The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens [Library Binding]

Charles Dickens (Author), Peter Haining (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1983

Charles Dickens' fascination with ghosts and the macabre is traced to his childhood, to the grim and goulish stories told him by his nursemaid, Mary Weller, whom he referred to as Mercy, "though she had none on me." Along with the horrors of the "penny dreadful" magazine, The Terrific Register -- a publication which made Dickens' "unspeakably miserable and frightened the very wits out of my head" -- the stories recounted by Weller were so powerful as to color Dickens' imagination and shape much of the enduring fiction he created.

In this collection, Peter Haining brings together all Dickens' ghost stories -- 20 in all -- including several long tales. Here are chilling histories of coincidence, insanity and revenge.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

12 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 341 pages
• Publisher: Franklin Watts (February 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531098850
• ISBN-13: 978-0531098851
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,286,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

One of the grand masters of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Captain, July 21, 2003

By 

JJJohnnyJohansonJr "yourfriendlystrawman" (Anytown, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens (Library Binding)

I was never a huge fan of yesterday's classics. Sometimes they come off boring to me; who knows, maybe I don't have the intellectual ability or patience to read anything published before 1920. But after reading this collection from front to back I truley understood why Charles Dickens is considered by some to be a literary genius. Scary, Witty, Clownish, Entertaining. You can't go wrong, especially with characters like CAPTAIN MURDERER, who has kept fresh within my imagintation over handfuls of years and piles of novels, as one of the most devious fiends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After one a half centuries still guarantees to thrill and chill, September 2, 2009

By 

Gary Selikow (Great Kush) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens (Paperback)

A fascinating and lesser known side of Charles' Dickens work is his flair for ghost stories.
Dickens showed a fascination with ghosts and the macabre and was a masterpiece of this wonderful genre.
Most well known is his ghostly parable-'A Christmas Carol', of the visit to the bitter and tight fist ed miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, by three ghosts which started the tradition of 'the ghost story at Christmas'.
Other Christmas ghost stories by Dickens in this volume include ' the weird and wonderful 'Christmas Ghosts' and 'The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton'.
And another story of redemption by ghosts is 'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain'.

From the gruesome 'Captain Murderer and the Devil's Bargain' to the brilliantly humorous 'The Lawyer and the Ghost' and 'The Queer Chair'.

There is the strange twist in the adventure 'The Ghosts of the Mail' and an examination of insanity and villainy in 'A Madman's Manuscript'.
Eerie stories of revenge, bizarre coincidences and the macabre from a pioneer in modern ghost stories, written in beautiful and penetrating English, while after one a half centuries still guarantees to thrill and chill.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ghost Stories to last you a lifetime, April 23, 2004

By 

Dew - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens (Library Binding)

Dickens is considered a genius in the area of the macabre. And it makes one consider whether genius is born to one or developed/influenced at an early age. In any case, his classic stories will never be forgotten.

This collection includes all of Dickens's 20 ghost stories which include: Captain Murderer and the Devil's Bargain; The Lawyer and the Ghost; The Queer Chair; The Ghosts of the Mail; A Madman's Manuscript; The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton; Baron Koeldwethout's Apparition; A Christmas Carol; The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain; A Child's Dream of a Star; Christmas Ghosts; To Be Read At Dusk; The Ghost Chamber; The Haunted House; Mr. Testator's Visitation; The Trial for Murder; The Signal Man; Four Ghost Stories; The Portrait Painter's Story; and Well Authenticated Rappings.