Another strange find!

krakenten · Post by **krakenten** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:55 am

Some days ago, oppressed by melancholia of spirit, I faced the stark choice that I would either have to eat wallpaper paste or find a book to read.
A bit later, I put down the screwdriver and recalled that I hadn't visited the local flea market for some time, and we were running rather low on fleas.
I entered the disorderly depths of the shabby emporium with little hope of finding a suitable diversion, but, after all, the wallpaper paste would still be there, so I went on, deeper and deeper into the shelves of remainders and book club editions, where as I trembled in excitement, among the dog eared volumes, squatting malevolently like some venomous thing...............'The Supernatural Omnibus', edited by Montague Summers!
Knowing that many Lovecraftians have had their brains carried off to Pluto under similar circumstances(I've always wanted to visit Pluto) I hurried to the front of the establishment to thrust the pittance demanded into the grubby hand of the somehow sinister cashier and hurried off into gathering gloom, clutching the book to my breast as I would a child.
In a gloomy and fulgent corner of the decaying family manse, surrounded by cobwebs and capering rodents(how they love story time!), I lit an oil lamp and began to read.
Summers, the witch finder himself!, the expert on vampires, werewolves and the Black Mass, a man rumored to have a special commission from the Papacy, to have plumbed the depths of the occult, to be feared by Aleister Crowley himself!, he chose these tales!
Yes, he was a wierdo and a open mouldy-fig, but his taste in occult fiction is not to be faulted.
Here, I found the Dickens recently mentioned on 'Dr. Who' and a truly succulent story by Vernon Lee, "Amor Dure", which could be made into a very shuddersome film.
And I'm not more that halfway through-the wallpaper paste will just have to wait.

odin2 · Post by **odin2** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:59 am

Wow, that's some find...Wish I could be so lucky.
All I can find at flea markets are old cook book....
And you get to keep the wallpaper paste to.

krakenten · Post by **krakenten** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:10 pm

Gourmet wallpaper paste is such a comfort.

Seriously, the old geranium had good taste in fiction, whatever his other faults.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 3:10 pm

I recommend a little pepper with the paste, it off-sets the texture a little.

krakenten · Post by **krakenten** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 3:46 pm

Seasoning? Are you MAD?

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:12 pm

Slightly.

krakenten · Post by **krakenten** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:24 pm

Has anyone ever heard of this collection-is it perhaps rare, or fabled among booksellers or lovers of wierd fiction?
So far, the stories have been very good, and since the book was originally published in 1931(mine is the 1974 reissue from Causeway Press) the tales are quite old.
Just wondering.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:54 pm

Never heard of it. try searching the internet for it, see how much it's going for on Amazon or Ebay.

krakenten · Post by **krakenten** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:06 pm

I'm not concerned with the value-I just wonder if it might be useful to students of supernatural literature.
I remember all the stories I so often heard of, but could never find-including Lovecraft, during the 60's.
Now, with the passing of the copyright on so many classic stories(what a co-inky-dink!), they are easily obtained.

0

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:19 pm

Yeah, but if it's selling for a lot, it's probably a rare text, and so it'd be a good thing to have lying around.

krakenten · Post by **krakenten** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:34 pm

Ever the practical one............................

Enkil · Post by **Enkil** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:02 pm

So this is just a book of supernatural tales, which happens to be rather rare in numbers?

odin2 · Post by **odin2** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:11 am

Yeah, I have heard of it it goes for about $25 used...

Here is some more information I got off of an online store...

The Supernatural Omnibus by Montague Summers

Publisher: A.L.Burt Company, New York
Edition: 1932
Description: Volume has bumped corners and spine wear at top and bottom, binding is firm, all pages are intact with uniform yellowing. A collection of thirty-six stories edited and introduced by Summers. Authors included are Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Jasper John an Ambrose Bierce just to name a few. Some of the short stories are: The Damned Thing, De Profundus, The Canterville Ghost, the Phantom Coach just to name a few.
Type: Hard Cover 8 1/4" x 5 1/4"
Condition: Good. No dust jacket.
Price: $25.00 USD

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:28 am

Which Stoker story is in there? "Lair of the White Worm" is amazing.

krakenten · Post by **krakenten** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:10 pm

The Stoker is 'The Judge's House', not a screed, but not a work that will ring down the ages.
The film of 'Lair' is a hoot.