated 'November, 1904'. Original oatmeal cloth ruled in red & lettered in black, with yapp fore-edges. Presented in custom cloth drop-back box.
One of the most famous compilations of ghost stories of all time, "generally taken to mark the beginning of the modern era of supernatural fiction. In the opinion of many the foremost modern writer of supernatural fiction" (Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction).
James McBryde had originally intended to supply more illustrations for the work, but unfortunately died prematurely before he could complete them. The publishers did suggest to M.R. James that they could employ an alternative illustrator, but the author wanted the book to stand as testament to his friend's work, so they kept it to the four.
Horror & Gothic
Collected and edited, with an introduction by Harrison Dale
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1931.
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A renowned anthology compiled and with an introductory essay on the ghost story by Harrison Dale. Uncommon in the original dust-jacket.
Horror & Gothic
London [&c.], Hodder & Stoughton, 1988.First edition, limited issue, one of 250 copies signed by the author. 8vo. Original boards. Matching slipcase.The 14th novel by the author of The Rats and The Fog, here in the signed limited edition issue.
Horror & Gothic
London, Macdonald, 1937.First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.An attractively jacketed murder mystery from the Macdonald stable.
Horror & Gothic
London, Odhams Press, n.d..
'Deluxe' edition. 8vo. Original faux leather cloth. Dust-jacket, stating 'De Luxe'.
An attractive collected edition of Poe's short fiction, bringing together key tales of horror, psychological disturbance, and early detective narrative.
Horror & Gothic
London, Heinemann, 1909.
First edition. 8vo. Original deep red cloth titled & decorated in gilt & black.
Most other works by Stoker tend to suffer somewhat in the shadow of the monolith that is Dracula, and The Lady of the Shroud is in this category; a brisk and enthusiastic foray into disquieting spectres and family obsessions that opens with an excerpt from "The Journal of Occultism" in a rather trademark Stoker fashion.
Horror & Gothic
and other Ghost Stories
London, Edward Arnold, 1926.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth.
A collection of ghost stories. Among the stories are "A Warning to the Curious", "The Haunted Doll's House", "An Evening's Entertainment", etc. In the titular story, Paxton, an antiquarian, unearths one of the legendary lost crowns of East Anglia, which leads to a supernatural guardian following him, with fatal consequences.
Horror & Gothic
London, New English Library, 1971-72.
12 issues (complete). Folio (c. 300 x 230 mm). Original pictorial wrappers.
A very good set of this uncommon fantasy & horror magazine, this UK edition complete in 12 issues (the original Spanish edition ran on to 60 issues). A hardback collected edition was published subsequently Scarce complete and in such good condition.
Horror & Gothic
New York, Grosset & Dunlap, n.d. [c.1927].
Stage play tie-in edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, with publisher's catalogue printed on reverse.
Issued to coincide with the hugely successful stage adaptation of Stoker's classic of horror originally published 30 years earlier, which took to the Broadway stage in 1927, this is one of the most visually arresting editions of Dracula. The play starred Bela Lugosi in his first major English-speaking role, with Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing, roles the actors reprised for the famous 1931 film version.
![Alternative view of [Le Fanu (Sheridan) and others]. London Society The Christmas Number for 1872](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/86984_2-300x400.jpg)
London, Richard Bentley, 1872.
8vo. Original pictorial colour-printed wrappers.
Contains: Sir C. L. Young 'A Debt of Honour. A Ghost Story'; T. H. S. Escott 'Artful Creature'; Captain Maine Read 'The Prairie Apparition'; Shirley Brooks 'Charming a Dragon'; Le Fanu'Dickon the Devil; F. C. Burnard 'No Rose Without a Thorn: A Story of a Bayswater Bouquet'; W. W. Fenn 'A Waif from the Sea'; A. E. T. Watson, Huntingcrop Hall'. 'Dickon the Devil' is a supernatural short story about a ghost living at an old house with an idiot living on the land.
An amazing survival.
Horror & Gothic
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1937.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The idyllic life of a Devonshire village is violently interrupted by the arrival of two visitors.
London, Skeffington, [1930s].
UK edition, '6th Thousand'. 8vo. Original green cloth. Presumed second issue dust-jacket, priced 2/6 with '1/6' price-sticker to spine.
A thriller with elements of horror and hypnotism. Friend served as editor for numerous genre magazines, including Wonder Stories, Startling Stories, Captain Future and Thrilling Wonder Stories. After the passing of his colleague Otis Adelbert Kline in 1946, Friend took over Kline's literary agency, representing notable authors such as Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein and Ray Bradbury.
Horror & Gothic
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1930.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3s6d.
Hubin-listed horror mystery by Scottish author and historian Muir. Uncommon in the original jacket.
Horror & Gothic
London, Rider, 1911.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original bright red ribbed cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board, decorated in blind.
