The Haunted Looking Glass (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

by Ward Gorey (Editor, Introduction) "CERTAIN HOUSES, LIKE certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at once their character for evil..." (more)
Key Phrases: great alarm bell, carved oak chair, great rat, Aunt Julia, Carrick Street, Sir Robert (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
An elegant reprint anthology of 12 classic stories is The Haunted Looking Glass: Ghost Stories Chosen and Illustrated by Edward Gorey. Readers can trust that the late maven of the macabre has picked the most ghoulish works by the likes of Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Bram Stoker, R.H. Malden and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
The Haunted Looking Glass is the late Edward Gorey’s selection of his favorite tales of ghosts, ghouls, and grisly goings-on. It compiles stories by a number of masters of the art of making the flesh crawl including Charles Dickens, M. R. James, and Bram Stoker. This volume provides an introduction to the best of their lesser-known works, accompanied by Gorey’s inimitable illustrations. His meticulously executed line drawings and quirky and often morbid sense of humor have made his works instantly recognizable and widely loved. The Haunted Looking Glass is a spine-tingling tribute to the master of the macabre. “A brilliant draftsman, Mr. Gorey has raised the crosshatch, a timeworn 19th century mannerism, into a timeless visual language ... [His works] tickle the funny bone as they raise hair on the back of the neck.” — The New York Times

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics; Reprint edition (February 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940322684
• ISBN-13: 978-0940322684
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #475,706 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well-chosen collection of great ghost stories, March 15, 2001

By	Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The trouble with most ghost stories is that they're never sufficiently scary enough: even many of the stories of such masters of the genre as M. R. James and Sheridan le Fanu seem insufficiently frightening, often given the limited frame of the short story. Years before his recent death, the great illustrator Edward Gorey assembled a best-of-the-best collection of the most frightening of all ghost stories (accompanied by his personal illustrations), and his choices do not disappoint. Many of the stories have the sickening, terrifying quality of a bad dream (such as Stoker's "The Judge's House" and E. Nesbit's "Mansize in marble"), while even the shorter pieces which have little in the way of characterization (such as "The Empty House") are genuinely frightening and evocative in terms of atmosphere. The very best stories--"The Monkey's Paw," James's "Casting the Runes," and Dickens's "The Signalman"--are little masterpieces of suspense and mood.

NYRB wisely decided to break from its standard cover format by allowing Gorey's original handlettered illustration remain intact; his moody drawings for each story are also kept. This is a nice little collection.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gorey Looking Glass, August 18, 2001

By	James H. Wilson (Newport News, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought my copy of, The Haunted Looking Glass, when it was first published in 1959. I still read out of it but the pages are brittle and yellowed. As a teacher I recommended it to my kids for halloween reading and they managed to find hardbound copies for 5 bucks each and they devoured it just as I did. Edward Gorey published several books under the "Looking Glass Library" label and I regret not buying them up. It is a collection of pretty strong ghost stories that provide a good start for a young ghost story reader. It is also a set of ghost story classics that belongs on the shelf of any genre collector. Many of the stories such as W.F. Harvey's, "August Heat," are frequently anthologized but some like E. Nesbit's, "Man Sized in Marble," are rare and truely eerie. I am sorry that the new edition of The Haunted Looking Glass was not was not printed in hardback. My copy crumbles a little every time I touch it and with Halloween coming it has stories that beg to be read. Savor M. R. James' "Casting the Runes" and experience the three-wish-curse formula in W.W. Jacob's, "The Monkey's Paw."

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Victorian Creepy Crawlies, August 5, 2001

By	"bibliomane01" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Edward Gorey's quirky and often macabre drawings have been delighting his fans for two generations. In "The Haunted Looking Glass," we find another set of apposite illustrations to accompany his collection of his favourite ghost stories. Recently re-released in the excellent New York Review of Books Classics series, readers will find it to be an agreeably discomforting guided tour through some of the high spots of the golden age of ghost story writing, the Victorian and Edwardian period. There are worthy old chesnuts such as "Casting the Runes" and "The Monkey's Paw" and "August Heat," as well as unexpected gems from E. Nesbit ("Man-size in Marble") and Bram Stoker ("The Judge's House"). A contribution from Charles Dickens ("The Signalman") is especially memorable. This is a wonderful collection of stories, and readers are urged to find out for themselves what lurks within the haunted looking glass!