A HORNBOOK FOR WITCHES - Vincent Price

YEAR: 1976

LABEL: Caedmon

TRACK LISTING: How To See Ghosts or Surely Bring Them To You, A Hornbook For Witches, Witches On the Heath, The Ballad of the Jabberwock, All-Saints' Eve, Dreamland, The Sands of Dee, Thus I Refute Beelzy, Don't, The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall

IMPRESSIONS: "Stories and Poems For Halloween" for sure. But since Halloween is 365 this is an album you can enjoy year-round. Vincent Price's 70's era melifluous voice carries you away on these wonderful poems and horror tales -- some of which have been favourites of mine my entire life. "Thus I Refute Beelzy", for instance, was included in my much-loved hardcover of horror short stories called "HAUNTINGS" with illustrations by the great Edward Gorey; I have had this book forever and my mother used to read to me from it before I could read! Ahhh, you say, so THAT'S what's wrong with me! Then there's "The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall" which I bought at school from the Scholastic Book Club catalogue (or some equivalent) in the first or second grade entitled "THE ARROW BOOK OF GHOST STORIES". Then there's such fun and informative flights of ghostly folklore like "Don't" and "How To See Ghosts...". This album is a treasure -- and there are several more on Caedmon by Vincent Price from the same time period I'll discuss at some later point.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: How To See Ghosts or Surely Bring Them To You, A Hornbook For Witches, Witches On the Heath, All-Saints' Eve, Dreamland, Thus I Refute Beelzy, Don't, The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall

FACT SHEET: A HORNBOOK FOR WITCHES is a spoken-word album recorded by Vincent Price featuring short stories and poems described on the cover as "Stories and Poems For Halloween". The title of the album is taken from the Arkham House book of poems by Leah Bodine Drake published in 1950. The book was Drake's first book and the only one published by H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Arkham House publishing company. It was released in a very limited edition of 553 copies of which 300 were given to the author; this make it one of the rarest Arkham editions out there. Four of Drake's poems are included on the album: "A Hornbook For Witches", "Witches On the Heath", "Ballad of the Jabberwock" and "All-Saints' Eve". Maria Leech's "How To See Ghosts..." opens the album and Edgar Allan Poe's "Dreamland" and John Collier's "Thus I Refute Beelzy" also appear.