William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943), was an English author of short stories and novels. He is now best remembered for his macabre tales The Monkey's Paw (1901) and The Toll House (in the collection of short stories The Lady of the Barge). However the majority of his output was humourous in tone. In 1879 he commenced work as a clerk in the civil service, in the Post Office Savings Bank, and by 1885 he had had his first short story published. His road to success was relatively slow. Jacobs' short story output declined somewhat around the First World War, and his literary efforts between then and his death were predominantly adaptations of his own short stories for the stage. Amongst his works are Many Cargoes (1896), A Master of Craft (1900), Light Freights (1901), At Sunwich Port (1902), The Lady of the Barge and Other Stories (1902), Dialstone Lane (1904), Odd Craft (1904), and Short Cruises (1907).