The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Edith Nesbit

The second volume of E. Nesbit’s tales of ghosts and horror-definitely NOT for children

For most readers the name E. Nesbit conjures up the titles of some of the well-known books written for children. ‘The Railway Children’, ‘Five Children & It’ and ‘The Phoenix and the Carpet’, among others, have become enduring favourites, are superlative examples of their genre and have influenced children’s fiction writers for decades. There can be no disputing that Edith Nesbit was a fine author with a talent for storytelling that employed a brilliant economy of phrase, but it is not true that she confined her literary talents to the entertainment of only juvenile readers. Many potential readers may be surprised to learn that Nesbit was responsible for a sizeable cannon of tales of the ghostly and horrific for an unambiguously adult readership.

This two volume set of E. Nesbit’s supernatural fiction includes, in the first volume, the novel, ‘Dormant’—which was also published under the title ‘Rose Royal’—and eleven short stories including ‘Man-size in Marble’, ‘The Detective’, ‘No. 17’, ‘John Charrington’s Wedding’, ‘The Blue Rose’ and ‘The Haunted House’. The second volume features the novel ‘The House With No Address’—which was also published under the title ‘Salome and the Head’—together with fifteen short stories including ‘The Haunted Inheritance’, ‘The House of Silence’, ‘The Letter in Brown Ink’, ‘The Shadow’, ‘The New Samson’ and ‘The Pavilion’.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.