Ash-Tree Press
ASH-TREE PRESS
by Boyd White
Between 1994 and 2010, Ash-Tree Press published 153 titles in hardcover and paperback. Specializing in the classic British ghost story and under the editorship of Barbara and Chris Roden, the press reissued virtually unobtainable collections such as Ulric Daubeny’s The Elemental (1919), Margery Lawrence’s Nights of the Round Table (1926), and Eleanor Scott’s Randalls Round (1929), as well as equally rare novels like Marion Fox’s Ape’s-Face (1914), M. Y. Halidom’s The Woman in Black (1906), and Alan Hyder’s Vampires Overhead (1935). Through the efforts of noted researchers and scholars including Jack Adrian, Richard Dalby, Hugh Lamb, and Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Ash-Tree Press also issued previously unpublished collections of ghost stories by established masters of the genre, such as A. M. Burrage, Shamuz Frazer, and H. R. Wakefield. Most importantly, in addition to A Pleasing Terror (2001), the definitive volume of M. R. James’ complete ghost stories, Ash-Tree Press produced multi-volume and omnibus editions of the collected supernatural fiction of other prominent classic authors, such as E. F. Benson, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, John Buchan, A. Conan Doyle, Vernon Lee, J. S. Le Fanu, and Edith Nesbit, books all distinguished by their highly informative, well-researched introductions. The press’ anthologies of contemporary writers, such as the World-Fantasy-Award-winning Acquainted with the Night (2004), were among the first publications to feature original work by authors who are now regarded as some of the most significant writers of literary supernatural fiction, including Peter Bell, Helen Grant, Glen Hirschberg, Jane Jakeman, Reggie Oliver, and Ron Weighell. In expanding their focus to include new authors, Ash-Tree Press also published several volumes that have come to be recognized as cornerstone collections of weird fiction, most notably Terry Lamsley’s Conference with the Dead (1996) and Steve Duffy’s The Night Comes On (1998). For any collector or scholar interested in the history and development of classic and contemporary supernatural fiction, particularly the tradition of the British ghost story, the work of Ash-Tree Press is indispensable.
THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2002: GHOSTS AT 'THE CORNHILL' 1920–30.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2002. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Anthology of weird and supernatural stories from 'The Cornhill' magazine which was published from 1860-1975.
THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2004: THE LAST 'QUEER STORIES FROM TRUTH.'
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2004. Octavo, cloth. First edition. 500 copies printed. Collection of stories culled from the weekly publication "The Truth."
THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 1997.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1997. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects four supernatural tales by women writers from the early 20th century, Patricia Wentworth, Jessie Douglas Kerruish, Carola Oman, and Mollie Panter Downes.
THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 1999.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects six weird stories, "The House That Was Lost" by Tom Gallon (1908), "Tight and Loose" by Neil Gow (1932), "The Man Who Was Tomorrow" by Eric Ambrose (1933), "Newsreel" by W. J. Makin (1935), "Time- Piece" by Donald Showbridge (1939) and "Last Act First" by Laurence Meynell (1940), with introduction and notes by editor Jack Adrian.
THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2000.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2000. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects nine stories by classic writers.
AYLMER VANCE: GHOST SEER. Introduction by Jack Adrian.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1998. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. The first volume in a series from Ash Tree (Occult Detectives Library). Collects eight occult detective stories, all first published in THE WEEKLY TALE-TELLER between 4 July 1914 and 22 August 1914, with introduction by editor Jack Adrian.
THE TALISMAN.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 600 copies. Horror novel.
A BOOK OF GHOSTS. Introduction by Richard Dalby.
Penyffordd, Chester: Ash-Tree Press, 1996. Octavo, cloth. Enlarged edition. Limited to 400 copies. Collects the twenty-one stories published in the 1904 Methuen edition and adds two other supernatural tales by Baring- Gould, "A Dead Man's Teeth" and "The Old Woman of Wesel," and a new 13- page introduction by Richard Dalby. "Collection of ghost stories, some dating back to the 1850s. Most are slight tales of apparitions; the most interesting are 'Pomps and Vanities,' a tale of possession; and 'The Merewigs,' a farce in which persons who made no spiritual progress in their last incarnation must now haunt the British Museum." - Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-6. [Reference: Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, pp. 26-7. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 97. Bleiler (1978), p. 15. Reginald 00865].
A BOOK OF GHOSTS. Introduction by Richard Dalby.
Penyffordd, Chester: Ash-Tree Press, 1996. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 400 copies. Collects the twenty-one stories published in the 1904 Methuen edition and adds two other supernatural tales by Baring- Gould, "A Dead Man's Teeth" and "The Old Woman of Wesel," and a new 13- page introduction by Richard Dalby. "Collection of ghost stories, some dating back to the 1850s. Most are slight tales of apparitions; the most interesting are 'Pomps and Vanities,' a tale of possession; and 'The Merewigs,' a farce in which persons who made no spiritual progress in their last incarnation must now haunt the British Museum." - Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-6. [Reference: Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, pp. 26-7. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 97. Bleiler (1978), p. 15. Reginald 00865].
THE FACE: COLLECTED SPOOK STORIES VOLUME FOUR. Edited by Jack Adrian.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2003. Octavo, cloth. First edition. 600 copies printed. The fourth of five volumes of Benson's supernatural tales. This volume has stories from December 1923 to November 1927.
