Terror by Gaslight
Description
Published in 1992 by Constable & Co. Ltd.
Outside in the streets, the fog swirls in the gaslight, while the horses’ hooves rattle past and fade into the distance. By the light of the dimming fire, the hands of the clock reach midnight, that time when the dead return to toment the living…
From the forgotten corners of Victorian and Edwardian literature, Hugh lamb has resurrected fourteen rare tales of terror by some of the most famour writers of the time.
Charles Dickens tells of grim deeds in the London slums, while Rudyard Kipling writes of terror at sea and an encounter with the unknown. Horrors from ancient Egypt are describes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and H. Rider Haggard chills the blood with a ghost in the rain. E. F. Benson conjures up a faceless terror in Alexandria, as M. R. James tells of the perils of bringing back the dead to life.
Terror by Gaslight’s contributors include J. Sheridan le Fanu, Mrs. J. H. Riddell from Ireland, the noted children’s author Mrs. Molesworth, society chronicler Mary Braddon, and the famous fantasy writer William Hope Hodgson.
All fourteen writers conjure up a lost world, where fear peeks out from behind the geniality and terror is never far below the respectable facade of the gaslit era.
So pull your chair nearer the fire, light another candle and hope that the footsteps on the stairs are indeed those of the butler…
Contents
Only a Dream – H. Rider Haggard
Lot No. 249 – Arthur Conan Doyle
The Last of Squire Ennismore – Mrs. J. H. Riddell
The Black Veil – Charles Dickens
The Shadow in the Moonlight – Mrs. Molesworth
The Experiment – M. R. James
A Matter of Fact – Rudyard Kipling
The Uttermost Farthing – A. C. Benson
The Step – E. F. Benson
The Traveller – Robert Hugh Benson
The Lady of Rosemount – T. G. Jackson
From the Tideless Sea – William Hope Hodgson
The Mystery at Fernwood – Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Madam Crowl’s Ghost – Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Trivia
This edition of Terror by Gaslight shares only the title with Hugh Lamb’s previous anthology of the same name. Instead, it is a collection drawing stories from several previous Lamb anthologies, such as A Tide of Terror, A Wave of Fear, The Thrill of Horror, Victorian Tales of Terror and The Taste of Fear.
