Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

Infobox Book |
name = Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = M. R. James
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Horror short stories
publisher = Edward Arnold
release_date = 1904
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
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.

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"

References

*cite web
title = A Guide to Supernatural Fiction
url = http://homepages.pavilion.co.uk/users/tartarus/j7.htm
accessdate = 2007-03-29
*cite book | last=Tuck | first=Donald H. | authorlink=Donald H. Tuck | title=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy | location=Chicago | publisher=Advent | pages=240 | date=1974

External links

*Gutenberg|no=8486|name=Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
*Gutenberg|no=9629|name=Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (Part 2)
*LibriVox public domain audio-recording: [http://librivox.org/ghost-stories-of-an-antiquary-by-m-r-james/ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James]