James Platt
The complete supernatural fiction of a Victorian scholarThe second half of the nineteenth century was a golden age for supernatural fiction and such is the proliferation of ghost stories written in that period that it seems as if everyone who could write tried their hand at the genre. Among academics, the master of the literary ghost story. M. R. James is a notable example as are his friend E. G. Swain and several others. James Platt (1861-1910) was a scholar of British history specialising in the Anglo-Saxon period and was also a contributor to the original Oxford English Dictionary. Platt penned just one small collection of ghostly stories which was published in 1894. Despite his slender output his tales of the otherworldly are still held in high regard among critics and aficionados of supernatural fiction.The stories in this collection, originally published as, ’Tales of the Supernatural’ are ’The Seven Sigils’, ’The Hand of Glory’, ’The Rabbi Lion’, ’The Evil Eye’, ’The Witches’ Sabbath’ and ’The Devil’s Debt’.Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket. 3
