Inscribed with title and signature on the back.

'The stark outline of the abbey ruins high on the headland are eerie enough in themselves - especially when a blood red sunset seeps through the window tracery. It is rather odd that Whitby has attracted such a reputation for horror because it is a very important religious site and the cradle of northern Christianity. But there are also a whole host of ghosts associated with this amazing place, especially St. Hilda, who founded the abbey in AD 680 and appears at one of the windows dressed in a white shroud. This apparition intrigued Bram Stoker, who included it in his classic horror story 'Dracula' by making his heroine Mina refer to the ghostly figure in her diary. Dracula himself, of course, first landed at Whitby in the guise of a great black dog.

Then there is the weeping ghost of Constance de Beverley, a nun who lost her heart to a knight called Marmion. She was locked in a dungeon for her sin and appears, pleading for release, on the steps leading down to her prison. This story was adapted by Sir Walter Scott in 'Marmion'.

At dawn on the old Christmas Day (about 6 January) a phantom choir signs in the ruins, and a coach pulled by headless horses has been seen going through the abbey and then plunging over the nearby clifftop.

Apart from the horror stories there is also a charming legend associated with Whitby. A young boy lived there, looking after the animals owned by the nuns and sleeping in one of the barns alongside his charges. One day he was startled when a bright light suddenly enveloped him and he heard a voice telling him to make songs of praise. The boy finally plucked up the courage to tell the nuns about his strange experience and ask them what it meant. They wisely told him that it had been a vision of his future and he must follow his calling. This he did, becoming Caedman - the father of English song.'

Extract from Simon Marsden, 'This Spectred Isle. A journey through haunted England', 2005, P.136-137.