Sarob Press, Ash-Tree Press, and others

Since our recent discussions touched on ghost stories, fantastic and weird fiction, I would like to share my recent discovery of Sarob Press and Ash-Tree Press.
I have recently came across all 9 volumes of Annual Macabre from Ash-Tree Press (1997 through 2005). It is a truly impressive compilation of weird and supernatural stories by mostly (undeservingly?) obscure authors. I am especially impressed by the efforts of editors to include many female authors in the collection - in fact the first volume focuses only on stories by female authors. I have read a few stories from the collection; all of them are excellent.
Here is a list of authors in the Ash-Tree Annual Macabre collection:
• 1997 (probably limited, though not stated) – Patricia Wentworth: A Wedding Day; Jessie Douglas Kerruish: The Swaying Vision; Carola Oman: The Visitor; Mollie Panter-Downes: The House of the Laburnums
• 1998 (limited to 500 copies) – W. Somerset Maugham: Told in the Inn at Algeciras; Arthur Ransome: Post-Mortem; Ford Madox Ford: The Medium’s End; E. C. Bentley: Exactly As It Happened; Hilaire Belloc: The Unpleasant Room; John Buchan: Ho! The Merry Masons
• 1999 (limited to 500) – Tom Gallon: The House that Was Lost; Neil Gow: Tight and Loose; Eric Ambrose: The Man Who Was Tomorrow; W. J. Makin: Newsreel; Donald Shoubridge: Time-Piece; Laurence Meynell: Last Act First
• 2000 (limited to 500) – stories by E. Nesbit and Oswald Barron; Reginald Bacchus and Ranger Gull; B. M. Croker; Ethel Lina White; E. R. Punshon; S. Baring-Gould; Rose Macaulay; Sax Rohmer; Julian Hawthorne
• 2001 (limited to 500) – stories by Marjorie Bowen; Elisabeth Kyle; F. Tennyson Jesse; Pamela Frankau; Lucas Malet; Jessie Douglas Kerruish; Elizabeth Gorell; S. P. B. Bais; Milward Kennedy; Noel Langley; Helen Simpson; Nan K. Lock; and Leigh Brackett
• 2002 (limited to 500) – stories by W. H. Adams; Violet Jacob; John Sampson; William Bradley; George Blake; Hilton Brown; Edward Liveing; H. T. Sheringham; L. M. Crump; Barbara Euphan Todd; F. H. Dorset; Cecil Binney; John Fisher; and Shaugh Courtenay
• 2003 (limited to 500) – stories by W. M. Letts; Joyce Kilburn; Alan Griff; Mary Webb; Elizabeth Horsfall; C. Gordon Glover; Winifred Peck; M. A. Peart; Anthony ffettyplace; Mary Lutyens; Kathleen Collison-Morley; Nugent Barker; and Maud Diver
• 2004 (limited to 500) – stories by Anonymous; Violet M. Methley; George W. Nixon; Chris Sewell; A. B. Cox; Mark Napier; Anthony Armstrong; Helen Sutherland; Myfanwy Price; Aylmer Vallance; Douglas Pike; Mary Ann Abbs; H. Russell Wakefield; Frank Batchelor; Michael Hervey; Jane C. Butler; George A. Whiting; Alan Raymond; Anne King; Horace Newte; Magdalen King-Hall; Alfred Ridgway; H. L. V. Fletcher; Rosemary Timperley; E. A. Williams; and Lane Mitchell
• 2005 (limited to 400 copies) – stories by W. W. Jacobs; Michael Kent; H. R. Wakefield; Peter Gladwin; Edgar Jenson; A. B. Cox; William Caine; Douglas Newton; Barry Perowne; David Christie Murray; Andrew Lang; Katharine Tynan; Mary E. Mann; Janet Deene; A. M. Burrage; Lafcadio Hearn; and Lady Cynthia Asquith

On the subject of undeservingly forgotten female writers, Sarob Press produced excellent series of Mistresses of the Macabre, researching and publishing impressive works. Authors include Mary E. Penn, B. M. Croker, Theo Gift, Alice Perrin, and others.
I have just recently discovered Sarob Press, so I do not know much about it, but I do know that it is a "one-man" business. Accidentally coming across several books from Sarob Press and purchasing them, I have been very impressed by what I have read, and recommend looking into this publisher's output. The focus, again, seems to be on fantastic, weird, and supernatural fiction, and there are many 1st editions (some signed) in Sarob press's catalogue.

