Fontana's "Great Ghost Stories" Series

A Bibliography

by Rick Kennett

• This article previously appeared in Sirius #2, 1993, and All Hallows #12, June 1996.
• See also Rick's Bibliography of the Ghost Book Series.

"There are only about thirty or forty first-class ghost stories in the whole of western literature."

So wrote Robert Aickman in the Introduction to the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories in 1964. Aickman, acknowledged as the master of the "inconclusive" ghost story, edited this annual anthology for its first eight volumes, using for the most part works from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the period generally known as the Golden Age of the ghost story.

Aickman's selections included classics such as "The Haunted and the Haunters" by Lord Bulwer-Lytton, "A School Story" by M.R. James, "The Red Lodge" by H.R. Wakefield, "The Queen of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin, "Thurnley Abbey" by Perceval Landon, "Afterward" by Edith Wharton, and "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood. On the other hand, his definition of what constituted a ghost story could be sometimes eccentric. Joseph Payne Brennen's "Levitation", Gertrude Bacon's "The Gorgon's Head", L.P. Hartley's "The Travelling Grave", William Hope Hodgson's "The Voice in the Night", and Ambrose Bierce's "The Damned Thing" could by no standard be termed ghost stories, although they might well have found a home in any horror story anthology.

Where Aickman's editorial tone was slightly stuffy and his selections tended to be by writers long since dead and dusty, his successor Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, using a more populist voice, leant more towards new and contemporary writers. Starting with volume nine in 1973 he began publishing such writers as Rosemary Timperley, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ramsey Campbell, and Stephen King. In contrast to Aickman's policy of never publishing more than one story by any one author, Chetwynd-Hayes often presented authors several times such as Blackwood, Bierce, A.M. Burrage, Sheridan le Fanu, and Marjorie Bowen, while simultaneously creating a stable of regular contributors: Heather Vineham, Meg Buxton, Roger Malisson, Patrick Davis, Roger F. Dunkley, Dorothy K. Haynes, and Terry Tapp, amongst others.

No volumes were published in either 1965 or 1968; volumes two and three were both published in 1966. After these aberrations a volume appeared each year until 1984 when the series ended. By then it had spanned twenty volumes and published two hundred and seventy-four stories (and one poem) by one hundred and seventy-two authors, both unknown and world renown, from pre-Victorian times to the 1980s.

Under both of its editors with their widely differing tastes, the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories series presents a shifting mixture of the classic and the contemporary, heavy reading and light weight fluff, the traditional, the oddball and the surprising.

Abney, William

"The Matinee" Volume 12, 1976

Aickman, Robert

"The Trains" Volume 1, 1964
"The Inner Room" Volume 2, 1966
"The Visiting Star" Volume 3, 1966
"The Swords" Volume 5, 1969
"The Cicerones" Volume 7, 1971
"Meeting Mr Millar" Volume 8, 1972

Alan, A.J.

"The Dream" Volume 3, 1966

Alden, Ken

"Old Shadows" Volume 13, 1977

Ambrose, Eric

"Carlton's Father" Volume 4, 1967

Anonymous

"The Mysterious Stranger" Volume 5, 1969
"Not Yet Solved" Volume 13, 1977
"The Sutor of Selkirk" Volume 14, 1978
"The Dead Man of Varley Grange" Volume 15, 1979

Arthur, Robert

"Footsteps Invisible" Volume 11, 1975

Atkins, John

"The Diary of William Carpenter" Volume 20, 1984

Bacon, Gertrude

"The Gorgon's Head" Volume 8, 1972

Bangs, John Kendrick

"The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall" Volume 16, 1980

Baring, Maurice

"Venus" Volume 5, 1969

Baring-Gould, S.

"The Leaden Ring" Volume 12, 1976

Beerbohm, Sir Max

"A.V. Laider" Volume 2, 1966

Benson, E.F.

"Negotium Perambulans" Volume 3, 1966
"How Fear Departed the Long Gallery" Volume 20, 1984

Betjeman, John

"Lord Mount Prospect" Volume 5, 1969

Besant, Sir Walter & Rice, James

"The Case of Mr Lucraft" Volume 3, 1966

Bierce, Ambrose

"The Damned Thing" Volume 2, 1966
"The Moonlit Road" Volume 10, 1974
"Night Doings at Deadman's" Volume 11, 1975

Blackburne, E. Owens

"An Unsolved Mystery" Volume 17, 1980

Blackwood, Algernon

"The Wendigo" Volume 1, 1964
"Keeping His Promise" Volume 9, 1973
"The Woman's Ghost Story" Volume 11, 1975

Blum, Richard

"The Firmin Child" Volume 5, 1969

Bounds, Sydney J.

"The Man in the Mirror" Volume 11, 1975
"A Little Night Fishing" Volume 12, 1976
"The Night Walkers" Volume 15, 1979

Bowen , Elizabeth

"The Demon Lover" Volume 2, 1966

Bowen, Marjorie

"The Crown Derby Plate" Volume 1, 1964
"The Prescription" Volume 16, 1980
"Kecksies" Volume 18, 1982

Brameld, Charles

"Above and Beyond" Volume 18, 1982

Brennan, Joseph Payne

"Levitation" Volume 7, 1971

Bridge, Ann

"The Accident" Volume 4, 1967
"The Song in the House" Volume 9, 1973

Bronte, Emily

"The Horrors of Sleep" (poem) Volume 17, 1981

Bullett, Gerald

"Dearth's Farm" Volume 7, 1971

Bulwer-Lytton (Lord) (listed as "Lord Lytton")

"The Haunted and the Haunters" Volumes 8, 1972

Burke, Thomas

"The Lonely Inn" Volume 11, 1975

Burrage, A.M. (listed as "Ex-Private X" in volumes 9, 10 and 20)

"The Sweeper" Volume 9, 1973
"Smee" Volume 10, 1974
"The Green Scarf" Volume 11, 1975
"One Who Saw" Volume 14, 1978
"The Running Tide" Volume 20, 1984

Burton, Sir Richard

"The Saving of a Soul" Volume 15, 1979

Buxton, Meg

"The Herb Garden" Volume 15. 1979
"The Children and the Apple Tree" Volume 16, 1980
"Situation Vacant" Volume 19, 1983
"Carrie Liddicoat's Cottage" Volume 20, 1984

Campbell, Ramsey

"The Ferries" Volume 18; 1982

Charlton, William

"Camp Norton" Volume 16, 1980

Chetwynd-Hayes, R.

"The Liberated Tiger" Volume 9, 1973
"Non-Paying Passengers" Volume 10, 1974
"Matthew and Luke" Volume 11, 1975
"Cold Fingers" Volume 12, 1976
"My Dear Wife" Volume 13, 1977
"The Sad Ghost" Volume 14, 1978
"The Hanging Tree" Volume 15, 1979
"She Walks on Dry Land" Volume 16, 1980
"Which One?" Volume 17, 1981
"The Chair" Volume 18, 1982
"Tomorrow's Ghost" Volume 19, 1983
"My Very Best Friend" Volume 20, 1984

Christie, Agatha

"The Last Seance" Volume 8, 1972
"The Lamp" Volume 17, 1981

Claxton (Mrs)

"The Grey Cottage" Volume 13, 1977

Cleaver, Pamela

"Mother Love" Volume 13, 1977

Collins, William Wilkie

"Mad Monkton" Volume 4, 1967

Cooper, Margaret Chilvers

"January Ides" Volume 12, 1976
"The Cape Cod Poltergeist" Volume 13, 1977
"The Primrose Connection" Volume 15, 1979

Coppard, A.E.

"Gone Away" Volume 7, 1971

Counselman, Mary Elizabeth

"The Shot-Tower Ghost" Volume 17, 1981

Crawford, F. Marion

"The Dead Smile" Volume 13, 1977
"The Doll's Ghost" Volume 14, 1978

Cross, John Keir

"Esmeralda" Volume 7, 1971

Crowe, Catherine

"Round the Fire" Volume 14, 1978

Cram, Ralph Adams

"The Dead Valley" Volume 7, 1971

Davis, Patrick

"Sally" Volume 9, 1973
"The Tunnel" Volume 12, 1976

Davis, Richard

"A Day Out" Volume 19, 1983

Defoe, Daniel

"The Ghost of Dorothy Dingley" Volume 14, 1978

de la Mare, Walter

"Seaton's Aunt" Volume 1, 1964
"Bad company" Volume 18, 1982

de Maupassant, Guy

"The Hostelry" Volume 13, 1977
"An Apparition" Volume 19, 1983

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan

"Playing With Fire" Volume 2, 1966

du Maurier, Daphne

"Escort" Volume 12, 1976

Dunkley, Roger F.

"The Man Who Sold Ghosts" Volume 11, 1975
"Twisted Shadow" Volume 12, 1976
"The Ghost Machine" Volume 13, 1977
"Eye to Eye" Volume 18, 1982

Dunsany (Lord)

"Our Distant Cousins" Volume 2, 1966
"Thirteen at Table" Volume 14, 1978

Edwards, Amelia B.

"The Four-Fifteen Express" Volume 9, 1973

Ellis, A.E.

"The Haunted Haven" Volume 8, 1972
"The Chapel Men" Volume 10, 1974
"Dead Man's Barn" Volume 17, 1981

Eyre, Barbara Joan

"That Summer" Volume 12, 1976
"Siren Song" Volume 14, 1978

Fancett, Elizabeth

"Elaina" Volume 12, 1976

Farnol, Jeffery

"The Cupboard" Volume 17, 1981

Ferreira, Rick

"Summer and Miss Swanson" Volume 12, 1976

Fisher, James

"Here Today" Volume 15, 1979

Forbes, Duncan

"28 Tower Street" Volume 13, 1977

Froome, Daphne

"Crimson Lake" Volume 13, 1977
"Christmas Entertainment" Volume 15, 1979
"The Last Innings" Volume 17, 1981
"Outside Agency" Volume 18, 1982
"Still Life" Volume 19, 1983
"The Rip Current" Volume 20, 1984

Gaskell, Elizabeth

"The Old Nurse's Story" Volume 1, 1964

Gaultier, Theophile

Glarimonde" Volume 6, 1970

Gerhardi, William

"The Man Who Came Back" Volume 3, 1966

The Gibsons

"Justice" Volume 11, 1975

Griff, Alan

"The House of Desolation" Volume 11, 1975

Grubb, Davis

"Where the Woodbine Twineth" Volume 7, 1971

Hackett, Peter

"The Woman in Black" Volume 11, 1975

Hartley, L.P.

"The Travelling Grave" Volume 1, 1964
"Monkshood Manor" Volume 10, 1974
"Fall in at the Double" Volume 14, 1978

Harvey, W.F.

"The Ankardyne Pew" Volume 18, 1982

Haynes, Dorothy K.

"Scots Wha Ha'e" Volume 11, 1975
"Barleyriggs" Volume 12, 1976
"Help the Railway Mission" Volume 17, 1981
"A Lady in the Night" Volume 20, 1984

Heath, Phillip C.

"Off the Deep End" Volume 18, 1982

Henry, 0.

"The Furnished Room" Volume 10, 1974

Heron, E. and H.

"The Story of Medhans Lea" Volume 16, 1980

Hichens, Robert

"How Love Came to Professor Guildea" Volume 2, 1966

Hicks, Roger

"The Glove" Volume 9, 1973

Hill, K.B.

"The Late Arrivals" Volume 14, 1978
"Beyond the Red Door" Volume 16, 1980

Hodgson, William Hope

"The Voice in the Night" Volume 1, 1964

Hopman, Fritz

"The Bearer of the Message" Volume 15, 1979

Howard, Elizabeth Jane

"Three Miles Up" Volume 1, 1964

Howard, Robert E.

"The Man on the Ground" Volume 14, 1978

Hough, Peter A.

"Master of the Hounds" Volume 15, 1979

Hughs, Hilda

"The Birthright" Volume 10, 1974

Irving, Washington

"Governor Manco and the Soldier" Volume 7, 1971
"Guests from Gibbet Island" Volume 19, 1983

Irwin, Margaret

"The Earlier Service" Volume 11, 1975

Jacobs, W.W.

"Jerry Bundler" Volume 5, 1969
"The Three Sisters" Volume 14, 1978

James, M.R.

"A School Story" Volume 4, 1967
"Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" Volume 16, 1980

Jarvie, Clodagh Gibson

"First Foot" Volume 12, 1976

Jerome, Jerome K.

"The Dancing Partner" Volume 5, 1969
"Christmas Eve in the Blue Chamber" Volume 17, 1981

Johnson, Pamela Hansford

"The Swan" Volume 16, 1980
"The Empty Schoolroom" Volume 18, 1982

Kennett, Rick

"Kindred Spirits" Volume 18, 1982
"Drake's Drum" Volume 19, 1983
"The Roads of Donnington" Volume 20, 1984

Kilworth, Garry

"The Tryst" Volume 19, 1983

King, Stephen

"The Reaper's Image" Volume 17, 1981

Kipling, Rudyard

"The Return of Imray" Volume 9, 1973

Kirk, Russell

"Sorworth Place" Volume 6, 1970

la Farge, Oliver

"Haunted Ground" Volume 11, 1975

Landon, Perceval

"Thurnley Abbey" Volume 2, 1966

Law, Gladys

"Ordeal by Fire" Volume 20, 1984

Lawrence, D.H.

"The Rocking Horse Winner" Volume 1, 1964

Lear, Alan W.

"Safety Zone" Volume 19, 1983

Lee, Vernon

"Oke of Okehurst" Volume 6, 1970

le Fanu, J. Sheridan

"Squire Toby's Will" Volume 1, 1964
"Wicked Captain Walshawe" Volume 10, 1974
"Ghost Stories of the Tiled House" Volume 12, 1976
"Madam Crowl's Ghost" Volume 14, 1978

Lumley, Brian

"Aunt Hester" Volume 20, 1984

MacCarthy, Desmond

"Pargiton and Harby" Volume 4, 1967

Machen, Arthur

"The Great Return" Volume 5, 1969

MacDiarmid, Hugh

"The Stranger" Volume 3, 1966

MacQueen-Pope, W.

"Dury Lane Ghost" Volume 15, 1979

Malisson, Roger

"Lady Celia's Mirror" Volume 11, 1975
"A Fairly Great Reckoning" Volume 12, 1976
"Disappearance" Volume 13, 1977
"Welcombe Manor" Volume 17, 1981
"Skin Deep" Volume 20, 1984

Marsh, Joyce

"The Tree" Volume 8, 1972

Maugham, W. Somerset

"The End of the Flight" Volume 3, 1966
"The Tiapan" Volume 13, 1977
"The Man from Glasgow" Volume 15, 1979

Merril, Judith & Budrys, Algis

"Death Cannot Wither" Volume 9, 1973

Metcalfe, John

"Nightmare Jack" Volume 2, 1966

Middleton, Richard

"The Ghost Ship" Volume 1, 1964
"On the Brighton Road" Volume 10, 1974
"The Passing of Edward" Volume 17, 1981

Minto, G.A.

"The Ghost of U 65" Volume 11, 1975

Monynehan, Patricia

"Just for the Record" Volume 16, 1980
"The Old Rectory Well" Volume 18, 1982

Moore, George

"Priscilla and Emily Lofft" Volume 6, 1970

Morrow, W.C.

"Over an Absinthe Bottle" Volume 7, 1971

Nabokov, Vladimir

"The Visit to the Museuni" Volume 7, 1971

Nesbit, Edith

"Man-Sized in Marble" Volume 2, 1966
"John Charrington's Wedding" Volume 15, 1979

Northcote, Amyas

Brickett Bottom" Volume 16, 1980

Noyes, Alfred

"The Midnight Express" Volume 8, 1972

Oliphant, Margaret

"The Library Window" Volume 5, 1969

Onions, Oliver

"The Beckoning Fair One" Volume 3, 1966
"Two Trifles" Volume 10, 1974
"The Rocker" Volume 13, 1977

O'Sullivan, Vincent

"When I was Dead" Volume 4, 1967
"The Business of Madam Jahn" Volume 15, 1979

Pain, Barry

"Not on the Passenger-List" Volume 4, 1967

Pakenham, Pansy

"The Cook's Room" Volume 16, 1980

Penn, Mary E.

"In the Dark" Volume 19, 1983

Poe, Edgar Allan

"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdermar" Volume 2, 1966

Priestly, J.B.

"The Grey Ones" Volume 6, 1970

Pushkin, Alexander

"The Queen of Spades" Volume 4, 1967

Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur

"The Seventh Man" Volume 3, 1966

Rath, Tina

"The Fetch" Volume 19, 1983

Richards, Tony

"After Dark" Volume 17, 1981
"The Streets of the City" Volume 18, 1982
"Our Lady of the Shadows" Volume 20, 1984

Riddell, Charlotte Elizabeth

"Old Mrs Jones" Volume 7, 1971

Rose, David E.

"White Christmas" Volume 15, 1979

Saki (H.H. Monroe)

"The Wolves of Cernograte" Volume 4, 1967

Sapper (H.C. McNeile)

"The House by the Headland" Volume 15, 1979

Scott, Sir Walter

"The Tapestried Chamber" Volume 12, 1976

Scupham, A.

"Destination Glen Doll" Volume 16, 1980

Shaw, George Bernard (listed as G.B.S.)

"The Whittakers Ghost" Volume 11, 1975

Sinclair, May

"Where Their Fire is Not Quenched" Volume 6, 1970
"The Villa Desiree" Volume 20, 1984

Smith, A.E.

"The Coat" Volume 9, 1973

Smith, Lady Eleanor

"No Ships Pass" Volume 3, 1966

Solomon, Robert

"The New Old House" Volume 18, 1982

Softly, Barbara

"Master Ghost and I" Volume 10, 1974

Stephens, Frances

"Only Child" Volume 15, 1979

Swain, Virginia

"Aunt Cassie" Volume 11, 1975

Tapp, Terry

"Into the Mad, Mad World" Volume 13, 1977
"Never, Never Leave Me" Volume 14, 1978
"Mariners" Volume 16, 1980
"The Bed" Volume 17, 1981

Tem, Steve Rasnic

"Housewarming" Volume 18, 1982
"Shadows on the Grass" Volume 19, 1983

Thornton, Charles

"The Lonely Apparition" Volume 13, 1977

Timperley, Rosemary

"To Keep Him Company" Volume 10, 1974
"From Another World" Volume 12, 1976
"The Man With the Flute" Volume 13, 1977
"Masks and Voices" Volume 14, 1978
"No Living Man So Tall ..." Volume 15, 1979

Turgenev, Ivan

"Bezhin Lea" Volume 8, 1972

Turner, James

"The St Christopher Medallion" Volume 14, 1978
"The Way Shadows Fall" Volume 19, 1983

Turner, John Hastings

"The House in the Wood" Volume 10, 1974

Vincent, Pamela

"The Attic" Volume 11, 1975
"Brooding Dark" Volume 12, 1976

Vineham, Heather

"The Rock Garden" Volume 16, 1980
"Catherine's Angel" Volume 17, 1981
"The Summer House" Volume 18, 1982
"Lost Eden" Volume 19, 1983
"Graveyard Lodge" Volume 20, 1984

Wakefield, H.R.

"The Red Lodge" Volume 8, 1972

Walpole, Hugh

"The Snow" Volume 4, 1967

Walter, Elizabeth

"A Question of Time" Volume 5, 1969
"In the Mist" Volume 10, 1974
"The Travelling Companion" Volume 12, 1976

Wells, H.G.

"The Door in the Wall" Volume 6, 1970

Wharton, Edith

"Afterward" Volume 2, 1966
"The Lady's Maid's Bell" Volume 9, 1973

Wheatley, Denis

"The Case of the Long Dead Lord" Volume 13, 1977

Whitehead, Henry, S.

"The Lips" Volume 6, 1970

Wilde, Oscar

"The Sphinx Without a Secret" Volume 4, 1967

Williams, Mary

"Melody in a Minor Key" Volume 14, 1978
"They Walk at Twilight" Volume 19, 1983

Wren, P.G.

"Fear" Volume 10, 1974