LAST FEW COPIES AVAILABLE...
REDISCOVERED!
LIMITED TO 250 HAND-NUMBERED SETS
TWO LOST TALES FROM THE CREATORS OF FRANKENSTEIN AND DRACULA
'THE GHOST OF THE PRIVATE THEATRICALS'
By 'M.S.' Now attributed to Mary Shelley
and
'GIBBET HILL'
By Bram Stoker
PRESENTED WITH PRINTS BY J.M.W. TURNER OF THE PLACES WHICH INSPIRED THE TALES...
'The Ghost of the Private Theatricals' is a chilling short story, originally printed in the literary annual The Keepsake, credited simply to 'M.S.' Almost entirely forgotten for nearly two centuries, and never included in any collection of Shelley's work, it now reappears at last in this limited edition, with an extended Afterword by Adam Newell, giving the background to the first publication of the story, and presenting the persuasive evidence to show that 'M.S.' is, in fact, Mary Shelley. Newell has also uncovered a contemporary review which could give a clue to the story's origins... This edition comes with a print by J.M.W. Turner of 'Heidelberg', a castle visited by Mary Shelley, which may have inspired the Schloss
'Gibbet Hill' is an eerie short story by Bram Stoker, which was originally published in an Irish newspaper in 1890, but then forgotten until its recent rediscovery. It is presented here for the first time with a print of 'Hind Head Hill', the image by J.M.W. Turner which directly inspired (and is indeed mentioned in) the tale.
There are 250 numbered sets, first come, first served. There will be no reprint of this edition.
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Editor’s Note
A word of explanation. In 2018, inspired by the earlier ‘literary sleuthing’ of Charles E. Robinson, I published a 100-copy edition of ‘The Ghost of the Private Theatricals’, which I attributed, in a lengthy explanatory Afterword, to Mary Shelley. It quickly sold out. Though it was advertised as ‘never to be reprinted’, the howls of despair I have repeatedly received from people desperate to buy a copy in the years since have caused me to reconsider on this one (and only) occasion. To those lucky few who do own a copy of the ‘original’ 100-copy edition, fear not, the exclusivity and collectability of that edition remains: those copies include an actual hand-printed linocut tipped in as the frontispiece; this ‘new edition’ (which is marked as such) does not, though it does include a brief new Postscript to the Afterword, dealing with the 2018 edition’s coverage in the Times Literary Supplement.
This new release is paired with a chapbook featuring ‘Gibbet Hill’ by Bram Stoker. To be clear, I played no part in the exciting rediscovery of this wonderfully atmospheric tale: the credit for that goes to Brian Cleary. He contributed to an excellent edition of ‘Gibbet Hill’, well worth your attention, which can be purchased here. What that edition does not include, perhaps surprisingly, is a reproduction of the original Turner print which directly inspired (and indeed is mentioned in) the story. This is included in this set. When I realised there was also a print by Turner of Castle Heidelberg, visited by Mary Shelley during her Rambles in Germany and Italy, and therefore a possible inspiration for Schloss Trubenstern in the ‘The Ghost of the Private Theatricals’, I thought a pair of chapbooks and a pair of prints could be the way to go. When I then realised that April 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Turner’s birth, the decision was made!
Thanks as always to Martin Stiff at Amazing15.com for his design, which plays such an important part of the chapbooks I publish. Thanks also to Sharon Newell (aka Sharon Gosling) for her original frontispiece for the Shelley chapbook.
For the avoidance of doubt, the text to ‘Gibbet Hill’ has been edited slightly for clarity and obvious typos by me, directly from scans of its original newspaper appearance.
And no, I do not plan any reprints of any of my other sold-out chapbooks, so please don't ask!