Do you know more about these two publishers? Do you collect books from any similar presses?

The 1997 issue was limited to 300 copies per "THE SCIENCE-FANTASY PUBLISHERS: A Bibliographic History 1923-1998" by Chalker & Owings. I collected many of the book published by Ash-Tree Press. I am still missing a few titles that I did not find interesting, and some of the early titles that they did that are out of print and being sold for too high of prices. Many of these volumes are being listed for more than you could buy a First Edition copy of the same title, which makes little sense to me. And in several cases I own the actual First Edition and see little need for an overpriced reprint. At one point the owners of the press had a web site that listed all of their work, but that has been shut down. The owner (husband) had health issues, and I believe also capital issues and quit publishing actual books. For awhile at least he was selling ebook versions of some titles, but I am not sure if even those are still available. I have not owned any of the Sarob Press titles, so I can't say anything about those books.

>2 Bernarrd:
Thank you for clarifying the limitation on the 1997 issue of the Annual Macabre!
I do not know much about Ash-Tree catalogue, but it seems that they did a lot of reprints of existing works. They probably published some 1st editions, too, but not many in proportion.
In my mind, the main difference between Ash-Tree Press and Sarob Press that, while the production quality and value look similar, Sarob Press has been doing a lot more original publications.
While also reprinting some deserving-but-forgotten fiction in the past, just this past year Sarob's catalogue included the following 1st editions:
Sacred and Profane: Seven Strange Tales by Peter Bell (limited to 365)

This World and That Other by John Howard and Mark Valentine (limited to 300)

Ill Met by Darkness: 4 stories written for the volume by Paul Finch (limited to 250)

Legionnaire by C. E. Ward (signed by the author, limited to 300)

King Satyr by Ron Weighell (limited to 465)

Past reprints included important works, such as "Spalatro: Two Italian Tales" by J. Sheridan Le Fanu and "Margery of Quenther and Other Weird Tales" by S. Baring-Gould.

Here are a few lists from the Ash-Tree Press old web site. The lists show their In Print and Out of Print titles from around 2010 when I copied the lists. Some things may not have copied well from the web site. There may be a few items missing from the lists.

TITLES IN PRINT (HARDBACK)

This page last updated 14/03/2010

2010 Publications:
August: STRANGER IN THE HOUSE by Lisa Tuttle
July: TRAGIC LIFE STORIES by Steve Duffy
May: THIS WAY TO EGRESS by Lawrence C. Connolly
March: LOST PLACES by Simon Kurt Unsworth
January: PIECES OF MIDNIGHT by Gary McMahon

2009 Publications:
December: EXOTIC GOTHIC 3 edited by Danel P. Olson

2008 Publications:
December: THE VILLA DESIREE AND OTHER UNCANNY STORIES by May Sinclair
October: SHADES OF DARKNESS edited by Barbara Roden & Christopher Roden
September: EXOTIC GOTHIC 2 edited by Danel P. Olson
August: GHOST REALM by Paul Finch
June: COFFIN NAILS by John Llewellyn Probert
May: ROPE TRICK: THIRTEEN STRANGE TALES by Mark P. Henderson
April: THE WONDERSMITH AND OTHERS by Fitz-James O'Brien
March: CITY OF THE SEA AND OTHER GHOST STORIES by Jerome K. Jerome
March: TEDIOUS BRIEF TALES OF GRANTA AND GRAMARYE by Ingulphus (Arthur Gray)
February: HELL IS MURKY by John Alfred Taylor
January: A NATURAL BODY AND A SPIRITUAL BODY by J. S. Leatherbarrow

2007 Publications:

December: MASQUES OF SATAN: Twelve Tales and a Novella by Reggie Oliver
November: EXOTIC GOTHIC: Forbidden Tales from Our Gothic World edited by Danel Olson
October: PASSING OF A GOD and Other Stories by Henry S. Whitehead
September: COLD HARBOUR by Francis Brett-Young
July: THE ATTIC EXPRESS and Other Macabre Stories by Alex Hamilton
May: AT EASE WITH THE DEAD edited by Barbara & Christopher Roden
February: THE WOMAN IN BLACK by M. Y. Halidom

