The Book of Were-Wolves: Being an Account of a Terrible Superstition

Anglican priest and author Sabine Baring-Gould’s The Book of Were-Wolves has long prowled the edges of horror lore and been whispered about by devoted fans, but now, after decades, this ancient work reemerges in a stunning hardcover edition, introduced by modern horror master Stephen Graham Jones.

The shadow manifested in your room. The figure in the trees. The howl carried across the moors. They all started here.

When it first appeared in 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould’s The Book of Were-Wolves was the first serious study of a superstition as old as Arcadia and as vast as human fear itself. Moving through folklore, confession, and what would one day be called true crime, Baring-Gould traces stories of wolves in league with the devil; of men drifting into the shapes of bears, serpents, and hyenas; and of a boundary between human and beast so thin it dissolves in the moonlight.

For generations, this strange volume has imprinted itself on the minds of horror writers, its rare editions passed quietly from hand to hand. Now, with a new introduction by Stephen Graham Jones, Baring-Gould’s dark and curious classic steps once more into the light.

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) was a prolific English author, antiquarian, folklorist, and Anglican priest, celebrated for his diverse contributions to literature, history, and theology. Born in Exeter, England, he was a man of boundless creativity, producing over 1,200 works during his lifetime

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, and I Was a Teenage Slasher. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.