Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

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I love the classic stories of MR James, and bought this, partly for myself, but also to try and interest my grandson in the stories. He makes the formula sound easy, and he had many imitators, but James remains the master of tapping into our inner fears, the dark places of our minds and souls, our unconsciousness, where we are pursued by a thing unknown, the inadmissible, perhaps the secret self; the primal fear of things that go bump in the night. Every year at Halloween we like to switch things up and publish something a little bit off our usual beaten track and hopefully introduce you to something new. A rare Sax Rohmer edition, in which an ancient Egyptian secret intriguingly like atomic power is unleashed.

Front hinge is starting on the exterior, but the interior gutters for both the front and back covers remain secure. Canon Alberic's Scrap-book' – An antiquary discovers a scrap-book of ancient manuscripts compiled by the titular Canon Alberic in the 17th century that is in the keeping of the sacristan of a church in France that he is studying.Mr Timson’s brief essay which accompanies these recordings is informative, intelligent and perceptive. The light is admirably managed, it seems to me, and the figure, though it’s rather too grotesque, is somehow very impressive.

James is the greatest master of the ghost story, and I hope that this book, and its' companion volume will bring another generation to his work. Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) began writing ghost stories upon entering Cambridge in 1882 and quickly become known for his candlelit readings.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. His introductions tend to be kinda tedious, and he is not exactly easy to read, but he's a true master of eeriness. P. Lovecraft to Stephen King, James created tales of understated horror that continue to transfix readers 80 years after his death.

In his tales, the existence of ghosts is not to be doubted, and it’s also beyond dispute that ghosts cannot always be explained, or fully explained. James McBryde had originally intended to supply more illustrations for the work, but unfortunately died prematurely before he could complete them. One picture, “The dispute of Solomon with a demon of the night”, proves to be particularly compelling…and why is the sacristan so eager to get rid of a book so obviously of great value? If you like traditional ghost stories that unnerve the reader subtly by suggestion and indirection, this is a book you should read. That’s not a matter for complaint, but I can’t help thinking it would have been nice to have the same voice reading all eight of the Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.Although Arnold suggested another illustrator, James, a close friend of McBryde's, was adamant that he could not be replaced. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. He wrote many of his ghost stories to be read aloud in the long tradition of spooky Christmas Eve tales.