2006 Publications:

November: THE WORLD, THE FLESH, & THE DEVIL by Gerald Kersh
September: APE'S-FACE by Marion Fox
August: THE ELEMENTAL by Ulric Daubeny
July: SHIELA CRERAR, PSYCHIC INVESTIGATOR by Ella Scrymsour
April/May: THE PASSION PLAY and Other Ghost Stories by Antony Oldknow
February: ANNUAL MACABRE 2005 Edited by Jack Adrian
January: THE UNDYING MONSTER by Jessie Douglas Kerruish

2005 Publications:

November: ETON AND KING'S by M. R. James
September: THE MOTION DEMON by Stefan Grabinski
August: THE WATCHER BY THE THRESHOLD by John Buchan
June: MORE TALES OF THE UNEASY by Violet Hunt
May: THEY RETURN AT EVENING by H. R. Wakefield
March: MR JUSTICE HARBOTTLE AND OTHERS by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
February: SEA MIST by E. F. Benson

2004 Publications:

December: ANNUAL MACABRE 2004 edited by Jack Adrian
December: ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT edited by Barbara Roden and Christopher Roden
November: SATAN'S CIRCUS by Lady Eleanor Smith
September: THE NEBULY COAT by John Meade Falkner
July: A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER by Simon Bestwick
May: THE CAPTAIN OF THE 'POLE-STAR': Weird and Imaginative Fiction by Arthur Conan Doyle
May: THE DEVIL OF THE MARSH and Other Stories by H. B. Marriott Watson
April: DANCING ON AIR by Frances Oliver
February: TALES OF THE UNEASY by Violet Hunt

2003 Publications:

December: THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2003 edited by Jack Adrian
December: THE DEEP MUSEUM: Ghost Stories of a Melancholic by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
November: THE CASEBOOK OF MILES PENNOYER: Volume One by Margery Lawrence
30 September: THE EMPIRE OF DEATH by Alice Brown
5 September: NIGHT CREATURES by Seabury Quinn
11 July: THE HAUNTED BARONET AND OTHERS by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
30 May: THE BASILISK and Other Tales of Dread by R. Murray Gilchrist
30 April: THE FACE by E. F. Benson
28 March: WHAT SHADOWS WE PURSUE: Ghost Stories Vol. II by Russell Kirk
28 February: THE EXPERIENCES OF FLAXMAN LOW by Kate and Hesketh Prichard
28 January: YESTERDAY KNOCKS by Noel Boston

2002 Publications:

20 December: THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2002
29 November: THE MIRROR and Other Strange Reflections bv Arthur Porges
30 August: SCHALKEN THE PAINTER AND OTHERS by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
29 July: FIGURES IN RAIN by Chet Williamson
28 May: NOT EXACTLY GHOSTS by Andrew Caldecott
April: LADY STANHOPE'S MANUSCRIPT (Occasional Booklet Series reprint)
24 April: THE AMAZING DREAMS OF ANDREW LATTER by Harold Begbie
22 March: SINISTER ROMANCE by Mary Heaton Vorse
28 February: HAUNTINGS by Vernon Lee
25 January: THE INVISIBLE EYE by Erckmann-Chatrian

2001 Publications:

20 December: COUCHING AT THE DOOR by D. K. Broster
30 November: THE FIVE QUARTERS by Steve Duffy and Ian Rodwell
31 October: THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2001
28 September: THE FLOATING CAFE by Margery Lawrence
30 July: MRS AMWORTH by E. F. Benson
30 June: THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND by Mrs Alfred (Louisa) Baldwin
20 May: THE FAR SIDE OF THE LAKE by Steve Rasnic Tem
30 March: THE GOLDEN GONG and Other Night Pieces by Thomas Burke
27 February: MYSTIC VOICES by Roger Pater
29 January: WHERE HUMAN PATHWAYS END by Shamus Frazer

