I’ve been wanting a quick source for scanned ghost story collections, thus the Quintessential Online Ghost Story Collection. I know there are some wonderful books out there that fit into the timeline but they are simply not available online. These I have not listed. (I will gladly add in any I missed though. Let me know.) These are all single author (or a limited number of authors) collections up to about the 1920s. I will do an anthology list later. I have ignored the later Pulp writers on purpose.
I won’t waste any time on arguing what is and what isn’t a ghost story. Do we really want to argue about Maurice Level and H. G. Wells? If it is an old, scary and available collection, in it goes. let’s consider this a start. I have avoided novels. Granted some books only have some horror tales amongst other kinds of stories. Some are humorous (not my favorite). Take what you like, leave the rest…
A good resource, as always is H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Supernatural Horror in Literature”. But I have to admit my inspiration was the bibliography at the end of Jack Sullivan’s Elegant Nightmares (1979).
Gothic Beginnings 1765-1849
Horrid Mysteries v3 by Carl Grosse (1796)
Romantic Tales by M. G. Lewis (1809) v1 v2 v3 v4
Tales From Phantastus by Ludwig Tieck (1812-1817)
December Tales by William Harrison Ainsworth (1823)
Ingoldsby Legends by Richard Harris Barham (1836)
Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837)
The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain: A Fancy by Charles Dickens (1848)
The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving (1848)
The Masters 1850-1889
Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1851)
Avillion and Other Tales by Mrs. Craik (Dinah Mulock) (1851)
The Nightside of Nature, or Ghosts and Ghost Seers by Catherine Crowe (1853)
Lizzie Leigh and Other Stories by Elizabeth Gaskell (1855)
Nothing New Tales by Mrs. Craik (Dinah Mulock) (1857)
Ghost Stories and Phantom Fancies by J. Hain Friswell (1858)
Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe (1859)
Lois the Witch and Other Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell (1861)
Witch Stories by E. Lynn Linton (1861)
Ralph the Bailiff and Other Stories by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1862)
Undine and Other Tales by Baron Friedrich de La Motte Fouqué (1867)
Men, Women and Ghosts by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1869)
In a Glass Darkly by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872)
Popular Tales and Romances by Erckmann-Chatrian (1872)
Monsieur Maurice: A new Novelette and Other Tales by Amelia B. Edwards (1873) v1 v2 v3
Tales For Christmas Eve (aka Twilight Stories) by Rhoda Broughton (1873)
A Night on the Borders of the Black Forest by Amelia B. Edwards (1874)
Frank Sinclair’s Wife and Other Stories by Charlotte Riddell (1874) v1 v2 v3
Weaves and Weft, and Other Tales by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1877)
Prose Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (1878)
The Haunted Organist of Hurly-Burly and Other Stories by Rosa Mulholland (1880)
The Purcell Papers by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1880) v1 v2 v3
Anne and Other Tales by Mrs. Henry Wood (1881)
The Poems and Stories of Fitz-James O’Brien by Fitz-James O’Brien (1881)
A Moment of Madness, and Other Stories by Florence Marryat (1883)
The Lady or the Tiger? and Other Stories by Frank Stockton (1884)
Strange Stories by Grant Allen (1884)
Weird Tales by E. T. A. Hoffman v1 v2
Betty’s Visions and Mrs. Smith of Longmains by Rhoda Broughton (1886)
In the Wrong Paradise and Other Stories by Andrew Lang (1886)
The Shrine of Death and Other Stories by Lady Dilke (1886)
St. John’s Eve and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol (1886)
The Beckoning Hand and Other Stories by Grant Allen (1887)
Some Chinese Ghosts by Lafcadio Hearn (1887)
Tales of Terror and Wonder by M. G. Lewis (1887)
The Chronicle of Clemendy by Arthur Machen (as Gervase Perrot)(1888)
The Gerrard Street Mystery and Other Weird Tales by John Charles Dent (1888)
Idle Tales by Charlotte Riddell (1888)
Mr. Lucraft and Other Tales by Walter Besant (1888)
Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling (1888)
