Classic horror

Novels that not only define horror but also explore deep psychological and existential themes, making them timeless reads that have left a lasting impact on the genre.

Updated October 21, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The castle of Otranto : a gothic story
Walpole, Horace 1717-1797
Paper Book
First published pseudonymously in 1764, The Castle of Otranto purported to be a translation of an Italian story of the time of the crusades. In it Walpole attempted, as he declared in the Preface to the second edition, `to blend the two kinds of romance: the ancient and the modern'. He gives us a...
The mysteries of Udolpho : a romance
Radcliffe, Ann Ward 1764-1823
Paper Book
This was the most popular novel of Radcliffe's time and Radcliffe's portrayal of her heroine's inner life raised the Gothic romance to a new level. The atmosphere of fear and the gripping plot continue to thrill today. This is the story of the orphaned Emily St Aubert who finds herself separated...
Frankenstein
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft 1797-1851
Paper Book
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of...
Melmoth the wanderer
Maturin, Charles Robert 1780-1824
Paper Book
Written by an eccentric Anglican curate in Dublin, Melmoth Wanderer brought the terrors of the Gothic novel to a new pitch of claustrophobic intensity. Its tormented villain, a Faustian transgressor desperately seeking a victim to release him from his fatal bargain with the devil, regarded by Balzac...
Washington Irving's The legend of Sleepy Hollow and other stories
Irving, Washington 1783-1859
Paper Book
From the "Father of the American Short Story" comes a classic collection of well-loved tales sure to chill the faint of heart and thrill the brave-hearted. Ride with the headless horseman as he makes his rounds through "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," soon to be a major motion picture starring Johnny...
The fall of the house of Usher : and other tales
Poe, Edgar Allan 1809-1849
Paper Book
Classic tales of mystery, terror, and suspense, including The Fall of the House of Usher-the inspiration for the Netflix series from Mike Flanagan, the director of The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass! This volume gathers together fourteen of Edgar...
Carmilla
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan 1814-1873
Paper Book
A beautiful gift edition of this cult classic female vampire story, which predated and greatly influenced Dracula.
The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis 1850-1894
Paper Book
In September of 1884, Robert Louis Stevenson, then in his mid-thirties, moved with his family to Bournemouth, a resort on the southern coast of England, where in the brief span of 23 months he revised A Child's Garden of Verses and wrote the novels Kidnapped and The Strange...
The picture of Dorian Gray
Wilde, Oscar 1854-1900
Paper Book
'A triumph of execution ... one of the best narratives of the "double life" of a Victorian gentleman' Peter Ackroyd Oscar Wilde's alluring novel of decadence and sin was a succès de scandale on publication. It follows Dorian Gray who, enthralled by his own exquisite portrait,...
The yellow wall-paper and other stories
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins 1860-1935
Paper Book
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was America's leading feminist intellectual of the early twentieth century.The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories makes available the fullest selection ever printed of her short fiction, featuring the pioneering feminist masterpiece of the title, her stories contemporary...
The great god Pan and other horror stories
Machen, Arthur 1863-1947
Paper Book
Something pushed out from the body there on the floor, and stretched forth a slimy, wavering tentacle...Perhaps no figure better embodies the transition from the Gothic tradition to modern horror than Arthur Machen. In the final decade of the nineteenth century, the Welsh writer produced a seminal...
Dracula
Stoker, Bram 1847-1912
Paper Book
The most famous of all vampire stories, Dracula remains a compelling read, rattling along at break-neck speed, a true page-turner. Here is a new edition of one of the great horror stories in English literature, the novel that spawned a myth and a proliferation of vampire tales in film, television,...
The turn of the screw, and other short novels
James, Henry 1843-1916
Paper Book
By turns chilling, funny, tragic, and profound, this collection of six Henry James short novels allows readers to experience the full range of his skills and vision. The title story, "The Turn of the Screw," isa chilling masterpiece of psychological terror that mixes the phantoms...
The phantom of the opera
Leroux, Gaston 1868-1927
Paper Book
A sparkling new translation of the novel that inspired the most popular stage musical of all time. Rumors abound that a ghost stalks the dark passages and cellars of the Paris Opera House. No one has actually seen this Phantom, but Christine Daa , a beautiful and talented young singer,...
The call of Cthulhu and other weird stories
Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips) 1890-1937
Paper Book
A definitive collection of stories from the unrivaled master of twentieth-century horror in a Penguin Classics Deluxe edition with cover art by Travis Louie. Frequently imitated and widely influential, Howard Philips Lovecraft reinvented the horror genre in the 1920s, discarding...
The haunting of Hill House
Jackson, Shirley 1916-1965
Paper Book
First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House- Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a 'haunting...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.