Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is a collection of classic ghost stories by the scholar M. R. James. They often concern antiquaries, old manuscripts, churches and quiet English settings where something uncanny intrudes. The tales are restrained and atmospheric, rewarding listeners who enjoy suggestive supernatural fiction.
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Cover of the original edition (Project Gutenberg, public domain).
Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
Ghost Stories of an
Antiquary
by M. R. James
These stories are dedicated to all those who at various times have listened to them.
Contents
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
If anyone is curious about my local settings, let it be recorded that
St Bertrand de Comminges and Viborg are real places: that in “Oh,
Whistle, and I’ll Come to You” I had Felixstowe in mind. As for the fragments of ostensible erudition which are scattered about my pages, hardly anything in them is not pure invention; there never was, naturally, any such book as that which I quote in “The Treasure of
Abbot Thomas”. “Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book” was written in 1894 and printed soon after in the National Review, “Lost Hearts” appeared in the Pall Mall Magazine; of the next five stories, most of which were read to friends at Christmas-time at King’s College, Cambridge, I only recollect that I wrote “Number 13” in 1899, while “The Treasure of
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