Under the Punkah by Phil Robinson (1888)
The Little Book of Profitable Tales by Eugene Field (1889)
Stories, Weird and Wonderful by J. Preston Muddock (1889)
The Late Victorians 1890-1919
The Captain of the Polestar and Other Tales by A. Conan Doyle (1890)
The Elixir and Other Tales by Georg Ebers (1890)
The Man Who Would Be King and Other Stories by Rudyard Kipling (1890)
Passages From The Dairy of a Late Physician by Samuel Warren (1890)
Modern Ghosts by Guy de Maupassant (1890)
The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Tales by Rudyard Kipling (1890)
Romantic Tales by Mrs. Craik (Dinah Mulock)(1890)
In a Canadian Canoe, the Nine Muses Minus One, and Other Stories by Barry Pain (1891)
The Cruel Painter and Other Stories by George MacDonald (1891)
The Doings of Raffles Haw, and Other Stories by A. Conan Doyle (1891)
Life’s Handicap: being Stories of Mine Own People by Rudyard Kipling (1891)
A New England Nun and Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman (1891)
Noughts and Crosses by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1891)
Tales and Stories by Mary Wollonstonecraft Shelley (1891)
Told After Supper by Jerome K. Jerome (1891)
Cranford and Other Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell (1892)
A Dark Night’s Work and Other Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell (1892)
In a Steamer Chair and Other Ship-Board Stories by Robert Barr (1892)
I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter’s Tales by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1892)
Pot of Gold and Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman (1892)
Stories and Interludes by Barry Pain (1892)
Young Lucretia and Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman (1892)
Diogenes of London and Other Fantasies and Sketches by H. B. Marriott-Watson (1893)
The Holy Cross and Other Tales by Eugene Field (1893)
In the Midst of Life by Ambrose Bierce (1893)
New Ghost Stories by Lettice Galbraith (1893)
The Prose Works of R. S. Hawker (1893) by R. S. Hawker
Six Common Things by E. F. Benson (1893)
The Transit of the Red Dragon and Other Tales by Eden Phillpotts (1893)
Voodoo Tales by Mary Alicia Owen (1893)
Weird Tales From Northern Seas by Jonas Lie (1893)
A Double Overture by E. F. Benson (1894)
The Face and the Mask by Robert Barr (1894)
The Great God Pan and The Inmost Light by Arthur Machen (1894)
Round the Red Lamp by A. Conan Doyle (1894)
The Stone Dragon and Other Tragic Romances by R. Murray Gilchrist (1894)
The Watcher and Other Weird Stories by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1894)
The Water Ghost and Others by J. Kendrick Bangs (1894)
Black Spirits and White by Ralph Adams Cram (1895)
The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories by Grant Allen (1895)
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chamber (1895)
The Mystery of Cloomber by A. Conan Doyle (1895)
The Parasite by A. Conan Doyle (1895)
Prince Zaleski by M. P. Shiel (1895)
Strange Secrets by A. Conan Doyle (1895)
The Three Imposters: or The Transmutations by Arthur Machen (1895)
Wandering Heath: Stories, Studies and Sketches by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1895)
The Black Poodle and Other Tales by F. Anstey (1896)
A Book of Bargains by Vincent O’Sullivan (1896)
The Maker of Moons by Robert W. Chambers (1896)
Revenge! by Robert Barr (1896)
Shapes in the Fire by M. P. Shiel (1896)
The Second Book of Tales by Eugene Field (1896)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde With Other Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson (1896)
Tales From Hauff by Wilheim Hauff (1896)
Uncanny Tales by Mrs. Molesworth (1896)
Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy (1896)
The Mystery of Choice by Robert W. Chambers (1897)
Thirty Strange Stories by H. G. Wells (1897)
Ghost I Have Met and Some Others by J. Kendrick Bangs (1898)
The Haunts of Men by Robert W. Chambers (1898)
The Heart of Miranda and Other Stories by H. B. Marriott-Watson (1898)
The Shape of Fear and Other Ghostly Tales by Elia W. Peattie (1898)
Spun-Yarn: Sea Tales by Morgan Robertson (1898)
Smith’s Battery by Robert W. Chambers (1898)
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898)
Adam Grainger and Other Stories by Mrs. Henry Wood (1899)
At a Winter’s Fire by Bernard Capes (1899)
Grey Weather: Moorland Tales of My Own People by John Buchan (1899)
In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn (1899)
Loup-garou! by Eden Phillpotts (1899)
Montezuma’s Castle and Other Weird Stories by Charles B. Cory (1899)
Real Ghosts by E. and H. Heron (1899)
Twelve Tales by Grant Allen (1899)
“Where Angels Fear To Tread’ and Other Tales of the Sea by Morgan Robertson (1899)
Black Heart and White Heart: and Other Stories by H. R. Haggard (1900)
The Late Miss Hollingford by Rosa Mulholland (1900)
Marvels and Mysteries by Richard Marsh (1900)
Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1900)
The Seen and Unseen by Richard Marsh (1900)
Shadowings by Lafcadio Hearn (1900)
Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Margaret Oliphant (1900)
A Strange Story; and The Haunted and the Haunters by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1900)
The Edwardians 1901-1910
Crucial Instances by Edith Wharton (1901)
Fancy Free by Eden Phillpotts (1901)
The Laird’s Luck and Other Fireside Tales by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1901)
Light Freights by W. W. Jacobs (1901)
Stories in the Dark by Barry Pain (1901)
The Unknown Masterpiece and Other Stories by Honore Balzac (1901)
After Dark by Wilkie Collins (1902)
Kotto: Being Japanese Curios, with Sundry Cobwebs by Lafcadio Hearn (1902)
The Lady of the Barge by W. W. Jacobs (1902)
Moth and Rust: and Other Stories by Mary Cholmondeley (1902)
Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Margaret Oliphant (1902)
Tales of Three Brothers by Phil, E. Kay and H. Perry Robinson (1902)
The Watcher By the Threshold and Other Tales by John Buchan (1902)
The White Wolf and Other Fireside Tales by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1902)
Afield and Afloat by Frank Stockton (1903)
Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce (1903)
The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant (1903)
A Deal in Wheat and Other Stories by Frank Norris (1903)
The Light Invisible by R. H. Benson (1903)
Two Sides of the Face by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1903)
The Wind in the Rose-Bush and Other Stories of the Supernatural by Mary Wilkins-Freeman (1903)
A Book of Ghosts by Sabine Baring-Gould (1904)
The Descent of Man and Other Stories by Edith Wharton (1904)
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James (1904)
The Isles of Sunset by A. C. Benson (1904)
Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn (1904)
The Temptation of St. Anthony by Gustave Flaubert (1904)
Young Man in a Hurry and Other Stories by Robert W. Chambers (1904)
The Bell in the Fog and Other Stories by Gertrude Atherton (1905)
Down to the Sea by Morgan Robertson (1905)
Land Ho! by Morgan Robertson (1905)
The Merry Men, and Other Tales and Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson (1905)
The Romance of the Milky Way and Other Studies and Stories by Lafcadio Hearn (1905)
Shakespeare’s Christmas and Other Stories by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1905)
The Vampire Nemesis and Other Weird Stories of the China Coast by Dolly (1905)
Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell (1906)
The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood (1906)
Hauntings: Fantastic Stories by Vernon Lee (1906)
The House of Souls by Arthur Machen (1906)
The Mermaid of Druid Lake, and Other Stories by Charles Weathers Bump (1906)
‘To Let’ by B. M. Croker (1906)
Human Affairs by Vincent O’Sullivan (1907)
The Listener and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood (1907)
A Mirror of Shallot by R. H. Benson (1907)
Nightmare Tales by Helena Blavatsky (1907)
Pope Jacynth and other Fantastic Tales by Vernon Lee (1907)
The Tree of Heaven by Robert W. Chambers (1907)
The Intoxicated Ghost and Other Stories by Arlo Bates (1908)
John Silence by Algernon Blackwood (1908)
Round the Fire Stories by A. Conan Doyle (1908)
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe (1908)
Sailor’s Knots by W. W. Jacobs (1909)
Strange Stories From a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling (1909)
The Ape, The idiot & Other People by W. C. Morrow (1910)
Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson (1910)
Reginald in Russia by Saki (1910)
Tales of Ghosts and Men by Edith Wharton (1910)
The Grip of Fear by Maurice Level (1911)
Here and Hereafter by Barry Pain (1911)
The Last Galley: Impressions and Tales by A. Conan Doyle (1911)
Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories by A. C. Benson (1911)
Wandering Ghosts by F. Marion Crawford (1911)
The Chronicles of Clovis by Saki (1912)
The Day Before Yesterday by Richard Middleton (1912)
The Ghost Ship & Other Stories by Richard Middleton (1912)
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime: the Portrait of Mr. W. H. and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde(1912)
Pan’s Garden: A Volume of Nature Stories by Algernon Blackwood (1912)
The Stoneground Ghost Stories by E. G. Swain (1912)
Studies in Love and Terror by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1913)
Beasts and Super-Beasts by Saki (1914)
Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories by Bram Stoker (1914)
The Grain Ship by Morgan Robertson (1914)
Incredible Adventures by Algernon Blackwood (1914)
Men of the Deep Waters by William Hope Hodgson (1914)
Night Watches by W. W. Jacobs (1914)
Over the Border by Morgan Robertson (1914)
Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural by Algernon Blackwood (1914)
The Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson (1914)
The Angels of Mons by Arthur Machen (1915)
Tales of Lafcadio Hearn by Lafcadio Hearn (1915)
Collected Stories Volume One by Barry Pain (1916)
The Listening Child by Rosemary Timperley (1916)
The Mantle, and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol (1916)
Uncanny Tales by Anonymous (1916)
Xingu and Other Stories by Edith Wharton (1916)
Day and Night Stories by Algernon Blackwood (1917)
Uncanny Tales by F. Marion Crawford (1917)
Brood of the Witch-Queen by Sax Rohmer (1918)
Danger! and Other Stories by A. Conan Doyle (1918)
The Garden of Survival by Algernon Blackwood (1918)
Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries by Melville Davvison Post (1918)
Across the Stream by E. F. Benson (1919)
Fantastics, and other Fancies by Lafcadio Hearn (1919)
Six Ghosts by Sir Thomas Graham Jackson (1919)
The Song of the Sirens by Edward Lucas White (1919)
A Thin Ghost and Others by M. R. James (1919)
The Toys of Peace by Saki (1919)
Modern Ghosts 1920-1947
The Countess of Lowndes Square and Other Stories by E. F. Benson (1920)
Tales of Secret Egypt by Sax Rohmer (1920)
The Tidal Wave and Other Stories by Ethel M. Dell (1920)
Wings: Tales of the Psychic by Achmed Abdullah (1920)
The Purple Sapphire and Other Posthumous Papers by Christopher Blayre (1921)
Smith and the Pharaohs and Other Tales by H. Rider Haggard (1921)
The Wolves of God and Other Fey Stories by Algernon Blackwood and Wilfred Wilson (1921)
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me: Tales by A. E. Coppard (1922)
Alien Souls by Achmed Abdullah (1922)
Clorinda Walks in Heaven, Tales by A. E. Coppard (1922)
The Black Dog and Other Stories by A. E. Coppard (1923)
Encounters by Elizabeth Bowen (1923)
The Riddle and Other Stories by Walter de la Mare (1923)
Uncanny Stories by May Sinclair (1923)
Broomsticks and Other Tales by Walter de la Mare (1925)
The Dream Detective by Sax Rohmer (1925)
The Secrets of Dr. Taverner by Dion Fortune (1926)
Under the Northern Lights by Alan Sullivan (1926)
The Magic Island by W. B. Seabrook (1928)
Spook Stories by E. F. Benson (1928)
Joining Charles and Other Stories by Elizabeth Bowen (1929)
The Short Stories of Saki by H. H. Munro (1930)
Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Gogol (1930)
Shocks by Algernon Blackwood (1935)
The Selected Short Stories of Franz Kafka by Franz Kafka (1936)
The Best of Gerald Kersh by Gerald Kersh (1937)
The Best Stories of Walter de la Mare by Walter de la Mare (1941)
Look at All the Roses: Short Stories by Elizabeth Bowen (1941)
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman (1942)
The Demon Lover and Other Stories by Elizabeth Bowen (1945)
Unholy Relics and Other Uncanny Tales by M. P. Dare (1947)
I will add volumes to the Quintessential Online Ghost Story Collection as books become available. You know, you can’t have too many books….
Brilliant! Just what I needed.