← Back

Seaton's Aunt

Walter de la Mare

First published 1922
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette

The narrator Withers, as a boy, spends a holiday at the house of the aunt of his schoolmate Seaton. Seaton is convinced she listens to his thoughts and won't let him properly live. Over the course of years Withers observes that Seaton's aunt does have a malefic effect on him, though its exact nature remains ambiguous.

  • First published in The London Mercury, April 1922.
  • First book publication appears to be "The Riddle", Selwyn and Blount, 1923.
  • Revised when reprinted in Best Stories of Walter de la Mare (1942); this version appears in Short Stories 1895-1926.
  • Mistakenly listed as "Season's Aunt" on the copyright page of The Dark Descent, 1987
  • The Project Gutenberg version (From The London Mercury, 1922) of 2005 is 11,736 words.
  • Some publications may have abridged versions.
gutenberg.org

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1922 The Best British Short Stories of 1922 Small, Maynard & Co. Anthology
May 1923 Cover The Riddle and Other Stories Selwyn & Blount Collection 97
September 1928 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
1929 Cover The Omnibus of Crime Harcourt, Brace & Company Anthology 969
April 1929 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
August 1929 Cover The Omnibus of Crime Payson & Clarke Anthology 969
May 1930 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
September 1930 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
August 1931 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
June 1932 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
January 1933 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
December 1933 Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology 1035
1937 The Omnibus of Crime Garden City Publishing Co. Anthology 969
July 1939 Great Short Stories of Detection: Part II, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology
August 1941 Cover The Pocket Book of Mystery Stories Pocket Books Anthology
1942 Cover Best Stories of Walter de la Mare Faber and Faber Collection 74
1947 Cover The Night Side Rinehart Anthology 261
January 1947 Great Short Stories of Detection: Part II, Mystery and Horror Gollancz Anthology
August 1947 Cover Tales of the Supernatural Pan Books Anthology 135
1950 The Collected Tales of Walter de la Mare Alfred A. Knopf Collection 112
1951 Cover Tales of the Supernatural Pan Books Anthology 135
February 1957 Cover Best Stories of Walter de la Mare Faber and Faber Collection 74
1964 Cover The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories Fontana Anthology 229
1964 Cover The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories Fontana Anthology 229
June 1971 Cover The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories Beagle Boxer Anthology 229
1972 Cover Aus der Tiefe Insel Collection
December 1972 Cover The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories Fontana Anthology 229
February 1977 Cover Histoires de morts-vivants Presses Pocket Anthology 195
February 1978 Cover Histoires de morts-vivants Presses Pocket Anthology 195
July 1978 Cover Histoires de morts-vivants France Loisirs Anthology 195
1983 Cover Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature Picador Anthology 820
1984 Cover Aus der Tiefe Suhrkamp Collection 210
April 1984 Cover Black Water: The Book of Fantastic Literature Clarkson N. Potter Anthology 820
December 1985 Cover Dark Banquet: A Feast of Twelve Great Ghost Stories St. Martin's Press Anthology 220
October 1987 Cover The Dark Descent Tor Anthology 731
October 1987 Cover Miss Duveen et autres contes étranges Le visage vert Anthology 1
January 1988 Cover L'amandier Éditions Ombres Collection
June 1988 Cover Histoires de morts-vivants Presses Pocket Anthology 195
August 1988 Cover The Dark Descent Tor / BOMC Anthology 731
September 1989 Cover Triumph of the Night: Tales of Terror and the Supernatural by 20th Century Masters Carroll & Graf Anthology 62
November 1990 Cover The Omnibus of 20th-Century Ghost Stories Robinson Anthology
September 1991 Cover A Fabulous Formless Darkness HarperCollins (UK) Anthology 121
September 1991 Cover A Fabulous Formless Darkness HarperCollins (UK) Anthology 121
November 1991 Cover The Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories Carroll & Graf Anthology 62
1992 A Fabulous Formless Darkness Grafton Anthology 207
January 1992 Cover A Fabulous Formless Darkness Tor Anthology 167
March 1992 Cover The Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories Robinson Anthology
1994 Cover Englantilaiset aaveet Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö Anthology 116
October 1996 The Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories Robinson Anthology
November 1996 Cover Short Stories 1895-1926 Giles de la Mare Publishers Collection 55
1997 Cover Great Ghost Stories Reader's Digest Anthology 143
February 1997 Cover The Dark Descent Tor Anthology 731
February 1997 Cover La grande anthologie du fantastique: 3 Omnibus (France) Anthology 265
September 2000 Cover Dark: Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural Thunder's Mouth Press and Balliett & Fitzgerald Inc. Anthology 85
October 2001 Cover Dark: Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural Mainstream Publishing Anthology 85
October 2002 Cover The Colour Out of Space New York Review of Books Anthology 271
November 2005 Cover H.P. Lovecraft's Favorite Weird Tales: The Roots of Modern Horror Cold Spring Press Anthology 279
November 2005 The Best British Short Stories of 1922 Project Gutenberg Anthology |9
June 2007 Cover Strangers and Pilgrims Tartarus Press Collection 66
January 2012 Cover The Century's Best Horror Fiction 1901-1950 Cemetery Dance Publications Anthology 317
July 2012 Cover Short Stories 1895-1926 Giles de la Mare Publishers Collection
October 2015 Cover Shadows of Carcosa: Tales of Cosmic Horror New York Review of Books Anthology 277
2016 Cover H. P. Lovecraft Selects: Classic Horror Stories Fall River Press Omnibus 706
April 2017 Cover Out of the Deep and Other Supernatural Tales British Library Publishing Collection 79
2020 Cover There Is a Graveyard That Dwells in Man Strange Attractor Press Anthology 385
2022 Cover Strangers and Pilgrims Tartarus Press Collection 66
October 2022 Cover L'enigma e altre storie Edizioni Hypnos Collection |7
October 2022 Cover L'enigma e altre storie Edizioni Hypnos Collection |7