This is a decent collection of Jean Ray's very best stories, with the emphasis very much on his Surrealist tendencies, as translated by Hubert Van Calenbergh.

Contents are as follows:

Preface: Jean Ray and the Belgian School of the Weird
My Dead Friend
Twenty Minutes Past Midnight
House of the Storks
My Own Private Spectre
The Great Nocturnal one
Streets
The Marlyweck Cemetery
The Mainz Psalter
The Truth about Uncle Timothy
The Pink Terror
The Uhu
Spider Master
The Hand of Gotz von Berlichingen
Saint Judas of the Night
Gold Teeth
The Tenebrous Alley (Tr. as The Shadowy Street in the Ghouls in my Grave collection)
Appendix: A Note on the Texts

Published in an edition of just 375 copies in 1999, it has been out of print for years now, and commands a high price on the collector's market when available. As with all three collections of Jean Ray's weird tales in English, there are some issues with translation, but in my view Van Calenbergh's rendering is richer and more effective than the others, and he offers the best selection of stories. Caveat Emptor - I'm a fan, I have all three collections, but I really don't think that ANY of them are actually worth the current asking price.

If you're interested in Jean Ray, the place to start is with @las Press edition of Malpertuis, by consensus his best novel, in a superb translation from Iain White. As a next step, I would recommend The Heir of Dracula, a collection of Ray's Harry Dickson adventures from Black Coat Press, stylishly translated into fluent, idiomatic English. Both of these books are readily available at regular paperback prices. ( )