The Haunted Looking Glass is the late Edward Gorey's selection of his favorite tales of ghosts, ghouls, and grisly goings-on. It includes stories by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, M. R. James, W. W. Jacobs, and L. P. Hartley, among other masters of the fine art of making the flesh creep, all accompanied by Gorey's inimitable illustrations. ALGERNON BLACKWOOD, "The Empty House" W.F. HARVEY, "August Heat" CHARLES DICKENS, "The Signalman" L.P. HARTLEY, "A Visitor from Down Under" R.H. MALDEN, "The Thirteenth Tree" ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, "The Body-Snatcher" E. NESBIT, "Man-Size in Marble" BRAM STOKER, "The Judge's House" TOM HOOD, "The Shadow of a Shade" W.W. JACOBS, "The Monkey's Paw," WILKIE COLLINS, "The Dream Woman" M.R. JAMES, "Casting the Runes" "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 "This delightfully eerie anthology…[is] a great entry into the warped sensibility that animated Gorey’s twisted genius." — Kirkus Reviews Edward Gorey (1925–2000) was born in Chicago. He studied briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago, spent three years in the army testing poison gas, and attended Harvard College, where he majored in French literature and roomed with the poet Frank O’Hara. In 1953 Gorey published  The Unstrung Harp , the first of his many extraordinary books, which include  The Curious Sofa ,  The Haunted Tea Cosy , and  The Epiplectic Bicycle . In addition to illustrating his own books, Gorey provided drawings to countless books for both children and adults. In addition to illustrating his own books, Edward Gorey provided drawings to countless books for both children and adults. Of these, New York Review Books has published The Haunted Looking Glass , a collection of Gothic tales that he selected and illustrated; The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells; Men and Gods , a retelling of ancient Greek myths by Rex Warner; in collaboration with Rhoda Levine, Three Ladies Beside the Sea and He Was There from the Day We Moved In ; and The Unrest-Cure and Other Stories , a collection of tales by Saki. THE HAUNTED LOOKING GLASS By EDWARD GOREY NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS Copyright © 1959 Edward Gorey All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-940322-68-4 Contents THE EMPTY HOUSE, Algernon Blackwood...........................3AUGUST HEAT, W.F. Harvey......................................25THE SIGNALMAN, Charles Dickens................................35A VISITOR FROM DOWN UNDER, L. P. Hartley......................53THE THIRTEENTH TREE, R.H. Maiden..............................75THE BODY-SNATCHER, Robert Louis Stevenson.....................93MAN-SIZE IN MARBLE, E. Nesbit.................................117THE JUDGE'S HOUSE, Bram Stoker................................135THE SHADOW OF A SHADE, Tom Hood...............................159THE MONKEY'S PAW, W.W. Jacobs.................................179THE DREAM WOMAN, Wilkie Collins...............................195CASTING THE RUNES, M. R. James................................225About the Authors.............................................253 Chapter One THE EMPTY HOUSE by Algernon Blackwood CERTAIN HOUSES, LIKE certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at once their character for evil. In the case of the latter, no particular feature need betray them; they may boast an open countenance and an ingenuous smile; and yet a little of their company leaves the unalterable conviction that there is something radically amiss with their being: that they are evil. Willy nilly, they seem to communicate an atmosphere of secret and wicked thoughts which makes those in their immediate neighborhood shrink from them as from a thing diseased. And, perhaps, with houses the same principle is operative, and it is the aroma of evil deeds committed under a particular roof, long after the actual doers have passed away, that makes the gooseflesh come and the hair rise. Something of the original passion of the evildoer, and of the horror felt by his victim, enters the heart of the innocent watcher, and he becomes suddenly conscious of tingling nerves, creeping skin, and a chilling of the blood. He is terror-stricken without apparent cause. There was manifestly nothing in the external appearance of this particular house to bear out the tales of the horror that was said to reign within. It was neither lonely nor unkempt. It stood, crowded into a corner of the square, and looked exactly like the houses on either side of it. It had the same number of windows as its neighbors; the same balcony overlooking the gardens; the same white steps leading up to the heavy black front door; and, in the rear, there was the same narrow strip of green, with neat box borders, running up to the wall that divided it from the backs of the adjoining houses. Apparently, too, the number of chimney pots