Classic Tales of the Macabre

by Charles Keeping

An illustrated collection of eight stories of terror by well-known American and British authors.

The Judge's House (1891) by Bram Stoker
The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) by Edgar Allan Poe
The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham (1896) by H. G. Wells
Lot No. 249 (1892) by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Withered Arm (1888) by Thomas Hardy
"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" (1904) by M. R. James
The Statement of Randolph Carter (1920) by H. P. Lovecraft
Between the Minute and the Hour (1922) by A. M. Burrage

Genres: Short Stories, Horror

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

Charles William James Keeping (22 September 1924 – 16 May 1988) was an English illustrator, children's book author and lithographer.

Keeping made the illustrations for Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels for children, and he created more than twenty picture books. He also illustrated the complete works of Charles Dickens for the Folio Society.

His childhood background of markets and docks influenced much of his work. At fourteen he became an apprentice in the printing trade before working as an engineer. Later he served in the Royal Navy. On leaving the Navy he changed careers yet again and worked for a while as a rent collector before starting on a three year course at the Regent Street Polytechnic studying drawing, etching, and lithography. (He later took up a teaching position here).

Charles Keeping had his work exhibited all over the world and throughout his career illustrated over 100 books. He received many awards, including the 1967 Kate Greenaway Medal for his picture book Charley, Charlotte and the Golden Canary, and the 1981 Kate Greenaway Medal for The Highwayman.

Reviews

[Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

20th-century British book illustrator (mostly of children's literature) Charles Keeping was also quite a fan of weird fiction. This is the second (though it was the first one I read, pre-Goodreads) of two short story collections he edited –and, at least in this case, illustrated, with black-and-white drawings that enhance the stories-- in that vein, the other one being Charles Keeping's Book of Classic Ghost Stories. (My review of that one is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .) Both collections contain eight stories by British and American authors, with the former preponderant, written in the 19th or early 20th centuries. (Here the chronological spread is from 1839 to 1922 –the dates aren't given in the book, but they are in the Goodreads description.) Again, the authors are all well-known, generally or to genre fans; Poe, M. R. James, and A. M. Burrage are represented in both books, but by different stories. In this collection, not all of the selections are ghost stories, or even supernatural; “The Fall of the House of Usher” (the only tale here that I'd read before) and Thomas Hardy's “The Withered Arm” are descriptive fiction, setting forth events that are unusual, but IMO strictly within the natural realm, and H. P. Lovecraft would have explained “The Statement of Randolph Carter” in science-fictional terms. But as the collection title suggests, the stories are all macabre, which was Keeping's theme here, and which his very brief Introduction defines (quoting from The New Collins Thesaurus) as “cadaverous, deathlike, eerie, frightening, frightful, ghastly, ghostly, ghoulish, grim, grisly, hideous, horrid, morbid, unearthly and weird.”

Poe and Lovecraft are the only two American writers here. While the latter wrote almost entirely “short fiction,” his work is usually at the longer end of that spectrum. His story here, at a bit over five pages, is unusually short for him –but it packs a powerful, perfectly crafted punch. (I don't recall whether this story or “The Doom That Came to Sarnath,” which I read in another anthology at around the same time, was my first experience of his work; but together they whetted an appetite for more of it.) Like Lovecraft, H. G. Wells was primarily a writer of “soft” science fiction (though they were very different in their approach!); but I would say that his story here, “The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham,” is an example of his much less-frequently written supernatural fiction. (The ...unusual events here are effected by ingesting certain powders, but the kinds of effects that they produce, to my mind, are best explained on the theory that they're magical potions, rather than strictly natural chemical compounds; even in the realm of soft SF, imagining any natural substances causing these results would be a drastic stretch.) That's a story which is difficult to discuss without a spoiler; but it was also predictable (except for the very end of it!), and the least memorable one of the bunch.

I briefly referred to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's “Lot No. 249” in my review of The Mummy: Stories of the Living Corpse, and to Bram Stoker's grim ghost story “The Judge's House” in my review of Tales of Terror (edited by Boris Karloff). “Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad,” by M. R. James, is an excellent example of that writer's work, with a university don for a protagonist, a very old artifact as catalyst for the story, and a definitely malevolent supernatural entity to reckon with. Burrage is represented here by “Between the Minute and the Hour” (1922) a tale whose protagonist, through his own callous and rude behavior, runs afoul of a crone's curse.

Unlike Keeping's other collection, this one does provide an appended About the Authors section, with short biographical write-ups for each of them. We're also given a short (about four and a half pages) appendix of Notes, defining archaic words, literary and biblical references, foreign-language phrases, etc. These are helpful, but would be more so if they were numbered as actual footnotes and had some indication in the text that they're there.

There weren't any stories here that I didn't like! I highly recommend this collection, both for fans of the supernatural/macabre and for those wanting a quality introduction to fiction of this type.

[NekroRider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read most of this in October, except for 2 stories (Oh, Whistle and I'll Come To You, My Lad & Between the Minute and the Hour), which I read in December.

I rated the collection overall 4/5 stars. It was a great short story collection! Well selected and I really enjoyed it. It includes a few "big name" authors writing something a little bit different than what they were known for.

Three of these stories were rereads for me (Fall of the House of Usher, Oh, Whistle and I'll Come To You, My Lad & The Statement of Randolph Carter), so it was interesting to see if my opinions had changed at all.

Story ratings:

- The Judge's House by Bram Stoker - 3.75-4/stars - this was a great creepy story that I'd like to reread at some point. Would be a good one to tell in the dark by a fire!

- Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe - This was a reread. I last read it in my early 20s and had read it several times in my teens, and I've long considered it one of my favourite Poe stories and favourite short stories in general. But this reread, I'm not sure if it was my mood or just didn't hit me the same way as back then, but I didn't actually enjoy it as much as I remembered. My current rating for it is 3.5/5 stars

- The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham by H.G. Wells - 4/5 stars - It was cool to see Wells delve into a more gothic type of horror, this was a great story! In some ways, it reminded me a little of Dorian Grey in its themes.

- Lot No. 249 by Arthur Conan Doyle - 4/5 stars - Another great and creepy story by one of the big names writing something a little different than his standard fare. This was a pretty awesome!

- The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy - 3.75/5 stars - An enjoyable tale that "felt" very Thomas Hardy but with a darker twist.

- Oh, Whistle and I'll Come To You My Lad by M.R. James - I read this story in 2021 and it was the best one in the Ghost Stories of an Antiquary collection by M.R. James. Back then I rated it around 3.75/5 stars and I'd say that's about right, still.

- The Statement of Randolph Carter by H.P. Lovecraft - 5/5 stars I hadn't read this one since high school and actually didn't remember it at all...but man oh man was this a great one!! Stories like this are Lovecraft at his best!

- Between the Minute and the Hour by A.M. Burrage - 4.25/5 stars - This took me by surprise! I think because Keepings describes it as a "piece of light relief" and humour in his intro. It's not a particularly creepy story, true, but it was definitely a riveting read. An intriguing tale of curses and the otherworldly. It was my first Burrage story, but I'll need to read more for sure.

All in all, I highly recommend this collection if you're looking for some 19th/20th century horror stories to read on a dark October night!

[Yombai Snockburst · Rating 3 out of 5]

Småputtrande och mysig men definitivt föregångare till Lovecraft.