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Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century
Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century is a wonderful collection of classic stories specially selected and introduced by David Stuart Davies. These are tales from the golden age of the great storytellers presenting evocative snapshots from that bygone era while at the same time providing engaging entertainment and stimulation for the modern reader.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
David Stuart Davies
185 books140 followersDavid Stuart Davies was a British writer. He worked as a teacher of English before becoming a full-time editor, writer, and playwright. Davies wrote extensively about Sherlock Holmes, both fiction and non-fiction. He was the editor of Red Herrings, the monthly in-house publication of the Crime Writers' Association, and a member of The Baker Street Irregulars and the Detection Club.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 15, 2020
110th book of 2020.
A good varied collection here with a great selection of classic writers (as seen below). I had only read The Yellow Wallpaper previously, I believe, and love the story. Possibly, I have read the Chekhov before, though it didn't sound familiar. I’ve taken the time, rather than sum up every story, to write the first line, or two, of each story in the collection. Some don’t start with the ‘snappiness’ one expects from today’s writing, as the 19th century had yet to hit the modern insurgence of fiction, certainly short stories, starting in media res. Before the review falls into the stories, I will say something about the edition: I am not sure if it is aimed at children, but the introductions were simple and, throughout, the footnotes seemed to be for the most ridiculous and basic words. Words like chafed were footnoted to define the word as meaning ‘rubbed’. The most ridiculous one of the collection was in the Chekhov story. Lynx-like was footnoted and I laughed to myself, thinking, surely it won’t explain that this means it is like a lynx. I was wrong. Footnote: ‘like the whiskers of a lynx, which is a large cat.’ Well I never.
The Black Veil. Charles Dickens.
One winter’s evening, towards the close of the year 1800, or within a year or two of that time, a young medical practitioner, recently established in business, was seated by a cheerful fire in his little parlour, listening to the wind which was beating the rain in pattering drops against the window or rumbling dismally in the chimney.
The Withered Arm. Thomas Hardy.
It was eighty-cow dairy, and the troop of milkers, regular and supernumerary, were all at work; for, though the time of the year was yet but early April, the feed lay entirely in water meadows and the crows were ‘in full pail’.
The Story of a Terribly Strange Bed. Wilkie Collins.
Shortly after my education at college was finished, I happened to be staying at Paris with an English friend. We were both young men then, and lived, I am afraid, rather a wild life, in the delightful city of our sojourn.
The Bottle Imp. Robert Louis Stevenson.
There was a man of the island of Hawaii, whom I shall call Keawe; for the truth is, he still lives, and his name must be kept secret; but the place of his birth was not far from Honaunau, where the bones of Keawe the Great lie hidden in a cave.
The Red-Headed League. Arthur Conan Doyle.
I had called upon my friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. I was about to withdraw, when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
The Stolen Bacillus. H.G. Wells.
’This again,’ said the bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, ‘is a preparation of the celebrated bacillus of cholera – the cholera germ.’
The pale-faced man peered down the microscope. He was evidently not accustomed to that kind of thing, and held a limp white hand over his disengaged eye. ‘I see very little,’ he said.
The Squire’s Story. Elizabeth Gaskell.
In the year 1769 the little town of Barford was thrown into a state of great excitement by the intelligence that a gentleman (and ‘quite the gentleman,’ said the landlord of the George Inn) had been looking at Mr Clavering’s old house.
The Journey to Panama. Anthony Trollope.
There is perhaps no form of life in which men and women of the present day frequently find themselves for a time existing so unlike their customary conventional life as that experienced on board the large streamers. On the voyages so made, separate friendship are formed and separate enmities are endured.
The Sphinx Without a Secret. Oscar Wilde.
One afternoon I was sitting outside the Café de la Paix, watching the splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering over my vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that was passing before me, when I heard someone call my name.
The Judge’s House. Bram Stoker.
When the time for his examination drew near Malcolm Malcolmson made up his mind to go somewhere to read by himself. He feared the attractions of the seaside, and also he feared completely rural isolation, for of old he knew its charms, and so he determined to find some unpretentious little town where there would be nothing to distract him.
The Necklace. Guy de Maupassant.
She was one of those pretty and charming girls who, by some freak of destiny, are born into families that have always held subordinate appointments. Possessing neither dowry nor expectations, she had no hope of meeting some man of wealth and distinction, who would understand her, fall in love with her and wed her. So she consented to marry a minor clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction.
The Kiss. Anton Chekhov.
At eight o’clock in the evening of 20th May the six batteries of the U reserve artillery on its way to camp stopped for the night in the village of Mestechko.
The Yellow Wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity – but that would be asking too much of fate!
Juke Judkin’s Courtship. Charles Lamb.
I am the only son of a considerable brazier in Birmingham, who, dying in 1803, left me successor to the business, with no other encumbrance than a sort of rent-charge, which I am enjoined to pay out of it, of ninety-three pounds sterling per annum to his widow, my mother; and which the improving state of the concern, I bless God, has hitherto enabled me to discharge with punctuality.
One Dollar’s Worth. O. Henry.
The judge of the United States court of the district lying along the Rio Grande border found the following letter one morning in his mail:
A good varied collection here with a great selection of classic writers (as seen below). I had only read The Yellow Wallpaper previously, I believe, and love the story. Possibly, I have read the Chekhov before, though it didn't sound familiar. I’ve taken the time, rather than sum up every story, to write the first line, or two, of each story in the collection. Some don’t start with the ‘snappiness’ one expects from today’s writing, as the 19th century had yet to hit the modern insurgence of fiction, certainly short stories, starting in media res. Before the review falls into the stories, I will say something about the edition: I am not sure if it is aimed at children, but the introductions were simple and, throughout, the footnotes seemed to be for the most ridiculous and basic words. Words like chafed were footnoted to define the word as meaning ‘rubbed’. The most ridiculous one of the collection was in the Chekhov story. Lynx-like was footnoted and I laughed to myself, thinking, surely it won’t explain that this means it is like a lynx. I was wrong. Footnote: ‘like the whiskers of a lynx, which is a large cat.’ Well I never.
The Black Veil. Charles Dickens.
One winter’s evening, towards the close of the year 1800, or within a year or two of that time, a young medical practitioner, recently established in business, was seated by a cheerful fire in his little parlour, listening to the wind which was beating the rain in pattering drops against the window or rumbling dismally in the chimney.
The Withered Arm. Thomas Hardy.
It was eighty-cow dairy, and the troop of milkers, regular and supernumerary, were all at work; for, though the time of the year was yet but early April, the feed lay entirely in water meadows and the crows were ‘in full pail’.
The Story of a Terribly Strange Bed. Wilkie Collins.
Shortly after my education at college was finished, I happened to be staying at Paris with an English friend. We were both young men then, and lived, I am afraid, rather a wild life, in the delightful city of our sojourn.
The Bottle Imp. Robert Louis Stevenson.
There was a man of the island of Hawaii, whom I shall call Keawe; for the truth is, he still lives, and his name must be kept secret; but the place of his birth was not far from Honaunau, where the bones of Keawe the Great lie hidden in a cave.
The Red-Headed League. Arthur Conan Doyle.
I had called upon my friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. I was about to withdraw, when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
The Stolen Bacillus. H.G. Wells.
’This again,’ said the bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, ‘is a preparation of the celebrated bacillus of cholera – the cholera germ.’
The pale-faced man peered down the microscope. He was evidently not accustomed to that kind of thing, and held a limp white hand over his disengaged eye. ‘I see very little,’ he said.
The Squire’s Story. Elizabeth Gaskell.
In the year 1769 the little town of Barford was thrown into a state of great excitement by the intelligence that a gentleman (and ‘quite the gentleman,’ said the landlord of the George Inn) had been looking at Mr Clavering’s old house.
The Journey to Panama. Anthony Trollope.
There is perhaps no form of life in which men and women of the present day frequently find themselves for a time existing so unlike their customary conventional life as that experienced on board the large streamers. On the voyages so made, separate friendship are formed and separate enmities are endured.
The Sphinx Without a Secret. Oscar Wilde.
One afternoon I was sitting outside the Café de la Paix, watching the splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering over my vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that was passing before me, when I heard someone call my name.
The Judge’s House. Bram Stoker.
When the time for his examination drew near Malcolm Malcolmson made up his mind to go somewhere to read by himself. He feared the attractions of the seaside, and also he feared completely rural isolation, for of old he knew its charms, and so he determined to find some unpretentious little town where there would be nothing to distract him.
The Necklace. Guy de Maupassant.
She was one of those pretty and charming girls who, by some freak of destiny, are born into families that have always held subordinate appointments. Possessing neither dowry nor expectations, she had no hope of meeting some man of wealth and distinction, who would understand her, fall in love with her and wed her. So she consented to marry a minor clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction.
The Kiss. Anton Chekhov.
At eight o’clock in the evening of 20th May the six batteries of the U reserve artillery on its way to camp stopped for the night in the village of Mestechko.
The Yellow Wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity – but that would be asking too much of fate!
Juke Judkin’s Courtship. Charles Lamb.
I am the only son of a considerable brazier in Birmingham, who, dying in 1803, left me successor to the business, with no other encumbrance than a sort of rent-charge, which I am enjoined to pay out of it, of ninety-three pounds sterling per annum to his widow, my mother; and which the improving state of the concern, I bless God, has hitherto enabled me to discharge with punctuality.
One Dollar’s Worth. O. Henry.
The judge of the United States court of the district lying along the Rio Grande border found the following letter one morning in his mail:
January 6, 2018
The book is a collection of short stories selected and introduced by David Stuart Davies. It covers many of my favorite writers starting from Dickens and ending with O. Henry. Even Chekhov has not been forgotten. Although I would gladly have read something else as than “The Kiss” for the story is frankly not the best of Chekhov’s fiction. But this is compensated by the very fact that a Russian writer has been presented.
The stories provide for excellent entertainment, the result of a wonderful choice and taste of David Stuart Davies. By the way, introductions to every story are very informative; they include not only a sort of preface to a story, but give a snappy biography to every author condensed in a few paragraphs.
The short stories are mostly social dramas and most of them ending not happily. Even feminine fiction is gloomy. Cheerful exceptions are “One Dollar’s Worth” by O. Henry and maybe “The Bottle Imp” by Stevenson. Sherlock Holmes has been selected as a detective character solving the case of “The Red-Headed League”. In choosing the best story I can’t decide between “The Black Veil” by Charles Dickens and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Both are brilliant each in its own fashion but similar in a way that you never guess how they end.
The stories provide for excellent entertainment, the result of a wonderful choice and taste of David Stuart Davies. By the way, introductions to every story are very informative; they include not only a sort of preface to a story, but give a snappy biography to every author condensed in a few paragraphs.
The short stories are mostly social dramas and most of them ending not happily. Even feminine fiction is gloomy. Cheerful exceptions are “One Dollar’s Worth” by O. Henry and maybe “The Bottle Imp” by Stevenson. Sherlock Holmes has been selected as a detective character solving the case of “The Red-Headed League”. In choosing the best story I can’t decide between “The Black Veil” by Charles Dickens and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Both are brilliant each in its own fashion but similar in a way that you never guess how they end.
January 11, 2013
I picked this up in Hanoi airport to read on the plane and loved it. The selection introduced me to new authors (O Henry, Elizabeth Gaskell) as well as ones I'd only read one novel by (H G Wells, Oscar Wilde, Antony Trollope). It's really whet my appetite for short stories. My only criticism is with the introductions and notes - they appear written either for young kids or for people with English as a second language. The notes seem random - some old fashioned terms get a notation, others don't. Some of the explanations are wrong and some numbers don't correspond to any note! All in all, great writing, a great selection but poor editing by Wordsworth Classics.
July 26, 2015
A very good representative of its age. Very entertaining and diverse.
December 5, 2015
It's not often that I love every short story in a collection but this was one such. Such a diversity of stories. Loved it
September 14, 2021
Finished reading on the delayed Swansea to Paddington 12:23 train. Quick visit to my parents. Picked this book up from dads bookshelf. Was a Xmas present to him from my wife in 2009. Varied stories from Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Conan Doyle to name a few. Good introduction to authors I had not read - Guy de Maupassant and O. Henry.
May 29, 2018
The art of the short story is one often forgotten by readers to the extent that even the great writers' stories can be overlooked, however, this collection seeks to champion it. Comprised of stories by foremost writers whose reputations have continued beyond their own period and into our own, it is unsurprising this book is a success. The nature of the stories varied from spooky ghost stories to a tale of love and this allowed the compilation to be very readable, interest never once straying.
The short story was something that I previously overlooked and even though I admired the works of many of the authors within this collection, I stuck to their most famous genre such as plays or novels; this mistake was quickly remedied. The engaging writing style, the perfect structure and the sheer brilliance of the imagination of many of these authors are enough to absorb any reader. However, the most striking factor about these stories was the simplicity of their central idea and allow their skill to make this something quite remarkable.
Whilst I have no faults with the actual stories it is a shame that the preliminary notes were not up to the same standard. These varied from being too detailed and in doing so partially ruining the story or waffled on not saying much, appearing as a page filler. The brief biography was a useful aid to put the story in perspective such as with 'The Yellow Wallpaper' where the influence of the author's life was pronounced throughout the story. The brief notes on style, structure, and language etc. were also at times beneficial, though clarity of content and purpose is needed.
There is nothing though that can take away from the brilliance of these short stories themselves for they demonstrate English literature at its finest and demand to be read and enjoyed.
The short story was something that I previously overlooked and even though I admired the works of many of the authors within this collection, I stuck to their most famous genre such as plays or novels; this mistake was quickly remedied. The engaging writing style, the perfect structure and the sheer brilliance of the imagination of many of these authors are enough to absorb any reader. However, the most striking factor about these stories was the simplicity of their central idea and allow their skill to make this something quite remarkable.
Whilst I have no faults with the actual stories it is a shame that the preliminary notes were not up to the same standard. These varied from being too detailed and in doing so partially ruining the story or waffled on not saying much, appearing as a page filler. The brief biography was a useful aid to put the story in perspective such as with 'The Yellow Wallpaper' where the influence of the author's life was pronounced throughout the story. The brief notes on style, structure, and language etc. were also at times beneficial, though clarity of content and purpose is needed.
There is nothing though that can take away from the brilliance of these short stories themselves for they demonstrate English literature at its finest and demand to be read and enjoyed.
January 23, 2012
Not a complete review yet. I'm currently reading this book and will add comments about the individual stories once I get to them.
Charles Dickens - The Black Veil
A young doctor is visited by a veiled woman dressed all in black
Starts out interesting and mysterious and stays that way for most of the time, but the end is rather moralizing. I like Dickens' style, it feels charmingly old-fashioned, but I think if I'm going to read more of him, I'm going to stick to short stories at first, because I'm not absolutely sure yet that I'd still like this style after a few hundred pages.
Thomas Hardy - The Withered Arm
For the most part, I liked, it but the end was just too much.
Wilkie Collins - The Terribly Strange Bed
Probably my favorite so far. And the end didn't feel as preachy as the first two.
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Bottle Imp
Liked the style, didn't like the ending.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Red-Headed League
My Favorite so far, although I've read it before.
H. G. Wells - The Stolen Bacillus
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Squire's Story
Anthony Trollope - The Journey to Panama
Oscar Wilde - The Sphinx Without a Secret
Bram Stoker - The Judge's House
Guy de Maupassant - The Necklace
Anton Chekov - The Kiss
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
Charles Lamb - Juke Judkin's Courtship
O. Henry - One Dollar's Worth
Charles Dickens - The Black Veil
A young doctor is visited by a veiled woman dressed all in black
Starts out interesting and mysterious and stays that way for most of the time, but the end is rather moralizing. I like Dickens' style, it feels charmingly old-fashioned, but I think if I'm going to read more of him, I'm going to stick to short stories at first, because I'm not absolutely sure yet that I'd still like this style after a few hundred pages.
Thomas Hardy - The Withered Arm
For the most part, I liked, it but the end was just too much.
Wilkie Collins - The Terribly Strange Bed
Probably my favorite so far. And the end didn't feel as preachy as the first two.
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Bottle Imp
Liked the style, didn't like the ending.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Red-Headed League
My Favorite so far, although I've read it before.
H. G. Wells - The Stolen Bacillus
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Squire's Story
Anthony Trollope - The Journey to Panama
Oscar Wilde - The Sphinx Without a Secret
Bram Stoker - The Judge's House
Guy de Maupassant - The Necklace
Anton Chekov - The Kiss
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
Charles Lamb - Juke Judkin's Courtship
O. Henry - One Dollar's Worth
June 25, 2014
I bought it solely for "The Judge's House", but I also adored "The Black Veil", "The Terribly Strange Bed", "The Red-Headed League", "The Stolen Bacillus", "The Journey to Panama", "The Sphinx Without a Secret" and "The Yellow Wallpaper".
After all, I liked all the stories collected in this book, but those which I didn't mention above I found too strange or simply didn't like their construction.
After all, I liked all the stories collected in this book, but those which I didn't mention above I found too strange or simply didn't like their construction.
March 3, 2009
Fairly good reads, many have a spooky element which is dealt with rather well and in a charming 19th century manner.
November 4, 2021
I found this book with a very, very cheap price, and i'm glad that i took it.
I think i always ended up buying book of short stories, i don't know why, because i didn't intend it, because i feel like it's not enough in short story, to really understand the character and feel invested in a story of 4-10 something pages. but here i am, i have 5 books of short stories in my collection, because i found them really cheap and in a good condition and i craved to read something anyway, So.
I didn't want to buy short stories, but then i bought it, but i ended up really like it, and i swore to myself to never buy short stories again, and then i keep buying more. Why?? I have no idea.
everything is random in my short stories books, compilation of rom coms, ghost stories, or what, and then there's this book.
I have to thank David Stuart Davies because he selected these awesome stories in this book, i love this collection of short stories more than my other ones. The stories are great , some of them left mark and just simply special and unforgettable. what a ride!!
here are my faves :
1. The yellow wallpaper
2. The red- headed league
3. the necklace
4.the withered arm
5. the story of a terribly strange bed
6. The bottle imp
7. the stolen bacillus
8. The judge's house
9. the sphinx without a secret
Wow, it's almost all of them!! so yes, i would recommend this book, and my fave ones make me want to read more works from the authors. :))
I think i always ended up buying book of short stories, i don't know why, because i didn't intend it, because i feel like it's not enough in short story, to really understand the character and feel invested in a story of 4-10 something pages. but here i am, i have 5 books of short stories in my collection, because i found them really cheap and in a good condition and i craved to read something anyway, So.
I didn't want to buy short stories, but then i bought it, but i ended up really like it, and i swore to myself to never buy short stories again, and then i keep buying more. Why?? I have no idea.
everything is random in my short stories books, compilation of rom coms, ghost stories, or what, and then there's this book.
I have to thank David Stuart Davies because he selected these awesome stories in this book, i love this collection of short stories more than my other ones. The stories are great , some of them left mark and just simply special and unforgettable. what a ride!!
here are my faves :
1. The yellow wallpaper
2. The red- headed league
3. the necklace
4.the withered arm
5. the story of a terribly strange bed
6. The bottle imp
7. the stolen bacillus
8. The judge's house
9. the sphinx without a secret
Wow, it's almost all of them!! so yes, i would recommend this book, and my fave ones make me want to read more works from the authors. :))
August 30, 2017
An excellent and diverse (enough) collection. The introductions to each author/story make this a good book for newcomers to C. 19th fiction. It's a pleasant causal read, but there's enough substance (and those introductions) to make it a fair book for studying too. The glossary/notes are useful enough, but a few of the definitions/clarifications are quite poor.
Thomas Hardy's "The Withered Arm" and Bram Stoker's "The Judge' s House" are widely regarded and, along with "The Terribly Strange Bed", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Stolen Bacillus", are the better stories of the collection. Nevertheless, all of the short stories are entertaining and mostly gripping.
Thomas Hardy's "The Withered Arm" and Bram Stoker's "The Judge' s House" are widely regarded and, along with "The Terribly Strange Bed", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Stolen Bacillus", are the better stories of the collection. Nevertheless, all of the short stories are entertaining and mostly gripping.
October 26, 2025
I picked this book up with the intent of getting through some light reading, as of late, I have been quite busy. The works in this text span all genres: romance, mystery, tragedy, and horror.
This book was lovely. My favorite stories were The Bottle Imp, The Necklace, & The Journey to Panama.
The only story I did not care for was "The Squire's Story."
This book was lovely. My favorite stories were The Bottle Imp, The Necklace, & The Journey to Panama.
The only story I did not care for was "The Squire's Story."
May 21, 2025
There’s a great collection of short stories in here, some great and others feel more like filler to me. But I really enjoyed overall and about 8 of these will stick with me and I’ll probably revisit them too!
June 15, 2018
even though I wasn't exactly infatuated with this book (i really don't like short stories) the awkward dealings with the human nature are very enticing and on point
April 29, 2019
A really good selection of stories and a lovely introduction to 19th century literature. One I'll definitely be recommending to my pupils.
December 23, 2019
Many good stories.
December 20, 2025
Excellent selections. A good mix that can be read individually or flows well from one story to the next.
February 16, 2015
Great collection of short stories by well known writers. The book is perfect for those who are still green when it comes to classic literature as it gives them a taste of what writing was like at that time!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews