Books by M. R. James

M. R. James was a prolific and hugely successful author, now credited with having redefined the ghost story for the 20th century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic clichés of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings. 'Casting the Runes' is one of his most famous tales, and was adapted into a film in 1958. Many of the earliest occult stories, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

M. R. James was a prolific and hugely successful author, now credited with having redefined the ghost story for the 20th century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic clichés of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings. Originally published in 1904, 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to you, My Lad' ranks amongst his best and most underrated tales. Many of the earliest ghost stories and tales of hauntings, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This vintage book contains Montague Rhodes James's chilling supernatural short story "An Episode of Cathedral History". First published as part of "The collected ghost stories of M.R. James" (1931), it is a hair-raising ghost story highly recommended for all lovers of the genre. Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) was an English author who often published under the name M. R. James. He was a seminal medievalist scholar, but today is most famous for his contributions to supernatural fiction. James was a masterful purveyor of macabre tales highly regarded by H. P. Lovecraft. Other notable works by this author include: "More Ghost Stories" (1911), "A Thin Ghost and Others" (1919), and "A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925). Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction.

LITTLE BOOKS. A series of short books by the world's greatest writers on the experiences that make us humanAlso in the Vintage Minis series:Drinking by John CheeverSummer by Laurie LeeFriendship by Rose TremainLove by Jeanette Winterson

The great M. R. James is the undisputed master of the ghost story. So what happened when he set his sights on writing a fairy tale? Nothing less than eerily bewitching magic... In this brilliant tale which takes the form of a letter to a girl called Jane, the unnamed main character, a man much like James himself, a studious and quiet gentleman, tells of his strange experiences recently. His five senses have been behaving oddly lately - he begins to hear whispering words in the rush of a stream; stopping for a rest, he dreams of a strange plant growing between tree-roots in a wood through which the stream runs. On waking, and led along by the stream's whispering, he finds that the place and the plant are indeed real. He eats part of it, and a very peculiar thing happens - suddenly he can see under the ground! Astonished and fascinated, he walks on. To his amazement, his new deeper vision enables him to spy, buried a few inches beneath the surface, a mysterious metallic box. Intrigued, he digs it up, but it seems completely sealed. Late that night, back in his room, just when the moon shines directly onto the box, cracks appear! Inside are five jars, with odd ancient writing on them giving tantalizing hints of what their contents might be able to do... Now begins a fascinating journey into a world none of us mere mortals can usually see: a world of weird enchantment, where all is not as it seems, where fantastic beauty is commonplace, where strange beings are hidden just out of sight everywhere, and yet disturbing danger lurks around every corner... Told in James' matter-of-fact prose, this journey into the unknown stirs rich colours into a cloud of imaginative fancy, stunningly creating an alternative world, just next to ours, which is both captivating and eerie. This edition contains 7 evocative illustrations by Gilbert James, which are precursors, in their combination of fine line-work and otherworldly atmosphere, to the work of Edward Gorey. Montague Rhodes James was born in 1862 at Goodnestone in Kent. He attended King's College, Cambridge, and later became its provost, leaving to take up the provost's position at Eton College. He published many scholarly antiquarian works, but quickly became known for his ghost stories, which are now recognized as the finest in the genre; of these, four collections were published. He died at Eton in 1936.

Collected Ghost Stories by M R James is a collection of twenty-two ghost stories, plus a fascinating essay on the writing of ghost stories. Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) was a medieval scholar and Provost of King's College, Cambridge. His stories are classics of their genre, understated, beautifully paced and almost never explicit. Their idyllic rural backgrounds and amiable hero make the chilling terror of otherworldly intrusions all the more horrific. The collection is comprised of the following twenty-two stories:The Uncommon Prayer-Book; A Neighbour's Landmark; Rats; The Experiment; The Malice Of Inanimate Objects; A Vignette; Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book; The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral; An Episode Of Cathedral History; The Story Of A Disappearance And An Appearance; The Haunted Dolls' House; Lost Hearts; Mr. Humphreys And His Inheritance; Martin's Close; The Diary Of Mr. Poynter; The Rose-Garden; Casting The Runes; A School Story; The Tractate Middoth; Two Doctors; A View From A Hill; The Residence At Whitminster; Appendix: M. R. James On Ghost StoriesNote: This is not to be confused with the Book "The Collected Ghost Stories of M R James" which was published in 1931.

The art of telling a ghost story is a refined one, and Montague Rhodes James was a master of the genre. He draws the reader into a narrative that at first seems innocuous, but which becomes darker and darker by gentle turns until he transfixes you with his prose, creating the most unforgettable, alarming and frightening images. Complete Ghost Stories by M. R. James contains all his timeless masterpieces from the four collections of his eerie tales: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), and A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925).This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by author and playwright David Stuart Davies.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

A collection of four stories of the supernatural by early twentieth-century medievalist and antiquarian M. R. James, exemplifying how James redefined the ghost story and how his connection to academia, antiquities, and medievalism inspired and informed his fiction.

M. R. James's classic ghost stories are some of the finest in English, creating menace and terror in lonely country houses and remote inns. This is the only one-volume edition to include all James's published stories, an appendix of James's writings on the ghost story, and a critical introduction and notes.

Malignant forces and supernatural visitors haunt this selection of superbly spooky tales selected and introduced by Ruth Rendell. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense.

Antiquarian Paxton travels to a small town on the coast of Norfolk and learns of a legend concerning three crowns buried on the coast thousands of years ago to protect the land against marauding Vikings. Paxton tries to find the remaining crown, unaware of the supernatural presence that protects it.