Violet Books

John Kendrick Bangs was, if I am remembering correctly, the first American to publish a collection entirely of humorous ghost stories; but it was Jerome K. Jerome who beat him to the punch among the English. That book was The Water Ghost & Others (1894) which was followed up with Ghosts I Have Met & Some Others (1898), charmingly packaged with a wee ghost depicted in two attitudes on front & back boards; plus frontis & 22 other plates by such hands as Peter Newell, A. B. Frost, & R. T. Richards. For those less enamored of "comic" ghosts, the topper is a serious, severe, horrifying doppenglanger tale, "Carleton Barker, First & Second," a neglected masterpiece.

J. K. Bangs became prolific as a master of witty fantasies. His public soon expected ornate bindings as well as laughs. Mr Munchausen: Being a True Account of Some of the Recent Adventures beyond the Styx of the late Hironymus Carl Friedrich, sometime Baron Munchausen of Bodenwerder, as originally reported for the Sunday Edition of the Gehenna Gazette by its Special Interviewer the late Mr. Ananias formerly of Jerusalem & now first transcribed from the columns of that Journal (1901) is gorgeously & comically illustrated with binding, decorations & full color plates by the incomparable Peter Newell.

Henry Van Dyke's The Unknown Quantity: A Book of Romance and Some Half-Told Tales (1912) features a spectacular Margaret Armstrong binding. The book is illustrated throughout (some plates in color) by Garth Jones (excellent!), Charles S. Chapman, Sigismond de Ivanowski & others. Among the supernatural tales are two fine ghost stories, "Messengers at the Window" & "The Night Call."

Margaret Armstrong's art nouveau board designs are regarded by many as the height of such design in America. Several of Henry Van Dyke's books were blessed with her designs. The Blue Flower (Scribners, 1912) refers to the symbol of High Romanticism, but the title story is not entirely by Van Dyke; it's his version of a classic by Novalis. The rest of the collection is in keeping with the Romantic tone. In the sinister adult fairy tale "The Mill," we get such lines as, "Ho-o!" said Flumen "Now I shall drown thee, & mar the Mill & the Maid" which I find just wonderful. There are lovely color plates as well, including three by Howard Pyle.

Another Margaret Armstrong binding for Canada's great fantasist, Henry Van Dyke. The Valley of Vision: A Book of Romance & some Half-told Tales (1919) includes wartime supernatural legends, notably the classic "The Broken Soldier & the Maid of France," besides short-shorts that Van Dyke labeled his half-told tales, "fables, fantasies, both grave & gay" (from his Preface). There are also several tint plates, some of them illustrating stunning fantasy scenes.

Leon Mead's The Bow Legged Ghost & Other Stories (Werner, 1899) has a wildly embossed binding depicting the titular spirit in a swirl of graveclothes. These 581 pages include sections of stories, essays, poetry, & newspaper jest-writing. Supernatural inclusions are the title tale plus "The Dwarfs of Jossgrund," "The Mind Children," & the bizarre though not fantastic "A Living Tombstone," plus miscellaneous fantastical moments.

F. Marion Crawford's works ranged from the horrific Witch of Prague (Macmillan, 1892) to the Bangsian humor of With the Immortals (1888) to historical dramas to shopgirl romances. Cecilia (1902) leans nearest to the latter but with a fantasy addition. The central heroine is a Vestal Virgin reincarnated from ancient Rome into the modern world.

Ruth McEnery Stuart was best known for southern local color tales, of which her collection The Haunted Photograph (1911) is a notable example. Only the title story (out of four) is supernatural. It reads like a lighthearted American take on M. R. James's horrific "The Mezzotint" & is further a delight because of the illustration plates by Peter Newell.

Selma Lagerlof was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize. Her first great achievement was Gosta Berling (1894), an epic of connected vignettes & tales rich in Swedish folklore & ghostlore. Her story collections have become rare; they all include weird tales. Invisible Links (Little Brown, 1900, but published in Swedish the same year as Gosta Berling) is a splendid set of tales overall, highlighted by "The King's Grave," one of the best tales of supernatural horror ever written.

W. C. Morrow was very likely the best of the San Francisco fin de siecle decadents, & his best works are to be found in The Ape, the Idiot, & Other People (1897). Apart from the physical beauty of the book, with its golden dragon on crimson cloth, there is the matter of the tales: cruel, elegant, & weird, from the Frankenstein theme of "The Monster-Maker" to the grotesque splatter-irony of "The Amulet," among other great entries.

Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews' The Militants: Stories of Some Parsons, Soldiers & Other Fighters in the World (1909) sports a Margaret Armstrong binding & eight interior illustration plates. Andrews was best known for "patriotic" stories, which frequenty meant war stories. But even before Arthur Machen's The Angels of Mons war stories were frequently interwoven with ghosts. "The Messenger" in the present collection is an outstanding war-legend of supernatural agencies in the Indian wars of the American west.

Having already long held some fame for her supernatural tales of battlefields, Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews was hardly going to sit out the craze for World War I legends during & immediately after that great war. Joy in the Morning (1919) includes "The Ditch" set partly in the future & "The Silver Stirrup" set in a foxhole in France haunted by a warrior saint. Andrews lived part of each year in Quebec & incoporates much of French-Canadian interest in these tales.