Wordworth Tales Of Mystery & Supernatural

[j d worthington]

That's interesting, as I've been thinking about Whitehead lately. I have the Panther two-vol. edition of the Arkham Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales, as well as the contents of West India Lights, and I picked up the Ash-Tree The Passing of a God, which was supposed to be the first of a three-volume edition of his complete fiction... and never heard anything more about the other two volumes.

In light of this last, I was wondering if anyone was going to be releasing his weird fiction in the foreseeable future, as I'd really like to have a complete Whitehead to fit into the reading of the WT (and related) set of writers I have planned for the upcoming year(s), especially given that HSW and HPL were friends, and that Lovecraft revised at least one Whitehead tale ("The Trap") and inspired another ("Cassius"), while HSW also had a story of his own which, written quite independently of any knowledge of HPL, bears a striking resemblance to the latter's "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family"....

 

[GOLLUM]

That's interesting, as I've been thinking about Whitehead lately. I have the Panther two-vol. edition of the Arkham Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales, as well as the contents of West India Lights, and I picked up the Ash-Tree The Passing of a God, which was supposed to be the first of a three-volume edition of his complete fiction... and never heard anything more about the other two volumes.

In light of this last, I was wondering if anyone was going to be releasing his weird fiction in the foreseeable future, as I'd really like to have a complete Whitehead ...

Apparently the Wordsworth edn which I am yet to acquire tries to pretty much collect all of his fiction, whether that includes all weird tales not sure but may possibly be the closest you can get now in terms of his complete fiction in a single volume? I don't know Whitehead nearly as extensively as you do but here's a blogger's recent take on the contents, which doesn''t seem to be an easy thing to source either for the purposes of comparison. I will get a copy soonish so I could always post you the table of contents if you wish?

Wordsworth Editions in the U.K. has just brough out a massive trade paperback collection of Henry S. Whitehead called VOODO TALES: The Ghost Stories of Henry S. Whitehead (700 plus pages) Looking at the contents, all of the Arkham House books WEST INDIA LIGHTS and JUMBEE AND OTHERS have been included, plus the paperback THE BLACK BEAST AND OTHER TALES, and uncollected stories. Virtually all of Whitehead's fantastic fiction has been collected. He was in WEIRD TALES in the late 20 and early 30s and in STRANGE TALES. There are two straight adventure stories from ADVENTURE, a story from PEOPLE'S, a story from THE POPULAR MAGAZINE, and a western uncollected.

Dunno if that helps at all?

OH yeh and I should probably add your 'friend' Mr Davies is at the helm on this one....

 

[j d worthington]

Apparently the Wordsworth edn which I am yet to acquire tries to pretty much collect all of his fiction, whether that includes all weird tales not sure but may possibly be the closest you can get now in terms of his complete fiction in a single volume? I don't know Whitehead nearly as extensively as you do but here's a blogger's recent take on the contents, which doesn''t seem to be an easy thing to source either for the purposes of comparison. I will get a copy soonish so I could always post you the table of contents if you wish?

Wordsworth Editions in the U.K. has just brough out a massive trade paperback collection of Henry S. Whitehead called VOODO TALES: The Ghost Stories of Henry S. Whitehead (700 plus pages) Looking at the contents, all of the Arkham House books WEST INDIA LIGHTS and JUMBEE AND OTHERS have been included, plus the paperback THE BLACK BEAST AND OTHER TALES, and uncollected stories. Virtually all of Whitehead's fantastic fiction has been collected. He was in WEIRD TALES in the late 20 and early 30s and in STRANGE TALES. There are two straight adventure stories from ADVENTURE, a story from PEOPLE'S, a story from THE POPULAR MAGAZINE, and a western uncollected.

Dunno if that helps at all?

The Black Beast? That's the second volume of Panther's reprinting of the original Arkham House Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales, unless there has been a different collection issued with the same title. I have both of these Panther volumes, and have had access to the original Arkham edition, so I've been able to compare contents. (You can also find the list of contents in Joshi's Sixty Years of Arkham House):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixty_Years_of_Arkham_House

(A very useful little book, by the way.)

However, it sounds as if it does collect together all his fantastic fiction, as well as a couple of other pieces.

Which brings me to... I've ordered a copy of the book, and it's on its way, so I should have the answer to this quite soon, but... I wonder if the non-fantastic tales are the same as in The Passing of a God from Ash-Tree... which, again, would raise questions about Davies' editorial practices, as a lot of research went into tracking down Whitehead's complete publication record (not an easy thing, as some of this, as with Le Fanu, has proven rather difficult to either track down or confirm as Whitehead's); and, if Davies, as has been his wont, does not give credit to the ones who did the hard work... well, I can't say I think much of his ethics. (On the other hand, should he give full acknowledgement, that would remove one of my chief objections to DSD, who at very least does deserve credit for bringing so much obscure material out in affordable editions for a wider audience.)

 

[GOLLUM]

The Black Beast? That's the second volume of Panther's reprinting of the original Arkham House Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales, unless there has been a different collection issued with the same title. I have both of these Panther volumes, and have had access to the original Arkham edition, so I've been able to compare contents. (You can also find the list of contents in Joshi's Sixty Years of Arkham House):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixty_Years_of_Arkham_House

(A very useful little book, by the way.)

However, it sounds as if it does collect together all his fantastic fiction, as well as a couple of other pieces.

Weel I was just quoting that person who had posted something on the book. I have no idea if another issue of The Black Beast was ever published. Its probably exactly what you are suggesting it (originally) was.

I have that Sixty Years of Arkham House History compiled by Joshi in hardback. I didn't think to look in there having posted last evening in response to your comments.

Which brings me to... I've ordered a copy of the book, and it's on its way, so I should have the answer to this quite soon, but... I wonder if the non-fantastic tales are the same as in The Passing of a God from Ash-Tree... which, again, would raise questions about Davies' editorial practices, as a lot of research went into tracking down Whitehead's complete publication record (not an easy thing, as some of this, as with Le Fanu, has proven rather difficult to either track down or confirm as Whitehead's); and, if Davies, as has been his wont, does not give credit to the ones who did the hard work... well, I can't say I think much of his ethics. (On the other hand, should he give full acknowledgement, that would remove one of my chief objections to DSD, who at very least does deserve credit for bringing so much obscure material out in affordable editions for a wider audience.)

It looks as if you'll receive your copy before I get mine, so hopefully you can post what the actual contents of this rather large tome are.

It will be interesting to see if DSD provides an acknowledgment. The reason I acquire a lot of the Wordsworth series is more for practical than ethical reasons I'm afraid as a lot of those original source publications are not easy to get and would otherwise be cost prohibitive to me. As you say on the the one hand its good that a wide audience gets to read works that would otherwise be restricted in their readership but then again there is the issue of 'proper' acknowledgment. Tricky and not something I feel entirely comfortable with, albeit its not an issue that had immediately occurred to me until you brought it up some while back by which time I had committed myself entirely to this publication series....SIGH.

 

[j d worthington]

I've not been able to go through all of DSD's intro carefully, but I don't see anything resembling such an acknowledgement. What is more, I find myself feeling he was particularly lazy in assembling this one, as he presents the contents as constituting those of West India Lights, Jumbee and Other Voodoo Tales, and The Black Beast and Other Voodoo Tales, with a few extras... which is accurate as far as it goes. But... as I mentioned earlier, the last two are actually later paperback reprints of the original Arkham House Jumbee, the contents of which were split up in a rather odd fashion to become two volumes instead of one. Why he didn't simply follow the AH table of contents then, is beyond me, as he does mention it. In reprinting the contents of Jumbee, he leaves out Robert H. Barlow's lovely introduction on Whitehead (Barlow knew HSW, just as he did HPL), though he makes some use of it in what I've read of his own introduction here.

At any rate, the contents of the original volumes are as follows (in the case of Jumbee, I have numbered those in the paperback Jumbee as (1), those in The Black Beast as (2)):

Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales (1944):

"Jumbee" (1)
"Cassius" (1)
"Black Tancrede" (1)
"The Shadows" (1)
"Sweet Grass" (1)
"The Black Beast" (2)
"Seven Turns in a Hangman's Rope" (2)
"The Tree-Man" (1)
"Passing of a God" (1)
"Mrs. Lorriquer" (2)
"Hill Drums" (1)
"The Projection of Armand Dubois" (2)
"The Lips" (2)
"The Fireplace" (2)

West India Lights (1946):

"The Black Terror"
"West India Lights"
"'Williamson'"
"The Shut Room"
"The Left Eye"
"Tea Leaves"
"The Trap"
"The Napier Limousine"
"The Ravel Pavane"
"Sea Change"
"The People of Pan"
"The Chadbourne Episode"
"Scar Tissue"
"'—In Case of Disaster Only'"
"Bothon"
"The Great Circle"
"Obi in the Caribbean"

This last was actually a non-fiction article on the subject by Whitehead. Having read both Arkham collections, I can say that it is also odd West India Lights heads off the collection, both because the contents are more of a mixed bag than the earlier collection, but also because "West India Lights" itself (the short story, that is) is an alternate version of "Seven Turns in a Hangman's Rope" from Jumbee! (Both are reworkings of a similar theme from an earlier story, "The Intarsia Box", not inlcuded here, though it is available in Passing of a God and Other Stories.)

