Summers, Montague

Entry updated 6 October 2026. Tagged: Author, Critic, Editor.

(1880-1938) UK clergyman, teacher, author and scholar of the Theatre and the occult who left the Church of England under something of a cloud, in part owing to his interest in Satanism; he converted to Catholicism in 1909 and after 1913 called himself the Reverend Alphonsus Joseph-Mary Augustus Montague Summers, though whether he was ever ordained as a Catholic is uncertain. His first edited work of genre interest assembled the writings of Aphra Behn as The Works of Aphra Behn (1915 5vols). He began to publish nonfiction of at least genre-adjacent relevance with The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926). Further books on occult and Satanic themes included the Vampire studies The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Vampire in Europe (1929). He is perhaps best remembered for the very substantial The Supernatural Omnibus: Being a Collection of Stories of Apparitions, Witchcraft, Werewolves, Diabolism, Necromancy, Satanism, Divination, Sorcery, Goetry, Voodoo, Possession, Occult Doom and Destiny (anth 1931) [for variant editions see Checklist below]. Further such Anthologies are Victorian Ghost Stories (anth 1933) and The Grimoire and Other Supernatural Stories (anth 1936)

Summers was a pioneer of the study and Bibliography of Fantastika and in particular the Gothic with The Gothic Quest: A History of the Gothic Novel (1938) and A Gothic Bibliography (1941). It is understood that that he was at least in part the model for the evil Satanist clergyman Canon Copely-Syle in Dennis Wheatley's To the Devil – a Daughter (October 1952 The Sunday Empire News; exp 1953). His own fiction, for the most part uncollected during his lifetime, is assembled in Six Ghost Stories (coll 2019) and The Bride of Christ and Other Fictions (coll 2020). [DRL]

Augustus Montague Summers

born Clifton, Gloucestershire: 10 April 1880

died Richmond, Surrey: 10 August 1948

works (selected)

• Six Ghost Stories (Sacramento, California: Snuggly Books, 2019) [coll: hb/John Austen]
• The Bride of Christ and Other Fictions (Sacramento, California: Snuggly Books, 2020) [coll: hb/Maurice Denis]

nonfiction

• The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, 1926) [nonfiction: hb/]
• The Geography of Witchcraft (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, 1927) [nonfiction: hb/]
• The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, 1928) [nonfiction: hb/]
• The Vampire in Europe (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, 1929) [nonfiction: hb/]
• A Popular History of Witchcraft (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, 1937) [nonfiction: hb/]
• The Gothic Quest: A History of the Gothic Novel (London: Fortune Press, 1938) [nonfiction: hb/]
• A Gothic Bibliography (London: Fortune Press, 1941) [nonfiction: hb/]
• Witchcraft and Black Magic (London: Rider and Company, 1946) [nonfiction: hb/]

works as editor

• Aphra Behn. The Works of Aphra Behn (London: William Heinemann, 1915) [published in five volumes: hb/]
• The Supernatural Omnibus: Being a Collection of Stories of Apparitions, Witchcraft, Werewolves, Diabolism, Necromancy, Satanism, Divination, Sorcery, Goetry, Voodoo, Possession, Occult Doom and Destiny (London: Gollancz, 1931) [anth: hb/nonpictorial]
  • The Supernatural Omnibus I (London: Panther, 1967) [anth: first half of the above: pb/]
    • The Supernatural Omnibus: Volume 1: Hauntings and Horror (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1976) [anth: vt of the above: pb/Justin Todd]
  • The Supernatural Omnibus II (London: Panther, 1967) [anth: second half of the above: pb/]
    • The Supernatural Omnibus: Volume 2: Diabolism, Witchcraft and Evil Lore (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1976) [anth: vt of the above: pb/Justin Todd]
  • The Penguin Supernatural Omnibus: Being a Collection of Stories of Apparitions, Witchcraft, Werewolves, Diabolism, Necromancy, Satanism, Divination, Sorcery, Goety, Voodoo, Possession, Occult Doom and Destiny (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1984) [anth: vt of the above: pb/Steve Crisp]
• Victorian Ghost Stories (London: Fortune Press, 1933) [anth: hb/nonpictorial]
• The Grimoire and Other Supernatural Stories (London: Fortune Press, 1936) [anth: hb/nonpictorial]

about the author

• Timothy d'Arch Smith. A Bibliography of the Works of Montague Summers (London: Nicholas Vane, 1964) [bibliography: hb/]
  • Timothy d'Arch Smith. Montague Summers: A Bibliography (Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: The Aquarian Press, 1983) [bibliography: rev vt of the above: hb/photographic]
• Timothy d'Arch Smith. The Books of the Beast: Essays on Aleister Crowley, Montague Summers and Others (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Mandrake of Oxford, 1991) [nonfiction: coll: pb/]
  • Timothy d'Arch Smith. The Books of the Beast: Essays on Aleister Crowley, Montague Summers and Others (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Mandrake of Oxford, 2010) [nonfiction: coll: exp of the above: pb/]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database

previous versions of this entry

• Internet Archive