Fantasmagoriana Deluxe (Dark Moon Books, November 28, 2023). Cover art by Hellduriel

The history of Fantasmagoriana is rather complicated.

Originally the book was published in German as a ghost story collection, then translated into French in 1812. The first English translation under the title Tales of the Dead by Sarah Elizabeth Utterson appeared in 1813, but Utterson omitted three stories and added one written by herself, “The Storm,” which frankly is an unremarkable, weak imitation of some of the original tales included in the anthology.

The current volume, Fantasmagoriana Deluxe, includes all the stories featured in the two books Fantasmagoriana and Tales of the Dead, some of which were read aloud by Mary Shelley and her friends during the famous party at Villa Diodati (Switzerland) where Lord Byron suggested that the guests try their hand creating some new ghostly fiction. The more famous results of that challenge were Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Vampyre by JW Polidori.

But so much for history. Let’s move to the stories, which are all outstanding.

“The Spectre-Barber” by Johann Karl August Musaus is a fascinating old-style fairy tale where a young and poor aristocrat manages, by means of supernatural help, to recover his fortunes and ensure himself the love of the girl of his dreams.

“The Family Portraits” by Johann August Apel is a gothic tale full of unexpected surprises, about family secrets and ancient curses.
Friedrich Laun contributes various stories such as “The Death Bride,” an exquisite gothic mystery full of unexpected turns and supernatural events where two twin sisters have two different fates, “ The Fatal Hour” in which a terrible prediction turns out to be reliable in every detail, and “The Revenant,” a delightful, complex story featuring a rich widow who discovers the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death.

“The Gray Chamber” by Heinrich Clauren and “The Black Chamber” by Johann August Apel both revolve around the subject of haunted rooms. Obviously, when read in sequence they lose a bit of their pathos due to the repetitiveness of the situation.

All in all the book is fascinating and enjoyable in the extreme, in part because is it enriched by extraordinary beautiful illustrations and engravings which make it even more interesting.

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Mario Guslandi was born in Milan, Italy, where he currently lives. He became addicted to horror and supernatural fiction (too) many years ago, after accidentally reading a reprint anthology of stories by MR James, JS Le Fanu, Arthur Machen etc. Most likely the only Italian who regularly reads (and reviews) dark fiction in English, he has contributed over the years to various genre websites such as Horrorworld, Hellnotes, The British Fantasy Society, The Agony Column and many more. His last review for us was A Darker Shade of Noir, edited by Joyce Carol Oates.