The Elusive Portrait
Yep, I’m updating an update.
Once upon a time, I requested help in locating a dependable portrait of Catherine Crowe (1790-1872 — or dates close to that. Sources disagree.) Crowe wrote some popular and well-reviewed novels, but my early interest in her grew from The Night Side of Nature (1848), an important collection of “true” ghost stories and accounts of other paranormal phenomena. My favorite ghost hunter, Vera Van Slyke, took this work — her beloved “Cathy” — on many a ghostly mystery. And Crowe’s own investigation of a haunted house, chronicled in Ghosts and Family Legends (1859), was interesting enough that I reprinted it in A Victorian Ghost Hunter’s Casebook. Oh — and I added Crowe to the Ghost Hunter Hall of Fame, too. That’s the main reason why I wanted a good portrait of her.
A few weeks ago, I dusted off my original request and reposted it on social media. As I explain in a recent update here, this led to a glimmer of hope and a chasm of despair. I’ve since heard from others — in my mind, I call them the Crowe Crew — and I’m led to the conclusion that I’ll probably never find that portrait. Others far better positioned than I am, by which I mean working in England, have spent years searching. They never found one. I doubt I ever will.
Recognizing Her Work Rather than Her Face
As a result, I’ve decided to get to know Crowe in a different way. I’ve begun a bibliography of her short fiction. As far as I know, no one has done this before, and given Crowe’s importance, it’s long overdue. I’ll follow the same basic format as my Chronological Bibliography of Early Occult Detectives: a year-by-year tally of stories with as many links to online copies as I can find. I’m going to read these short stories, too, and provide summaries along with links to blog posts that explore each tale with greater depth.
This project is in the very early stages. Thinking it might provide some nice context, I’m making mention of Crowe’s novels and other book-length works, and this is nudging me toward a much more general bibliography. Maybe that’s not a bad thing.
Feel free to take a gander at what I have so far by clicking here. Suggestions below would be appreciated! If you’d rather wait until it’s further developed, here’s a very cool video about a controversial event in Crowe’s life to watch in the meantime.
–Tim
BROM BONES BOOKS 