In addition to the contents of the two earlier Arkham House collections, this one includes the following:

"The Moon Dial" (1932)
"No Eye-Witnesses" (1932)
"Across the Gulf" (1926)
"The Tabernacle" (1930)
"The Door" (1924)
"Sea-Tiger" (1932)

As I say, I have strong reservations concerning DSD's practices; but, as far as concerns the fact that this volume has seen print... well, while I would much rather it had been done more professionally and ethically, I am glad to see so much of Whitehead back in print in an easily-available edition. Flaws he certainly has, but his work deserves to be known to a much wider audience than it has seen since its original publication in the pulps of the teens, twenties, and thirties....

 

[GOLLUM]

I've not been able to go through all of DSD's intro carefully, but I don't see anything resembling such an acknowledgement. What is more, I find myself feeling he was particularly lazy in assembling this one, as he presents the contents as constituting those of West India Lights, Jumbee and Other Voodoo Tales, and The Black Beast and Other Voodoo Tales, with a few extras... which is accurate as far as it goes. But... as I mentioned earlier, the last two are actually later paperback reprints of the original Arkham House Jumbee, the contents of which were split up in a rather odd fashion to become two volumes instead of one. Why he didn't simply follow the AH table of contents then, is beyond me, as he does mention it. In reprinting the contents of Jumbee, he leaves out Robert H. Barlow's lovely introduction on Whitehead (Barlow knew HSW, just as he did HPL), though he makes some use of it in what I've read of his own introduction here.

At any rate, the contents of the original volumes are as follows (in the case of Jumbee, I have numbered those in the paperback Jumbee as (1), those in The Black Beast as (2)):

Thank you for going to the trouble of posting the contents and shedding light upon any 'editorial anomalies'. As always much appreciated.

I should receive my copy by the end of the current week and look very much forward to discovering what appears to be the majority of Whitehead's oeuvre.

 

[j d worthington]

Here is the list of Whitehead's short fiction, according to Wiki. However, this list does not include any of the following:

"Not to the Swift" (1905)
"Christabel" (1923)
"The Wonder-Phone" (1923)
"The Intarsia Box" *(1923)

Now, none of these save the last is connected to his weird works (and even that last is a bit distant), but nonetheless, these were short stories he wrote and published, hence should be included in such a list. (All of these are available in the Ash-Tree Passing of a God, by the way.)

 

[GOLLUM]

As requested following is the table of contents of the recent Wordsworth edition Night Terrors - The Ghost stories of E.F. Benson.

*NB At the very beginning of the TOC it has a subtitle of Collected Ghost Stories so it well may be what you already have.

The Room In The Tower
The Dust-Cloud
Gavon's Eve
The Confessions Of Charles Linkworth
At Abdul Ali's Grave
The Shooting Of Achnaleish
How Fear Departed From The Long Gallery
Caterpillars
The Cat
The Bus-Conductor
The Man Who Went Too Far
Between The Lights
Outside The Door
The Terror By Night
The Other Bed
The Thing In The Hall
The House With The Brick Kiln
'And The Dead Spake-'
The Outcast
The Horror Horn
Machaon
Negotium Perambulans
At The Farmhouse
Inscrutable Decrees
The Gardener
Mr Tilly's Seance
Mrs Amworth
In The Tube
Roderick's Story
Reconciliation
The Face
Spinach
Bagnell Terrace
A Tale Of An Empty House
Naboth's Vineyard
Expiation
Home, Sweet Home
'And No Bird Sings'
The Corner House
Corstophine
The Temple
The Step
The Bed By The Window
James Lamp
The Dance
The Hanging of Alfred Wadham
Pirates
The Wishing-Well
The Bath-Chair
Monkeys
Christopher Comes Back
The Sanctuary
Thursday Evenings
The Psychical Mallards

 

[j d worthington]

As requested following is the table of contents of the recent Wordsworth edition Night Terrors - The Ghost stories of E.F. Benson.

*NB At the very beginning of the TOC it has a subtitle of Collected Ghost Stories so it well may be what you already have.

