
author
1863–1943
Best known for the unsettling classic “The Monkey’s Paw,” W. W. Jacobs was also a prolific humorist whose stories drew on the lively world of London’s docks. His work blends nautical adventure, dry comedy, and sudden turns into the macabre.

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![At Sunwich Port [complete]](/api/img/6637f7df829d50c265d6ef26/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![The understudy [Night watches, Part 3.]](/api/img/6637f88f829d50c265d7099e/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![His other self [Night watches, Part 10.]](/api/img/6637f890829d50c265d709b6/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![Stepping backwards [Night watches, Part 5.]](/api/img/6637f890829d50c265d709a2/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![Dialstone Lane [complete]](/api/img/6637f876829d50c265d705ba/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
![Night watches [complete]](/api/img/6637f890829d50c265d709b8/cover.jpg)
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by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs, Charles Rock

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![The vigil [Night watches, Part 8.]](/api/img/6637f890829d50c265d709a8/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
![The unknown [Night watches, Part 7.]](/api/img/6637f890829d50c265d709a6/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![Keeping watch [Night watches, Part 2.]](/api/img/6637f88f829d50c265d7099c/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![The weaker vessel [Night watches, Part 4.]](/api/img/6637f890829d50c265d709a0/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

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![The three sisters [Night watches, Part 6.]](/api/img/6637f890829d50c265d709a4/cover.jpg)
by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was an English author of short fiction, novels, and drama. Born in London, he grew up close to the Thames docks, where his father worked as a wharf manager; that setting later shaped many of his humorous sailor stories and characters.
Jacobs began publishing short stories in the 1880s and left his Post Office job in 1899 to write full time. Although much of his work was comic, he is remembered especially for the supernatural tale “The Monkey’s Paw,” first published in the 1902 collection The Lady of the Barge, along with other ghost stories such as “The Toll House.”