Ralph Adams Cram, born in New Hampshire in 1863, was an eminent American architect who remains more famous for his works in the field of architecture than for his fiction. He wrote many books on architecture, but only a single, slim volume of ghost stories which were collected in the present volume entitled "Black Spirits and White", originally published in 1895.
Cram was much inspired by the tradition of European folk tales, many of which contain elements of the supernatural, and he brings to this tradition his own distinctly modern American slant.
The tales have at their heart a naive hero, usually an American abroad in Europe, who embarks on a most foolhardy adventure in spite of the warnings of the locals - usually with dire and horrific consequences.
Cram is very strong in his depiction of place, setting and atmosphere, and his tales, like his architecture, are firmly in the Gothic tradition.
This collection of six ghost stories is regarded as a classic of nineteenth-century supernatural fiction.
The text has been elegantly set anew in Garamond and this volume is probably the finest example of this work currently available in print.