MRS AMWORTH: COLLECTED SPOOK STORIES VOLUME THREE. Edited by Jack Adrian.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2001. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 600 copies. Collection of sixteen stories first published 1922-23. The third volume in the projected five volume collection of Benson's stories.
THE PASSENGER: COLLECTED SPOOK STORIES VOLUME TWO. Edited by Jack Adrian.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 600 copies. The second of five projected volumes of Benson's supernatural tales. This volume has stories from 1912-1921.
SEA MIST: COLLECTED SPOOK STORIES VOLUME FIVE. Edited by Jack Adrian.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2005. Octavo, cloth. First edition. 600 copies printed. The last of five volumes of Benson's supernatural tales. This volume has stories from 1927-40.
THE TERROR BY NIGHT: COLLECTED SPOOK STORIES VOLUME ONE. Edited by Jack Adrian
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1998. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 600 copies. First volume in a projected five volume series of Benson's supernatural tales. The stories from this volume date from 1899-1911.
A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2004. Octavo, cloth. First edition. 500 copies printed. Introduction by Joel Lane. Collection of horror fiction.
TWILIGHT AND OTHER SUPERNATURAL ROMANCES. Introduction by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1998. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Inscribed and signed by editor Salmonson on the title page. Collection of supernatural stories edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
THE COLD EMBRACE AND OTHER UNCOLLECTED GHOST STORIES. Introduction by Richard Dalby.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2000. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects eighteen stories with "introduction" by Richard Dalby and "Miss Braddon at Home," an article by Mary Angela Dickens first published in WINDSOR MAGAZINE, September 1897. "Whereas the supernatural and weird tales of Charlotte Riddell, Rhoda Broughton, and Margaret Oliphant were published individually in thematic collections during the late Victorian (and Edwardian) era, this never happened with Mary E. Braddon and Amelia B. Edwards, two of the finest ghost story writers of the nineteenth century, whose supernatural work was sprinkled throughout various rare books and magazines, which today are virtually impossible to obtain. This gap is now filled by the present volume, together with its recent companion THE PHANTOM COACH by Amelia Edwards. Thanks to their appearance in THE SUPERNATURAL OMNIBUS (edited by Montague Summers in 1931), Mary Braddon's first two ghost stories, 'The Cold Embrace' and 'Eveline's Visitant,' have regularly been reprinted in later anthologies, and remain her best known contributions to the genre. Only four other supernatural tales by Braddon have been revived in the past two decades, a deficiency now remedied here . The stories in the present volume are arranged in strict chronological order from 1860 to 1896 . In addition to all of Braddon's traditional ghost stories, I have added three of her best borderline fantasies . but I have omitted some of the less satisfactory 'dream' stories ." - Dalby.
THE GOLDEN GONG AND OTHER NIGHT-PIECES. Introduction by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2001. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 600 copies. Collects twenty tales by Burke, from NIGHT PIECES and other collections, with a long, interesting introduction by Salmonson, and a profile by his publisher "Grant Richards on Thomas Burke." Reproduces (in black and white) the vivid dust jackets of many of his, now scarce, first editions. Burke first gained fame for his stories of London's Chinatown district, known as Limehouse.
WARNING WHISPERS. Introduction by Jack Adrian.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects the seventeen stories published in the 1988 Equation paperback original with the addition of eight previously uncollected Burrage stories, with introduction by editor Jack Adrian.
WARNING WHISPERS. Introduction by Jack Adrian.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects the seventeen stories published in the 1988 Equation paperback original with the addition of eight previously uncollected Burrage stories, with introduction by editor Jack Adrian.
INTRUDERS: NEW WEIRD TALES. Introduction by Jack Adrian.
Penyffordd, Chester: Ash-Tree Press, 1995. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Twenty-six stories collected, all but three appearing in book form for the first time. Introduction by Jack Adrian.
THE OCCULT FILES OF FRANCIS CHARD: SOME GHOST STORIES. Introduction by Jack Adrian.
Penyffordd, Chester: Ash-Tree Press, 1996. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies plus a few extras produced for legal deposit purposes. Twenty six stories, ten featuring the occult detective Francis Chard, two other stories and a novella (all first appearance in book form) and a reprint of the thirteen story contents of SOME GHOST STORIES.
NOT EXACTLY GHOSTS: COLLECTED WEIRD TALES. Introduction by Stefan Dziemianowicz.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2002. Octavo, cloth. First combined edition. Limited to 500 copies. This edition collects the stories from the two volumes published in his lifetime, NOT EXACTLY GHOSTS (1947) and FIRES BURN BLUE (1948).
THE BLACK REAPER. Introduction by Hugh Lamb.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1998. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 600 copies. Collects twenty-three stories. An expansion of Lamb's 1989 edition of THE BLACK REAPER published as part of the Equation Chillers series, augmented by eleven more stories, a revised introduction by Lamb, and foreword by Ian Burns, Capes' grandson.
THIS WAY TO EGRESS.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2010. Octavo, cloth. First edition. 400 copies printed. The author's first collection, horror, ghost and mystery fiction. Includes a new story for this book, 'Reckoning.'.