Foreword
KEVIN J. ANDERSON
If you’re a fan of ghost stories, you owe much of your reading to The Ghost Book. This influential anthology redefined the genre, set a high bar, and crystallized the modern psychological ghost tale.
First published in 1926, The Ghost Book was a ground-breaking collection of literary ghost stories assembled by socialite Lady Cynthia Asquith, focusing on atmospheric and cerebral aspects of the chilling supernatural story, rather than the more garish and shocking tales published in penny dreadfuls.
The Ghost Book contains sixteen stories (seventeen, actually, since Oliver Onions throws in two of them), written by some of the most well-known and well-respected authors of the day. By bringing in works from such significant literary figures, Asquith raised the ghost story to a new level.
Many of these tales hold up remarkably well almost a century later. The authors took their time and used the words they needed, working with meticulous care to build a sense of dread to extraordinary creepiness. Aficionados of ghost stories can truly savor the experience, feel the chill grow and gooseflesh crawl. Often times, a significant part of the story is spent simply establishing the narrator and his situation, until his mysterious and haunted guest could sit in front of a fire, sip a brandy, and begin with, “Here, let me tell you a tale . . . ”
Reading these entries, you will recognize many standard twists and tricks and surprise endings—and many of these tropes were first introduced here in The Ghost Book. Some of the authors are no longer known by modern readers, but many are well known in the pantheon of weird and supernatural fiction. The Ghost Book contains works by masters such as Algernon Blackwood (one of the most prolific ghost story writers of his day), Arthur Machen (best known for The Great God Pan and The Three Impostors), Hugh Walpole, Walter de la Mare, Oliver Onions (Widdershins and the horror classic “The Beckoning Fair One”), May Sinclair, and Enid Bagnold (author of National Velvet). The most well-known story in the anthology is “The Rocking Horse Winner,” a riveting tale by D. H. Lawrence (best known for Lady Chatterly’s Lover), which was made into a 1949 film and two subsequent films.
These authors and stories were hugely influential on the next generations of supernatural writers, from H. P. Lovecraft to Stephen King. You’ll find much here to give you a chill.
I have a personal connection to this book, and when I saw that it was being reissued in a fine new edition from WordFire Press, as a project for the graduate program in Publishing for Western Colorado University, I happily offered to write the foreword. This book had a great impact on me, both as a writer and an appreciator of fine supernatural fiction.
I was about ten years old, a kid with an overactive imagination, who already had dreams of being a writer someday. I loved to watch classic black-and-white horror movies whenever I managed to stay up late for the Friday night Creature Features.
One Christmas morning, amongst other gifts, I tore off the wrapping paper of what was obviously a book, to find the 1970 Pan paperback reissue of The Ghost Book, with tiny print and a compelling cover photograph of a cobweb-bedecked candelabra and rats nosing among long-abandoned plates from a haunted banquet. The next gifts I unwrapped were The Second Ghost Book and The Third Ghost Book, also edited by Lady Cynthia Asquith, then The Fourth Ghost Book, edited by James Turner.
What a great Christmas! My parents certainly knew my interest, and I had a fictional feast before me. I loved those books, turning page after page, fascinated by the hauntings and the murders and the dark secrets of vengeful spirits. These anthologies whetted my appetite as a boy and fired my imagination. I began to write ghost stories of my own—mostly terrible ones, but I got better.
It was a delight to reread this book now, reminded of these great stories. “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D. H. Lawrence remains particularly powerful, and Hugh Walpole’s “Mrs. Lunt” gave me a chill. The lavish descriptions of Arthur Machen’s “Munitions of War” make the story quite memorable, and “Twelve O’Clock” has a perfect twist, but perhaps the story I most enjoyed was “The Lost Tragedy,” in which Shakespeare’s ghost desperately tries to prevent an antiquarian book collector from publishing an abysmal first draft of one of the Bard’s lost plays. There are other amusing stories here in contrast to the creepiness, such as “Mr. Tallent’s Ghost” by Mary Webb and “Two Trifles” by Oliver Onions.
This is an important collection, make no mistake about it. You know many of the stories, at least tangentially (they’ve been mimicked by so many other authors). Now read them again.
Lady Cynthia Asquith was a socialite in England, popular in literary circles in the early 20th century. She was the personal secretary of J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, from 1918 until his death in 1937. She knew many other writers, participated in literary salons, hobnobbed with the most respected authors of the day. Through her connections, she managed to get original fiction, as well as select reprints, for The Ghost Book.
Asquith wrote essays, short stories of her own (including one of the stories in The Ghost Book, “The Corner Shop,” under a pen name), and edited several anthologies including influential supernatural collections Shudders (1929) and When Churchyards Yawn (1931), as well as children’s anthologies.
Even though The Ghost Book was a success, Asquith did not return to the series for more than a quarter of a century until she released The Second Ghost Book in 1952, followed by The Third Ghost Book in 1955. After Asquith’s death in 1960, James Turner revived the series in 1965, followed by Rosemary Timperley, and then others—at least thirteen Ghost Book volumes under varying titles and alternate titles.
But none had the impact of the very first Ghost Book.
I hope you enjoy this fine new edition of the original classic. WordFire Press is pleased to bring these ghosts out of the dusty corners of time so they can haunt readers’ imaginations again. Enjoy!