Showing posts with label World of the Unknown series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World of the Unknown series. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

World of the Unknown: All About Ghosts is back in print----WHAT?

One of my favorite treasures from the haunted library is the 1970's Usborne World of the Unknown series, particularly the tome dedicated to Ghosts, which I covered in a previous post here.

In a surprising bit of good news, this long sought after rarity is back in print, apparently after a successful campaign and petition organized by British actors Reece Shearsmith (Doctor Who, League of Gentlemen) and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, The World's End). Read all about it at The Guardian.

I don't have the new edition in hand (it doesn't release in the U.S. until October 3, 2019) but it appears to be a facsimile reprint, save for a new forward by Shearsmith. Pre-order now at Amazon!

Seems as good a time as any to remind you that another of my personal favorites, 1976's Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (Jack Prelutsky, with illustrations by Arnold Lobel) has been back in print for a few years now and would love to take a ride in your shopping cart, too.

Hooray, books!


Monday, June 11, 2012

Haunted Houses Ghosts & Spectres (Usborne Supernatural Guides, 1979)

One of the more popular posts on this blog is my coverage of 1977's All About Ghosts from Usborne Publishing's World of the Unknown series. I guess there are a lot of folks out there like me who were captivated by this series as a kid after having checked it our repeatedly from the school library.

Usborne followed that up in 1979 with Haunted Houses, Ghosts & Spectres, part of a new series of Supernatural Guides (the other titles were Vampires, Werewolves & Demons and Mysterious Powers & Strange Forces. All three volumes were compiled in a fourth book, Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World, and like the World of the Unknown series, they were all reprinted in the early 90s with new cover art but identical content.)




This is a much smaller sized publication than the World of the Unknown books, and is labeled an "Usborne Pocketbook", because it is tiny enough to fit in your pocket... well, that is if you wear clothes with freakishly large 7" x 4.5" pockets!

And don't assume as I did that this book is merely a Cliff Notes digest version of All About Ghosts . Its actually all new material, illustrations and all. Here are some samples of what you'll find within.



Before we can delve into the world of supernatural hauntings we need to agree on terms. What exactly is a haunted house, anyway?



Don't leave out the haunted castles!



Different types of ghosts are described and defined.



Everyone knows the best ghosts are missing their heads, and this book has a whole spread devoted to them!









In a story reminiscent of The Golden Arm, a ghost returns to retrieve a ring that was stolen from her corpse.



The Lord Dufferin story, in which a ghostly premonition warns "Room for one more!" is covered here but for some reason the author chose to leave out the signature quote from this telling. (This famous ghost story was also covered in the Scholastic classic Strangely Enough by C.B. Colby!)



Did somebody say poltergeist?



The Usborne Supernatural Guides are out of print, but can be found on the second-hand market for reasonable prices.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Make This Model Haunted House (1991)

From Usborne Publishing, the same folks that, back in the 1970s, brought us the World of the Unknown Series (I previously posted on All About Ghosts and All About Monsters) comes Make This Model Haunted House (1991), a cut-out and construct paper model.

The artwork by Iain Ashman is terrific. Here are some of the elements:



The finished house (per the rear cover photograph) should look like so:

Friday, January 2, 2009

All About Ghosts (1977, Maynard)

All About Ghosts (1977, Maynard, Usborne Publishing), one of three books in the World of the Unknown series (I previously posted on All About Monsters). A slim (32 pages), but well-illustrated look at a variety of topics relating to ghosts, from traditional spirits that appear in folklore and literature, to supposed real-life hauntings from the modern era, and even known ghost-hoax methods.



Here's an illustration of the Pepper's Ghost effect...a centuries old illusion using reflections on a large pane of glass. The effect can be viewed today in the ballroom section of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.

I always liked this 2-page spread detailing all the elements you might expect to encounter in an actual haunted house. With the numbered pictures spread across the house exterior, it resembles some kind of haunted house board game. Oops! I landed on the screaming skull (7)...lose a turn!

Here are details of all the haunted encounters:

The book was republished in 1999 by Tiger Books International with a new cover (the interior pages are identical to the original 1977 edition).