Customers demonstrate a wide variety of reactions when they first encounter the Monkey's Paw "Biblio-Mat."

A naive young socialite enthuses over the decor of the opium den: "It has cushions which simply reek of Oriental voluptuousness and cruelty!"

"When you undertake the investigation of the lives of creatures other than humans, you must realize an entirely different set of standards, and no emotions whatever."

* * MONKEY'S PAW HALLOWEEN CATALOGUE 2012 * *

A child masquerading in a mummy's bandages; a cubicle worker hamming it up as a decaying zombie; a clumsy dad butchering a fat pumpkin with a knife. Behind the giggles, they all share an awesome mortal understanding: that death and life are two sides of the same coin, and that to celebrate one is, inevitably, to celebrate the other. It's our favourite time of year. 

Happy Halloween everybody.

Knox, William; L.B. Humphrey (illus.):
OH, WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD?
Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1878.
Why indeed, when your spirit could instead be thoroughly humbled and depressed by an obsessive poetic meditation on mortality and impermanence? This high-Victorian illustrated edition, in which each stanza is accompanied by a gloomy engraving of loss and despair, elevates an already macabre work of verse to irresistible grave candy for the gothically-inclined.
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Lieberman, Archie (phot.); Ray Bradbury (story):
THE MUMMIES OF GUANAJUATO
Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1978.
How do you add a cosmopolitan sheen to your Dia de los Muertos? We recommend a photo study of the legendary desiccated corpses on display at Guanajuato, Mexico, paired with a squeamish horror story on the same subject by the gringo laureate of October moods. Printed in sepulchral photogravure, it's quite an elegant production, despite the hideous grimaces and caved-in eye sockets of the disinterred "mummies."
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Mayer, J. Sheridan:
RESTORATIVE ART
6th Ed.; self-published, Bergenfield, NJ, 1970.
It doesn't require much skill to put on a Frankenstein mask, but what about costuming in the opposite direction -- how can a walking corpse make herself up to look believably alive? Here, a 30-year veteran of the mortuary cosmetics racket shares all his trade secrets: plumping up hollow cheeks; repairing scabby lips; covering bruises and lacerations; even repositioning a decapitated head. .
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Poe, Edgar Allan:
THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. FACSIMILE OF THE MS. IN THE DREXEL INSTITUTE
George Barrie & Son, Philadelphia, 1895.
Any edition of Poe will accessorize nicely with a black velvet frock coat; but to give real authenticity to your consumptive poet costume, it's best to carry a slender volume of manuscript. This facsimile of the world's first detective story (featuring a homicidal ape wielding a straight-razor) retains the author's corrections as well as his careful, elegant handwriting. The effect is so vivid that you can almost hear the quill scratching on the foolscap..
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Symon, Jon:
THE GRIMOREUM VERUM
Acorn Grimoire Makers, Hamilton, ON, [undated; 1980s?].
Feeling lonely on Halloween? This tiny book -- purportedly a compilation of three hard-to-trace antiquarian texts on black magic -- catalogues dozens of demons, along with their magical sigils and the "conjurations" required to summon them. If the care taken in its manufacture (letterpress printed, and lovingly bound) is any indication of the work's efficacy, you can expect trick-or-treaters with names like Sustugriel, Nebiros, and Heramael to darken your doorway this week.
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*** end Halloween Catalogue 2012 ***