Stoker's final novel, The Lair of the White Worm is a vivid and imaginative work of Gothic horror, blending ancient evil, supernatural intrigue and mythic transformation. Set in rural Derbyshire, it follows the enigmatic Lady Arabella March, whose connection to a monstrous serpent suggests a battle between primeval forces. Though canonically overshadowed by Dracula (1897), the novel remains a fascinating piece of late Gothic fiction and has inspired adaptations, most notably Ken Russell's 1988 film.
Horror & Gothic
London, Hutchinson, n.d..
Fifteenth thousand. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Horror & Gothic
London, New English Library, 1976.
First edition. 8vo. Original grey boards lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A fine first edition of one of the key titles by Herbert, famously author of The Rats and The Fog.
Horror & Gothic
London, Odhams, [1919].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
A notoriously rare collection, including the tale 'The housekeeper', subsequently republished as 'The Confession of Beau Sekforde'.
Horror & Gothic
Traduction Nouvelle Précèdès de Souvenirs intimes sur la Vie de l'Auteur Par P. Christian
Paris, Lavigne, 1843.
Large 8vo. Original, black ripple-grain cloth, heavily blocked in gilt to the spine, upper and lower covers, with borders to both covers blocked in blind. All edges gilt. Yellow endpapers.
Generally, a nice copy of a handsome edition rare in the original cloth boards and of especial note for the illustrations.
The contents, newly translated by P Christian (and preceded by a 13-page memoir of Hoffmann's life) comprise: (1) 'The Song of Antonia', 'Salvator Rosa', (3) The Adventures of Young Traugott', (4) 'Annunziata', (5) 'The Cooper of Nuremburg', (6) 'Olivier Brusson', (7) 'Pharaoh's Bank', (8) 'The Chain of Destinies', (9) ' Coppelius', (10) 'King Trabacchio', (11) ' Berthold the Mad', (12) 'The Mystery of the Desert House', (13) 'The Walled Door', (14) 'The Agate Heart, (15) 'Fascination', (16) 'The Lost Reflection', (17) 'Heroic Story of Minister Klein-Zacu'
Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier (1804-66), who worked under the pseudonym 'Gavarni', was originally a contributor to la Mode, specialising in fashion drawings. 'His lithographs give an insight into the manners and morals of his time …' Using every technique in a brilliant way, he described the social life of the upper classes, of the stage and in particular the habits of the Parisian of the 1840s and 1850s – Man, Artists Lithographs p. 43.
Horror & Gothic
London, Newnes, [c.1925].
Newnes' New Size Novels edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers, priced 1/-.
Rare soft cover edition of this classic werewolf title which has been described by Richard Dalby as possibly the definitive werewolf novel. First published by Eveleigh Nash in 1919.
London, Geoffrey Bles, [1937].
First edition. Small 4to. Original red cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
A further collection of 'true' ghost stories collected by Lord Halifax, a Victorian English Viscount with an interest in the supernatural.
Horror & Gothic
London, Odhams, [1919].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
A notoriously rare collection, including the tale 'The housekeeper', subsequently republished as 'The Confession of Beau Sekforde'.
![Joseph Shearing [Marjorie Bowen], Orange Blossom, first edition, with A.L.s., 1938](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/85663-300x300.jpg)
Horror & Gothic
London, Heinemann, 1938.
First edition. 1½ page autograph letter from the author tipped in at front. 8vo. Original orange-brown cloth lettered in gilt.
A superb association copy: Roughead's writings inspired the Shearing novel The Fetch (dedicated to him). The book is notable for containing the ghost story 'They Found my Grave' not available elsewhere in the reprint collections issued in the author's lifetime. Edward Wagenknecht was exuberant about this ghost story in his essay on Marjorie Bowen (Seven Masters of the Supernatural), praising its 'atmosphere of evil'.
Bram Stoker Birthday
London, Rider, 1911.
First edition. 8vo. Original bright red ribbed cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board, decorated in blind.
One of the slightly "fatter" copies, which we instinctively feel might denote an earlier part of the print run. A very handsome copy indeed of the book that is counted as second only to Dracula itself as showcasing Stoker's extraordinary ability with the grisly and the horrifying.
Bram Stoker Birthday
London, Rider, n.d..
20th edition. 8vo. Original pale turquoise cloth. Dust-jacket.
Most other works by Stoker tend to suffer somewhat in the shadow of the monolith that is Dracula, and The Lady of the Shroud is in this category; a brisk and enthusiastic foray into disquieting spectres and family obsessions that opens with an excerpt from "The Journal of Occultism" in a rather trademark Stoker fashion. Scarce in the jacket.
Horror & Gothic
London, John Murray, 1922.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt.
A scarce golfing murder mystery set on a links in Cornwall during the Miners' Strike, and featuring a shell-shocked war veteran.
Horror & Gothic
London, Putnam, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket.
Seven Gothic Tales showcases Blixen's range and depth beyond her famed autobiographical piece Out of Africa. While the latter presents an intimate view of colonial Africa, Seven Gothic Tales takes readers on a different journey into the realms of the macabre, mystical and romantic, something which had intrigued the author from a young age. Rex Whistler's characteristic artwork lends itself perfectly.
