With October on the horizon and the approach of Halloween, we are delighted to present for your intellectual curiosity the long-anticipated third, and final, installment of the University of Glasgow Archives and Special Collections’ “The Darker Side of the Ferguson Collection”.
5. (Sp Coll Ferguson Al-d.68) Told After Supper
Jerome K. Jerome, London: 1891.
“It always is Christmas Eve in a ghost story.”
JEROME K. JERORME, Told After Supper.
The final book in our selection is Jerome K. Jerome’s Told After Supper. A pastiche of the classic ghost story, Jerome’s dry and sarcastic humour makes this a markedly entertaining read. Indeed, perhaps Jerome’s best-known work is his comic novel Three Men on a Boat, which is often praised for its wit. From the very first page of Told After Supper, it is evident to the reader that this book is not to be taken seriously, setting the tone with the amusing opening narration:
“It was Christmas Eve … Of course, as a mere matter of information it is quite unnecessary to mention the date at all. The experienced reader knows it was Christmas Eve without my telling him. It always is Christmas Eve in a ghost story. [It] is the ghosts’ great gala night … everybody in Ghostland who is anybody – or rather, … every nobody who is any nobody – comes out to show himself or herself, to see and to be seen, to promenade about and display their winding sheets and grave-clothes to each other, to criticise one another’s style, and sneer at one another’s complexion … Blood-curdling shrieks and marrow-freezing gestures are probably rehearsed for weeks beforehand.”
Above: 1) Cover of Told After Supper. 2) Title page and frontispiece of Told After Supper. 3) Contents page of Told After Supper. With permission of University of Glasgow Archives & Special Collections [please cite reference number].
A quirky volume
This tongue-in-cheek tone permeates through the rest of the volume, as the narrator recounts Christmas Eve spent at Uncle John’s, swapping various spectral encounters amongst one another after supper. These stories are subsequently the very chapters of the book.
As a matter of fact, Special Collections hosts an edition of the book with 90+ illustrations by Kenneth M. Skeaping. The interaction between text and illustration in this edition adds to the quirkiness of this volume; some etchings occupy a full page. Other smaller illustrations are interspersed throughout and are placed amongst the main text. These stark, stylised images contribute greatly to the collection’s sense of humour in balancing macabre creatures with a cartoonish twist.
Above: Introduction to Told After Supper and two full size plates by Kenneth M. Skeaping. With permission of University of Glasgow Archives & Special Collections [please cite reference number].
If you are interested in learning more about the Ferguson Collection, please visit our website where we have a selection of online resources: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/archivespecialcollections/discover/specialcollectionsa-z/fergusoncollection/.
To conclude, Happy Hallowe’en from all at the University of Glasgow’s Archives and SpecialCollections!
Written by Erin Veitch of the University of Glasgow Archives & Special Collections
Edited by Jake Doyle, Blog Coordinator for Explore Your Archive, MLitt Archives and Records Management Student and Visitor Assistant for English Heritage
