The Signalman

Overtaken by insomnia, a gentleman wanders through a damp winter countryside - until he discovers the black mouth of a railway tunnel. To his amazement, deep in the gorge before the tunnel, he sees an ancient signal-man. Although at first unresponsive to his calls, the signal-man eventually invites him down to a lonely shack. It's there, over the course of two sleepless nights, that we learn the signal-man's horrifying secret: a shrouded figure haunts him, foretelling a catastrophe soon to befall that very stretch of the tracks. Has the signal-man lost his mind in the solitary dark of his profession? Or does he see the phantom of his own grizzly fate? First published in 1866 for a special Christmas issue of All the Year Round, Charles Dickens' "The Signal-Man" has since fallen into obscurity. This beautiful reissue, designed and illustrated by the inimitable Seth, breathes new life into a work many consider one of the best Christmas ghost stories ever written.