Customer Reviews (2)

Good collection in a great series
Throughout the two decades from 1964 to 1984, Fontana published a remarkable skein of ghost story collections, piloted by R. Aikman and later by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, no mean supernatural authors themselves. Some of the paperbacks in this series, which winds its way up to the "20th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories" are now collectors' items and worth over a hundred dollars apiece.

For this fourth book in the series, Robert Aickman selected eleven supernatural tales, including Alexander Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" which was also made into an opera--an unusual fate for a ghost story!

These are the tales in the 4th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories:

"The Accident" by Ann Bridge--Many great ghost stories are set in the Alps and this is one of them.A pair of climbers, brother and sister, come across a set of tracks that begin in an open snowfield, near the place where two other climbers had fallen to their deaths a month earlier.Then the sister begins to receive postcards from one of the dead climbers.

"Not on the Passenger List" by Barry Pain--A young widow takes passage on a ship to England, where she is to remarry.Her late husband appears in her cabin and tries to persuade her to drown herself.

"The Sphinx without a Secret" by Oscar Wilde--Aikman cheated by including this story, which has no ghost.A mysterious young woman is confronted by her fiancé, who breaks off their engagement.

"When I was Dead" by Vincent O'Sullivan--A young man witnesses his own funeral.

"The Queen of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin--An 87-year-old Countess dies before revealing her supposed secret for winning at cards.Her ghost appears to the man who frightened her to death, revealing the cards he needed to play in order to win a fortune.Would you trust the ghost of the woman you frightened to death?

"Pargiton and Harby" by Desmond MacCarthy-- Harby meets his old friend, Pargiton who seems to be making amends for an ill-spent life.Pargiton begs Harby to visit him, because he seems to bring out the best in the reformed evil-doer.Harby comes, but so does something else.

"The Snow" by Hugh Walpole--The two Mrs. Ryders, one of them dead, battle over their meek, inoffensive husband.

"Carlton's Father" by Eric Ambrose--I would classify this story as science fiction, since it involves a time warp, disguised as a room in Carlton's house, where no-one ages.

"A School Story" by M.R. James--Two men reminisce over the ghost stories that were told about their public schools.One of them concerns a master with a homicidal past.

"The Wolves of Cernogratz" by Saki--Wolves howl around the castle when one of the Cernogratz family dies.

"Mad Monkton" by William Wilkie Collins--Generations of the reclusive Monkton family suffered from hereditary insanity.Alfred, last of the Monkton line falls in love with the beautiful young Ada, but before he can propose to her, he must travel to Italy to recover the body of his Uncle Stephen, the black sheep of the Monkton family, who was killed in a duel.Everyone thinks Alfred is crazy for trying to recover the body, but an old family prophecy and the ghost of Uncle Stephen urge him onward.

Not on the passenger list
Throughout the two decades from 1964 to 1984, Fontana published a remarkable skein of ghost story collections, piloted by R. Aikman and later by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, no mean supernatural authors themselves. Some of the paperbacks in this series, which winds its way up to the "20th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories" are now collectors' items and worth over a hundred dollars apiece.

For this fourth book in the series, Robert Aickman selected eleven supernatural tales, including Alexander Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" which was also made into an opera--an unusual fate for a ghost story!

These are the tales in the 4th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories:

"The Accident" by Ann Bridge--Many great ghost stories are set in the Alps and this is one of them.A pair of climbers, brother and sister, come across a set of tracks that begin in an open snowfield, near the place where two other climbers had fallen to their deaths a month earlier.Then the sister begins to receive postcards from one of the dead climbers.

"Not on the Passenger List" by Barry Pain--A young widow takes passage on a ship to England, where she is to remarry.Her late husband appears in her cabin and tries to persuade her to drown herself.

"The Sphinx without a Secret" by Oscar Wilde--Aikman cheated by including this story, which has no ghost.A mysterious young woman is confronted by her fiancé, who breaks off their engagement.

"When I was Dead" by Vincent O'Sullivan--A young man witnesses his own funeral.

"The Queen of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin--An 87-year-old Countess dies before revealing her supposed secret for winning at cards.Her ghost appears to the man who frightened her to death, revealing the cards he needed to play in order to win a fortune.Would you trust the ghost of the woman you frightened to death?

"Pargiton and Harby" by Desmond MacCarthy-- Harby meets his old friend, Pargiton who seems to be making amends for an ill-spent life.Pargiton begs Harby to visit him, because he seems to bring out the best in the reformed evil-doer.Harby comes, but so does something else.

"The Snow" by Hugh Walpole--The two Mrs. Ryders, one of them dead, battle over their meek, inoffensive husband.

"Carlton's Father" by Eric Ambrose--I would classify this story as science fiction, since it involves a time warp, disguised as a room in Carlton's house, where no-one ages.

"A School Story" by M.R. James--Two men reminisce over the ghost stories that were told about their public schools.One of them concerns a master with a homicidal past.

"The Wolves of Cernogratz" by Saki--Wolves howl around the castle when one of the Cernogratz family dies.

"Mad Monkton" by William Wilkie Collins--Generations of the reclusive Monkton family suffered from hereditary insanity.Alfred, last of the Monkton line falls in love with the beautiful young Ada, but before he can propose to her, he must travel to Italy to recover the body of his Uncle Stephen, the black sheep of the Monkton family, who was killed in a duel.Everyone thinks Alfred is crazy for trying to recover the body, but an old family prophecy and the ghost of Uncle Stephen urge him onward.

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Product Description
Volume: 2Publisher: London : Longman, Brown, Green, and LongmansPublication date: 1848Subjects: Collins, William, 1788-1847Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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The four volumes of The Public Face of Wilkie Collins bring into one continuous chronological sequence nearly 3,000 letters by Wilkie Collins, one of the most successful Victorian writers. They range from the short letter to his mother written in 1831 when Collins was just 7 years old to the last note to his doctor scrawled almost illegibly two days before his death at 65 in 1889. His letters are an essential research tool for anyone studying Victorian fiction whether from the point of view of its key role in literary development or its central place in publishing history, Victorian theatre or travel, or indeed anyone who just wants a window opened on Victorian England in nearly three quarters of a million wonderful words by one of its key writers. The editors have transcribed 2,500 letters, around 700 of them previously unidentified, and have given them all a full scholarly annotation and context. These letters are all published in full. The 460 letters which have already received modern scholarly publication Baker & Clarke (1999) are summarized in their correct place. ... Read more

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The book may have numerous typos or missing text. It is not illustrated or indexed. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website. You can also preview the book there.Purchasers are also entitled to a trial membership in the publisher's book club where they can select from more than a million books for free.Original Publisher: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans Publication date: 1848Subjects: Painters; Painting, English; Art / General; Art / History / General; Art / European; Art / Individual Artist; Biography ... Read more

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Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office. ... Read more