New Eldritch Tomes and Vintage Horror Paperbacks (The Pan Book of Horror Stories Series)

I have wanted to add some copies of The Pan Book of Horror Stories series to my library for some time. Recently I received volumes 1-3, 7  from a UK bookseller and I was delighted with the wonderfully atmospheric covers. 

But I did not want to do a simple show and tell post. With everything that is going on I have not put together a more in-depth post for some time. However I did want to discuss at least one story from vol 1. "W.S." by L.P.Hartley. Hartley is possibly best remembered today for the quote, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” from his novel The Go-Between. However he wrote a number of stories of interest to weird fiction fans. Many were collected in the Arkham House collection, The Travelling Grave and Other Stories. "W.S." does not appear in this collection. But it has been reprinted a number of times including an appearance in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1952, which can be located at The Luminist Periodical Archives, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction (link below). "W.S" is the story of the novelist Walter Streeter who begins to receive a series of rather cryptic postcards signed only W.S.. While they seem somewhat enigmatic, they do include rather pointed questions about his work and how it can be seen as a reflection on his personality. The horror here is not overt but rather understated, possibly more modern than much of the pulp style fiction of the era including other work by Hartley that I have read. If I could make a comparison I would suggest some glancing similarities to the work of the brilliant writer Jonathan Carroll who I heartily recommend. 

 http://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/

I procured vols. 8 and 12 in Calgary, some time ago, from the now sadly defunct Cabin Fever Books but the covers just do not have the same cache for me. One problem is I just do not like covers utilizing photographs as much. 

 

I have also been reading the posts and ogling the covers on Uncle Doug's Bunker of Vintage Horror Paperbacks. The site does not appear to have been updated since 2015 but since nothing on it is remotely time sensitive it is still fun viewing for fans of the the paperbacks of this era. 

"Hi! This is my attempt at starting a small blog about, what is in my eyes, the golden age of Horror Anthology Paperbacks and a huge passion of mine. Update: I've realized that what is even more important is the people have to be made aware of these wonderful stories before they disappear forever. Most the the stories I mention here haven't been reprinted in over 40 years and most likely will never been seen again. They will be lost to us once these books are gone and forgotten. How sad."

http://uncledougsbunkerofhorror.blogspot.com/

I do think the sheer number of books pictured on this blog, and the fact that my room and display space is filling up means that my collecting as such will slow down. 

Cover credits

Pan Book of Horror Stories, cover unattributed

Second, S. R. Boldero

Third, W. F. Phillipps

Seventh, cover unattributed

Eighth, cover unattributed

Twelfth, cover unattributed