2000 Publications:

14 December: SHADOWS AND SILENCE edited by Barbara Roden & Christopher Roden
15 November: THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2000
15 November: THE SECRETS OF DR TAVERNER by Dion Fortune
17 October: SUMMONING KNELLS and Other Inventions by A. F. Kidd
15 September: THE MOONSTONE MASS and Others by Harriet Prescott Spofford
15 August: THE LADY WORE BLACK and Other Weird Cat Tails by Hugh B. Cave
21 July: WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU by John Burke

18 January: PHANTOM PERFUMES and Other Shades: Memories of Ghost Stories Magazine

1999 Publications:

19 November: THE TALISMAN by Jonathan Aycliffe
5 November: THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 1999
20 August: THE WIND AT MIDNIGHT by Georgia Wood Pangborn
25 June: THE TERRACES OF NIGHT by Margery Lawrence

1998 Publications:

11 December: NIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE by Margery Lawrence
13 November: THE ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 1998

OUT OF PRINT TITLES

PLEASE NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS GIVEN FOR RESEARCH AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC PURPOSES ONLY.
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PAGE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF SALE.

Ash-Tree Press is pleased to provide details of titles no longer in print. Ash-Tree no longer holds a stock of these titles, and is unable to supply them. However, we are pleased to provide a list of dealers on our 'Links' page, any of whom may have stocks of some of the titles. The 'Links' page also provides a note of various search engines which may assist you in finding copies.

1994 PUBLICATIONS:
Lady Stanhope's Manuscript and Other Supernatural Tales

1995 PUBLICATIONS:
The Five Jars by M. R. James
The Alabaster Hand by A. N. L. Munby
Intruders: New Weird Tales by A. M. Burrage
They Return at Evening by H. R. Wakefield
Nine Ghosts by R. H. Malden

1996 PUBLICATIONS:
Sleep No More by L. T. C. Rolt
Randalls Round by Eleanor Scott
Conference With the Dead by Terry Lamsley
Forgotten Ghosts (Occasional Booklet Series)
The Executor and Other Ghost Stories by David G. Rowlands
Old Man's Beard by H. R. Wakefield
Ghosts in the House by A. C. & R. H. Benson
The Stoneground Ghost Tales by E. G. Swain
A Book of Ghosts by S. Baring-Gould
The Occult Files of Francis Chard: Some Ghost Stories by A. M. Burrage

1997 PUBLICATIONS:
In Ghostly Company by Amyas Northcote
Under the Crust by Terry Lamsley
Unholy Relics by M. P. Dare
Imagine a Man in a Box by H. R. Wakefield
The Rose of Death and Other Mysterious Delusions by Julian Hawthorne
Midnight Never Comes edited by Barbara Roden and Christopher Roden
The Haunted Chair and Other Stories by Richard Marsh
Someone in the Room: Strange Tales Old and New by A. M. Burrage
Annual Macabre 1997 edited by Jack Adrian


1998 PUBLICATIONS:
Binscombe Tales: Sinister Saxon Stories by John Whitbourn
Out of the Dark: Volume I: Origins by Robert W. Chambers
The Night Comes On by Steve Duffy
The Clock Strikes Twelve and Other Stories by H. R. Wakefield
Aylmer Vance: Ghost Seer by Alice and Claude Askew
Twilight and Other Supernatural Romances by Marjorie Bowen
Nightmare Jack and Other Tales by John Metcalfe
The Fellow Travellers by Sheila Hodgson
The Black Reaper by Bernard Capes
Lady Ferry by Sarah Orne Jewett
The Terror by Night by E. F. Benson

1999 PUBLICATIONS:
Ghost Gleams by W. J. Wintle
The Night Wind Howls: Complete Supernatural Stories by Frederick Cowles
Binscombe Tales II: Sinister Sutangli Stories by John Whitbourn
Strayers from Sheol by H. R. Wakefield
The Phantom Coach: Collected Ghost Stories by Amelia B. Edwards
OUT OF THE DARK VOL. II: DIVERSIONS by Robert W. Chambers
The Alabaster Hand (Reprint) by A. N. L. Munby
Warning Whispers by A. M. Burrage
Six Ghost Stories by T. G. Jackson
The Passenger by E. F. Benson
Norton Vyse: Psychic by Rose Champion de Crespigny

