Complete Ghost Stories

by M. R. James, David Stuart Davies (Introduction)

Overview

The art of telling a ghost story is a refined one, and Montague Rhodes James was a master of the genre.

Complete Ghost Stories is part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics bound in real cloth with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an afterword by author and playwright David Stuart Davies.

M.R. James draws the reader into narratives which, seeming innocuous, become darker and darker in gentle turns – and then confront readers with some of the most unforgettably frightening images in British literature. Complete Ghost Stories contains every timeless masterpiece from each of his four collections: 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).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509845637
Publisher:	Pan Macmillan
Publication date:	01/26/2017
Series:	Macmillan Collector's Library , #97
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	592
Sales rank:	476,321
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Montague Rhodes James was born in 1862 at Goodnestone Parsonage, Kent, where his father was a curate. He was educated at Eton College and then King's College, Cambridge where he won many awards and scholarships. He enjoyed a distinguished career, rising to the position of Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1913. An eminent medievalist and scholar of international status, James published many works on biblical and historical antiquarian subjects. He began writing ghost stories almost as a diversion from his academic work and as a form of entertainment for his colleagues. His first collection, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, was published in 1904 and began the career for which he became most famous. He would go on to write five further ghost story collections, before his death aged seventy-three in 1936.
Montague Rhodes James was born in 1862 at Goodnestone Parsonage, Kent, where his father was a curate, but the family moved soon afterwards to Great Livermere in Suffolk. James attended Eton College and later King's College Cambridge where he won many awards and scholarships. From 1894 to 1908 he was Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and from 1905 to 1918 was Provost of King's College. In 1913, he became Vice-Chancellor of the University for two years. In 1918 he was installed as Provost of Eton. A distinguished medievalist and scholar of international status, James published many works on biblical and historical antiquarian subjects. He was awarded the Order of Merit in 1930. His ghost story writing began almost as a divertissement from his academic work and as a form of entertainment for his colleagues. His first collection, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary was published in 1904. He never married and died in 1936.
David Stuart Davies is an author, playwright and editor and is regarded as an authority on Sherlock Holmes. His fiction includes novels featuring his wartime detective Johnny Hawke and several Sherlock Holmes novels - including Sherlock Holmes and the Devil's Promise. He is a committee member of the Crime Writers' Association, editing their monthly publication, Red Herrings, and is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund.

Table of Contents

Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook

Lost Hearts

The Mezzotint

The Ash Tree

Number 13

Count Magnus

‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

A School Story

The Rose Garden

The Tractate Middoth

Casting the Runes

The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral

Martin’s Close

Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance

The Residence at Whitminster

The Diary of Mr Poynter

An Episode of Cathedral History

The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance

Two Doctors

The Haunted Dolls’ House

The Uncommon Prayer-Book

A Neighbour’s Landmark

A View from a Hill

A Warning to the Curious

An Evening’s Entertainment

There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard

Rats

After Dark in the Playing Fields

Wailing Well

The Experiment

The Malice of Inanimate Objects

A Vignette

Stories I have Tried to Write

Afterword

Further reading

Biography