While obviously intended as a book for students (the editor, Benjamin A. Heydrick, of the "High School of Commerce, New York City," edited this book "for school use"), the majority of the stories still entertain a full century after their original publications. There is a very good introduction to the collection which includes some academic definitions of "the tale and the short story," as well as a good bibilography, and a look at story types, purpose, titles, etc. with lists of questions to help bring out more meaning for the reader, e.g., plots, characters, style, etc. Each story is offered as a different story type, e.g., "love story," "psychological story," "story of terror." Each story is followed up by a list of other examples of the type. It should be noted that the use of language in some of the stories is older and that references are sometimes murky due to the march of time. The editor has included plenty of footnotes to assist with some of this and with vocabulary which is now considered obsolete.

Here is a list of the stories and authors as they are presented in the book (with original publication date):

"Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving (1819)
"The Ambitious Guest" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837)
"Namgay Doola" by Rudyard Kipling (1890)
"Two of Them" by James M. Barrie (1893)
"The Sire De Maletroit's Door" by Robert Louis Stevenson (1882)
"The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe (1843)
"The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1859)
"My Double, and How He Undid Me" by Edward Everett Hale (1859)
"Cree Queery and Mysy Drolly" by James M. Barrie (1888)
"Moti Guj-Mutineer" by Rudyard Kipling (1890)
"Dr. Heidigger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837)
"The Gold-Bug" by Edgar Allen Poe (1843)
"Markheim" by Robert Louis Stevenson (1887)

This is a fine collection of older short stories that serious readers will enjoy. ( )