Horror & Gothic
London, Sands & Company, 1899.
First edition. 8vo. Woodcut device to title. Original pictorial cloth lettered in gilt to spine.
A gothic mystery novel set on the English moors involves a country squire in danger and his son investigating threats to his life, tracing back to an Indian subplot. Central to the tale are a mad prince, a Dartmoor escapee, multiple disguises, a vengeful Indian thug...and extensive cycling. The story opens with a unique 'face at the window' moment. Uncommon, notably compared to its American counterpart.
![Alternative view of [anon.] Ghost-Stories;](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/85345_2-300x400.jpg)
Horror & Gothic
collected with a particular view to counteract the vulgar belief in ghosts and apparitions
London, Ackermann, 1823.
First edition. 8vo. Original boards, printed spine label.
A rare and intriguing work on ghost stories, '...based on the theme of false supernaturalism.' (Bleiler)
Horror & Gothic
London, Philip Allan & Co. Ltd., 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original grey cloth.
The third of this author's ghost story anthologies.
Horror & Gothic
London, Robert Hale, 1963.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
First UK edition of this collection of thirteen macabre and often shocking tales, from the author of Psycho.
Horror & Gothic
London, Philip Allan, 1920.
First edition. 8vo. Modern blue cloth with red leather spine label tooled in gilt.
A handsome copy of this second collection of supernatural tales by Henrietta Dorothy Everett, presumed the first appearance in book form. Includes one of the author's most famous stories, 'The Crimson Blind'.
Horror & Gothic
London, Methuen, 1897.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original red cloth blocked & lettered in gilt.
A very good first edition of this collection of short stories by Wells, comprising ghost stories, tales of horror and even a cautionary tale about an apple.
Horror & Gothic
London, André Deutsch, 1971.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original blue boards lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced £1.80.
The first UK edition of Stewart's second novel, a horror tale about a woman who believes her brother is possessed by the spirit of a serial killer. It was adapted into the 1972 feature film of the same title starring Shirley MacLaine and Perry King.
Bram Stoker Birthday
London, Heinemann, 1905.
First edition. 8vo. Original deep red cloth titled in gilt. With a note from Stoker tipped in to the front flyleaf on Bedford Street notepaper dated 1st September 1905.
An extremely handsome association copy of a rare piece of Stoker. The note from Stoker reads:
"My Dear Hatton, I hope you will care for my new novel The Man, of which a copy herewith...[illegible in peak Stoker fashion], Heinemann from September 8th, Yours ever, Bram Stoker."
The Hatton in question is almost certainly Joseph Hatton, friend and collaborator of Stoker, and a celebrated (at the time) author in his own right, who had worked with Stoker on a couple of rather sizeable projects including The Reminiscences of Henry Irving in America, and the "Crowdsourced from the Usual Suspects" late Victorian portmanteau thriller which was "The Fate of Fenella."
![Bram Stoker, The Snake's Pass, inscribed first edition, [1890]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/84735-300x300.jpg)
Bram Stoker Birthday
London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1891 [but 1890].
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original red cloth stamped in gilt and bordered in blind.
A rare beast, Stoker's first novel, published on the 18th of November 1890, with the title post-dated 1891. Preceding Stoker's most famous work Dracula by 6-7 years, this adventure novel concerning the discovery of lost treasure and the crown of the legendary king of the snakes is set in Western Ireland, and contains some interesting subtle gothic notes foreshadowing the author's later works.
Inscribed on the half-title, 'G. Biggs from Bram Stoker 20.11.90', under which someone, probably G.Biggs, has helpfully also noted in pencil, '2 days after publication'.
Horror & Gothic
New York, G. Howard Watt, 1929.
First US edition, first printing. 8vo. Original grey cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced $2.00.
A rare edition of this classic of ghoulish horror, especially in the correct first issue dust-jacket with correct number of reviews and price.
![Elliott O'Donnell, The Devil in the Pulpit, first edition, [1932]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84575-300x300.jpg)
Horror & Gothic
London, Denis Archer, [1932].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Sinisterly appealing jacket artwork graces this scarce first edition in jacket; classic horror stuff, with a clergyman possessed by the devil. Genuinely rare.
Horror & Gothic
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1983.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced £7.95.
The famous ghost story that inspired film, television, stage and audio adaptations. Scary stuff.
Horror & Gothic
London, Faber, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. dust-jacket, 9s6d.
An uncommon anthology of ghost tales published by Faber, including authors such as Wilkie Collins and Rudyard Kipling.
Horror & Gothic
a Book of Ghost Stories
London, Philip Allan, 1928.
First edition. 8vo. Woodcut device to title. Original black cloth.
A solid first edition of this collection of tales by a well-respected author, including his celebrated black magic yarn 'He cometh and he Passeth by'; Bleiler called these "excellent stories".
Horror & Gothic
London, Quality Press, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 10/6.
An eye-catching first edition recounting the adventures of a ghost hunter. Scarce.