Looks as if, save for one non-fictional entry ("The Clonmel Witch Burning") which is included in my copy of the Carroll & Graff book, the contents are identical, including the order.

Yes, I'll be interested to hear what you think of Benson. Several of his tales are quite good ("The Room in the Tower", "The Face", "'Negotium Perambulans'", "Caterpillars", "The Man Who Went Too Far", "Mrs. Amworth", to name only a few), and nearly all are worth reading. Some, of course, are less successful than others... but I'll not go into that, as different readers are likely to come to different conclusions on that score.

By the way: Do you have the earlier Wordsworth volume which brought out several of the ghost stories of his brothers, A. C. and R. H. Benson? The title was The Temple of Death. They are seldom as effective as EFB, but at times rather powerful, and also worth looking into.

 

[GOLLUM]

By the way: Do you have the earlier Wordsworth volume which brought out several of the ghost stories of his brothers, A. C. and R. H. Benson? The title was The Temple of Death. They are seldom as effective as EFB, but at times rather powerful, and also worth looking into.

Yes I do and had wondered what the relationship was between them and E.F. I've not read them either yet however.

A note: I have all of the Wordsworth Supernatural series to date excepting those few I was not interested in getting (primarily the anthologies e.g collected vampire stories, ghost stories, country specific and so on and those authors for whom I already have reasonable sized and similar collections e.g Howard. Lovecraft, Stoker etc.)..my plan now being to read a number of the single author collections next year and beyond.

Thank you for making the comparison with your E.F. Benson collection as I now know I'll have as wide a sampling as I could probably hope for to assess his writing wares.

 

[Fried Egg]

I've just ordered "The Drug and Other Stories" by Aleister Crowley. Hopefully it will live up to the standards of the one story I have read previously: "An Experiment in Necromancy".

 

[GOLLUM]

I've just ordered "The Drug and Other Stories" by Aleister Crowley. Hopefully it will live up to the standards of the one story I have read previously: "An Experiment in Necromancy".

If you enjoy that publication make sure you pick up its companion Wordsworth release Simon Iff and other stories...unless as my tired brain is telling me you may have possibly already bought that?

I haven't read a lot of Crowley yet myself but I've enjoyed the stories I have so far dipped into in 'The Drug and Other Stories'. J.D. will I'm sure be able to provide us with a good overview of the quality of Crowley's work.

Nite.

 

[Fried Egg]

Yes, I noticed there are now two Crowley collections. I'll see how I go with this one and then consider my options...

 

[Fried Egg]

Blimey, there must be thirty odd stories in this Crowley collection...

 

[GOLLUM]

Yeh well he did lead a somewhat 'hectic' if not 'interesting' life after all....

Those Simon Iff stories in his various detective guises take up a fair portion of that volume.

Not having yet read my copy I'm looking forward to reading your impressions of that collection F.E.

 

[Fried Egg]

Well, so far my impressions are fairly mixed. Seems like his work varies wildly and some of the "stories" I've just ended up giving up on because I didn't understand what he was trying to do. But others (such as the title story) are very good and enjoyable. Anyway, I'll keep ploughing on...

 

[Fried Egg]

Right, having more or less finished this collection ("The Drug & Other Stories by Aleister Crowley), I can say that I would have preferred a far more condensed and focused collection. There's just too many stories and they're just too varied. If this book contained just a quarter of the number of pages, focusing on his supernatural/horror/weird stories, it would have been much better in my opinion.

This is definitely one of those occasions when less would have been more. Something I find is often the case with books in this series generally. After all, who are these books aimed at anyway if not people new to the authors in question, merely looking for a sampling?

That said, there were definitely some great stories buried in this collection, as good as you could want as a fan of classic horror.

 

[Lobolover]

I was looking through the Wordsworth editions site, looking to find the original asking price of fThe Bishop of Hell by Marjorie Bowen, but they seem to not have that availible anymore, and the same thing goes for the Caldecott. I wouldn't mind if I could find one mention of these books having even existed on their website, but there is nothing like that there.

 

[Sargeant_Fox]

In its heyday, this was a great series. Sadly I think it's discontinued several of its titles.

I love the two Aleister Crowley volumes; the Simon Iff stories prove Crowley's talent as a detective fiction author.

And notwithstanding Dennis Wheatley's reputation in some circles, The Haunting of Toby Jugg was campy fun: paraplegic protagonist, giant spider, Soviets using Satanic plot to take over the world. This one had everything! And it's all told without an iota of self-awareness, which makes it even better.