Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

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Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
First edition cover
Author	M. R. James
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror short stories
Publisher	Edward Arnold
Publication date	1904
Media type	Print (Hardback)
ISBN	NA
Followed by	More Ghost Stories

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is the title of M. R. James' first collection of ghost stories, published in 1904 (some had previously appeared in magazines). Some later editions under this title contain both the original collection and its successor, More Ghost Stories (1911), combined in one volume.

Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936) was a medieval scholar; Provost of King's College, Cambridge. He wrote many of his ghost stories to be read aloud in the long tradition of spooky Christmas Eve tales. His stories often use rural settings, with a quiet, scholarly protagonist getting caught up in the activities of supernatural forces. The details of horror are almost never explicit, the stories relying on a gentle, bucolic background to emphasise the awfulness of the otherworldly intrusions.

[edit] Contents of the original edition

"Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book"
"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"

[edit] References

A Guide to Supernatural Fiction. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent, 240.