← Back

Phantom of the Opera (abridged)

Gaston Leroux

First published February 1971
Type Short Fiction
Series The Phantom of the Opera

The introduction to this story in the The Ghouls anthology states:
Since the original story is stylistically somewhat pedestrian and long-winded, this special abridgement has been prepared which remains not only faithful to the original, but also emphasizes the drama of the film—a film which in my opinion well merits the claims made for it by Carlos Clarens in his book , An Illustrated History of the Horror Film, that "Consciously or not, the influence of the Phantom of the Opera has been felt in most horror efforts ever since."
There is no credit nor copyright notice stated that documents who abridged the text and when. It's assumed that someone at Stein and Day did this while preparing the original hardcover edition of The Ghouls anthology. It's possible the anthology editor, Peter Haining, did the work.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
February 1971 Cover The Ghouls W. H. Allen Anthology 62
April 1971 Cover The Ghouls Stein and Day Anthology 58
June 1971 Cover The Ghouls Stein and Day / BCE Anthology 62
April 1972 Cover The Ghouls Pocket Books Anthology 50
1974 Cover 17 Horror-Stories Heyne Anthology 41
October 1974 Cover The Ghouls: Book One Orbit Anthology 58
1976 Cover The Ghouls: Book One Orbit Anthology 58
November 1981 Cover Al cinema con il mostro. Volume primo Mondadori Anthology 74
April 1994 Cover The Ghouls Bounty Books Anthology 62