2000 PUBLICATIONS:
The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Horror on the Stair by Arthur Quiller Couch
In the Dark by E. Nesbit
Reunion at Dawn by H. R. Wakefield
15 March: DARK MATTERS by Terry Lamsley

2001 PUBLICATIONS:
A Pleasing Terror by M. R. James
27 April: AFTER SHOCKS by Paul Finch

2002 PUBLICATIONS:
Off the Sand Road by Russell Kirk
30 June: NO. 472 CHEYNE WALK by A. F. Kidd and Rick Kennett

Also here is a fairly good representation from my own collection, as listed on Library Thing.

https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Bernarrd&tag=Ash-Tree+Press

I am missing around 20 or so titles.

>4 Bernarrd:
Thank you for this comprehensive list! And, >5 Bernarrd:: this is very impressive!

>6 booksforreading: I think the list is missing the Ash-Tree paperback editions, which came in three different types. Reprints of earlier Ash-Tree Hardcovers, A reprint series of Macabre Classics, and 4 books that were done to sell at the 2010 World Horror Convention (in editions of 100 copies each). Three of the four convention titles were later done in a hardcover edition, but Ash-Tree folded as a regular publisher before they issued the fourth title. I think all told there were around 17 or 18 paperback titles printed.

I started buying their Occult Detective titles because I was reading them at the time (and still do when I find anything of interest). Then I gradually started buying some ghost stories and some of the non occult detective titles by Margery Lawrence. Before I knew it I had a fairly good number of the Ash-Tree titles. There are still a few titles I would like to own that I am missing, but with many the asking price for the book is just too much for me. Not that I could not afford them if I wanted to, but that I will not afford them. To me most of these are just reading copies, and I have a limit on what I will pay for a reading copy.

>7 Bernarrd:
I hear you and can relate.

Have you tried Arkham House or PS Publishing or Tartarus Press? I have a few titles from each press. You might find some items of interest in one of these presses. Arkham House is not what it once was, but it still has a few interesting books.

https://www.arkhamhouse.com/

https://www.pspublishing.co.uk/

http://www.tartaruspress.com/

>9 Bernarrd:
Thank you! Though I am already familiar with PS Publishing and own several books from them, I did not know that Arkham House is still in business. I will definitely check them out, as well as Tartarus Press, which will be new to me.

Arkham House is the oldest Fantasy press in business. Probably some of the titles they list are fairly old, new old stock (with raised prices). Some are reprints of popular titles. I have 4 or 5 Tartarus books, but I wish I had more of their titles. With some presses it is just a matter of personal taste. They have their own style, and either you like their books, or you don't. I am sure there are plenty of other small Fantasy/Horror presses in business that create a few new titles each year. You might find some things of interest just by going through the links page on some of these sites.

Might also check out Swan River Press - quality stuff published in Ireland

I own one Swan River Press title, the L. M. Boston "Curfew & other Eerie Tales" in a second (hardcover) printing. Sadly the First printing was gone before I had heard of the book. But I bought my copy from the L. M. Boston estate. They were selling it on their web site.

I also have just discovered MidWorld Press books. Have you heard of them?
https://www.midworldpress.com/

No, I have not. I will look through their site.

Well, you all might want to check out Pegana Press of Olympia, Washington, USA. Superb letterpress work, limited editions. Authors include Lovecraft, C. A. Smith, Lord Dunsany, et alia. Can't recommend them highly enough.

I am familiar with them, but I have not bought any of their books. I am a Lord Dunsany fan and a Hope Mirrlees fan and they have done work from both authors. Yes their books are beautiful, but I am more interested in he original editions of both of these authors. Although I love fine books, I would usually rather have a First edition in dust jacket when it is possible to find a copy. To me the original edition has a very strong attraction, especially in the original binding and dust jacket.

I would also like to add Haffner Press to the list of excellent small publishers.
http://www.haffnerpress.com/
I purchased their two available Fredric Brown books, and they are fantastic. It is amazing that they are still available.

I am not familiar with this press, although I did notice that they did a Limited Signed edition of Manly Wade Wellman's "John the Balladeer" also know as 'Silver John' or just 'John'. I see the limited is sold out, but at $350 I do not think I would have placed an order anyway. I have the stories, so I guess I do not really need another edition anyway.