Sign-In
Cart
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary: The Complete 1904 Collection: Annotated Edition
Paperback
Publisher Price: $19.99
Publisher: Carrier Press
Published: Aug 27 2026
Pages: 146
Weight: 0.45
Height: 0.34 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The most imitated ghost stories in the language, and he wrote them to read aloud at Christmas.
Montague Rhodes James was Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and later of Eton. He catalogued the medieval manuscripts of half the great libraries in England, work still consulted a century later. Ghost stories were a hobby, written to read to friends in his rooms by candlelight. Almost nobody reads his catalogues now.
Before James the English ghost story was Gothic: castles, ruins, a picturesque past, a heroine. He threw all of it out. His formula was an ordinary modern setting and an ordinary modern man, and then something very old that gets at him. The thing that comes is rarely a transparent lady. It is physical, it is often hairy or damp, and it is frequently met by touch before it is seen.
Every story here turns on a document. A scrapbook, a mezzotint, an inscription, a ballad, a manuscript, a letter, a plan of a maze. The scholar finds it, reads it correctly, and by reading it correctly puts himself in danger. Nobody in James is destroyed by ignorance. They are destroyed by scholarship.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904) was his first book and it arrived complete. All eight stories, in the order he chose:
Canon Alberic's Scrap-book (1895)
Lost Hearts (1895)
The Mezzotint (1904)
The Ash-tree (1904)
Number 13 (1899)
Count Magnus (1904)
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad (1904)
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1904)
This annotated edition adds:
An original introduction on what James invented, and why his imitators find it hardest to copy the moment before the apparition
A headnote before every story
A glossary of James's world, with his invented learned citations flagged as invented
His own prefatory note from the first edition, printed exactly as he wrote it
H. P. Lovecraft on M. R. James, at length, from Supernatural Horror in Literature
Quis est iste qui uenit. Who is this who is coming?
Also from
James, M. R.
Casting the Runes: A Tale of Cursed Knowledge and Deadly Supernatural Forces (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
The Mezzotint: A Supernatural Tale of a Haunted Image and a Chilling Mystery (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad: A Masterful Ghost Story of Ancient Relics and Unseen Terrors
James, M. R.
Paperback
The Haunted Dolls' House: A Classic Ghost Tale of Miniatures, Memories, and Malevolence
James, M. R.
Paperback
Count Magnus: A Gothic Horror Classic of Ancient Evil and Forbidden Curiosity (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Lost Hearts: A Chilling Tale of Dark Rituals and Ghostly Revenge (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
The Haunted Dolls' House: A Classic Ghost Tale of Miniatures, Memories, and Malevolence
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Casting the Runes, and Other Classic Stories of the Supernatural
James, M. R.
Jacobs, W. W.
Fanu, Sheridan Le
Audio Book
A Warning to the Curious: A Classic Ghost Story of Greed, Secrets, and Retribution (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Geistergeschichten eines Antiquars: Eine Auswahl der berühmtesten Geistergeschichten
James, M. R.
Paperback
Old Testament Legends: Illustrated - Easy to Read Layout (Large Print Edition)
James, M. R.
Paperback
Old Testament Legends: Illustrated - Easy to Read Layout (Large Print Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Ghosts and Ghouls: 13 Classic Tales That Will Gives You the Chills
Carroll, Lewis
Kipling, