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Classic Horror Stories
Classic Horror Stories celebrates the rich literary legacy of the tale of the supernatural and the macabre with more than 40 stories that span the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book's lineup of writers reads like a who's who of classic horror authors from America, Great Britain, and the European continent: Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, Guy de Maupassant, William Hope Hodgson, Ambrose Bierce, Edith Wharton, and more. Its selections include some of the finest weird tales ever published, among them Lovecraft's "The Colour out of Space," Blackwood's "The Willows," Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body-Snatcher," William Fryer Harvey's "August Heat," and W. W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw." Classic Horror Stories is one of Barnes & Noble's Collectible Editions classics. Each volume features authoritative texts by the world's greatest authors in an exquisitely designed bonded-leather binding, with distinctive gilt edging and a ribbon bookmark. Decorative, durable, and collectible, these books offer hours of pleasure to readers young and old and are an indispensable cornerstone for every home library.
788 pages, Leather Bound
Published September 18, 2015
138 people are currently reading
874 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,886 books28.6k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 11, 2022
First off, the book is gorgeous. While the leather may not be the best quality, it is a very pretty book and well worth the price. It feels sturdy and is built to last.
As for the stories, if you like classics and you like horror this is your one stop shop for both. Some are better than others. Classics from Poe, Bierce, Lovecraft, and Stoker are all included. Some are a bit if a drag, but as is the case with every collection. Take note, most of these are from the late 1800's and early 1900's, so the language may be a bit dense for some readers.
Overall, highly recommend.
As for the stories, if you like classics and you like horror this is your one stop shop for both. Some are better than others. Classics from Poe, Bierce, Lovecraft, and Stoker are all included. Some are a bit if a drag, but as is the case with every collection. Take note, most of these are from the late 1800's and early 1900's, so the language may be a bit dense for some readers.
Overall, highly recommend.
August 16, 2024
A great selection of classic horror stories. Very entertaining. Stories included in the collection are:
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Black Cat
The Masque of the Red Death
The Fall of the House of Usher
J. SHERIDAN LE FANU
The Watcher
Schalken the Painter
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
HENRY JAMES
The Ghostly Rental
The Jolly Corner
BRAM STOKER
The Judge's House
The Squaw
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
Was It a Dream?
The Horla
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
The Body-Snatcher
MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN
The Wind in the Rose-Bush
The Shadows on the Wall
MARION CRAWFORD
The Upper Berth
E. NESBIT
Man-Size in Marble
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Lot No. 249
The Horror of the Heights
EDITH WHARTON
The Eyes
Afterward
M. R. JAMES
"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"
Count Magnus
ARTHUR MACHEN
The Great God Pan
Novel of the White Powder
W. W. JACOBS
The Monkey's Paw
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
The Yellow Sign
E. F. BENSON
Caterpillars
Negotium Perambulans
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD
The Wendigo
The Willows
OLIVER ONIONS
The Beckoning Fair One
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON
The Derelict
The Voice in the Night
HENRY S. WHITEHEAD
Passing of a God
Cassius
WILLIAM FRYER HARVEY
August Heat
The Ankardyne Pew
H. P. LOVECRAFT
The Colour out of Space
The Dunwich Horror
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Black Cat
The Masque of the Red Death
The Fall of the House of Usher
J. SHERIDAN LE FANU
The Watcher
Schalken the Painter
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
HENRY JAMES
The Ghostly Rental
The Jolly Corner
BRAM STOKER
The Judge's House
The Squaw
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
Was It a Dream?
The Horla
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
The Body-Snatcher
MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN
The Wind in the Rose-Bush
The Shadows on the Wall
MARION CRAWFORD
The Upper Berth
E. NESBIT
Man-Size in Marble
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Lot No. 249
The Horror of the Heights
EDITH WHARTON
The Eyes
Afterward
M. R. JAMES
"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"
Count Magnus
ARTHUR MACHEN
The Great God Pan
Novel of the White Powder
W. W. JACOBS
The Monkey's Paw
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
The Yellow Sign
E. F. BENSON
Caterpillars
Negotium Perambulans
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD
The Wendigo
The Willows
OLIVER ONIONS
The Beckoning Fair One
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON
The Derelict
The Voice in the Night
HENRY S. WHITEHEAD
Passing of a God
Cassius
WILLIAM FRYER HARVEY
August Heat
The Ankardyne Pew
H. P. LOVECRAFT
The Colour out of Space
The Dunwich Horror
January 11, 2024
My cousin bought this for me on an anticipated trip to Barnes and Nobles on my holiday to America. Firstly, the cover and gold leathering are absolutely gorgeous.
I really enjoyed the stories in these collections. It was good to revist some writers I've read before but to also encounter those I've never discovered.
Of course, there are some stories I admired more than others, for example, Poe. "The Monkey's Paw" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" remains my favourite for how tense and captivating they were. Others from writers such as Lovecraft I was refreshingly surprised by because I never liked his writing style before when I was younger, but perhaps revisiting them have made me appreciate it more.
However, I noticed a few minor logistical errors in this collection, too.
It's remarkable to see why we love the horror genre so much and how it has developed over the years from these classics to our contemporary tastes. I noticed there's an emphasis on the human, psychological condition when faced by these horrors with most characters being reflective. Lovecraft differs, as the threat affects a whole community rather than an individual, and so in effect, raising the stakes towards the beginning of the twentieth century.
I really enjoyed the stories in these collections. It was good to revist some writers I've read before but to also encounter those I've never discovered.
Of course, there are some stories I admired more than others, for example, Poe. "The Monkey's Paw" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" remains my favourite for how tense and captivating they were. Others from writers such as Lovecraft I was refreshingly surprised by because I never liked his writing style before when I was younger, but perhaps revisiting them have made me appreciate it more.
However, I noticed a few minor logistical errors in this collection, too.
It's remarkable to see why we love the horror genre so much and how it has developed over the years from these classics to our contemporary tastes. I noticed there's an emphasis on the human, psychological condition when faced by these horrors with most characters being reflective. Lovecraft differs, as the threat affects a whole community rather than an individual, and so in effect, raising the stakes towards the beginning of the twentieth century.
December 30, 2024
"The well-written tale of horror transports us to a world that appears exactly like our own in every regard, save that it teems with possibilities for the type of supernatural experience that we have rationalized out of our modern lives."
The Introduction to this book provides a brief overview of the history of horror in literature, as well as its foundations and evolutions from the Gothic genre (which I also read a collection of a few years back).
While reading this tome, I kept a running list of all the stories I enjoyed even a little bit and favorably marked the ones I loved through to the end (of which there is an overwhelming number).
Out of the 41 selections in this collection, I couldn't get into just four of them--which is common and acceptable in a book like this where you open yourself to unknown authors and stories from the 18th and 19th centuries; they can't all be winners. As such, this "book" gets 5 stars from me, and is a must-read for horror fans and/or someone who appreciates classic literature.
Here are my (reluctantly whittled-down) Top Five:
1) The Dunwich Horror - H.P. Lovecraft
2) Cassius - Henry S. Whitehead
3) The Derelict - William Hope Hodgson
4) The Horror of the Heights - Arthur Conan Doyle
5) The Eyes - Edith Wharton
The Introduction to this book provides a brief overview of the history of horror in literature, as well as its foundations and evolutions from the Gothic genre (which I also read a collection of a few years back).
While reading this tome, I kept a running list of all the stories I enjoyed even a little bit and favorably marked the ones I loved through to the end (of which there is an overwhelming number).
Out of the 41 selections in this collection, I couldn't get into just four of them--which is common and acceptable in a book like this where you open yourself to unknown authors and stories from the 18th and 19th centuries; they can't all be winners. As such, this "book" gets 5 stars from me, and is a must-read for horror fans and/or someone who appreciates classic literature.
Here are my (reluctantly whittled-down) Top Five:
1) The Dunwich Horror - H.P. Lovecraft
2) Cassius - Henry S. Whitehead
3) The Derelict - William Hope Hodgson
4) The Horror of the Heights - Arthur Conan Doyle
5) The Eyes - Edith Wharton
September 20, 2025
Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of classics and discovered that while trying to read this monster of a book! I tried to take it slow since I’m not used to reading classics for fun instead of for school, but it didn’t take long for me to get very bored. DNF not even a quarter of the way through the book. At least it’s pretty enough to just sit on my shelves.
July 14, 2025
Very good collection (although there were a couple that I could’ve done without) but it was pretty dang good overall!!! It was a loooooonnngggg read highly recommend breaking it up over a period of time with other books (that’s what I did)😊
August 6, 2021
not really my thing :/
October 14, 2022
This was the perfect read for the season. Now onto the ORIGNAL stories disney based their animations off of...
May 1, 2023
Fantastic overview of how horror stories have changed over the time. 90%+ of the stories are good to great. Definitely recommend for any horror fans.
October 17, 2023
Interesting how you can see the bones of some modern horror stories in these stories.
November 18, 2023
Very good selection of stories that show the change in horror writing over the years.
December 19, 2024
I love this book. And it's perfect for getting out of a reading slump. I really enjoy how there's a different story of every chapter. It kept me so entertained.
March 7, 2025
This is, by far, the prettiest book in my collection. And it's a decent selection of classic horror stories from a variety of authors. Within this collection was a nice mix of stories I've already read, stories on my "want to read" list, and stories I had never heard of before. Given my familiarity with some of the authors, it was hard not to think "they should've included this story too" - but this tome is already a beast so it's probably for the best that the editors kept it to 1-2 stories per featured author.
August 17, 2017
A great book where you can see the evolution of horror fiction. We see works from Poe, Stoker, and even Doyle here, along with writers that aren't household names who had a helping hand in shaping the genre as we know it today. Some stories don't hold up as much, but it's still cool to see where these tropes came from.
May 22, 2019
if you like horror stories and classics this is the book for you
July 8, 2025
A great collection of short stories to novellas from well known as well as some more obscure writers(for the 21st century reader. Very entertaining and I will definitely reread this at some point.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews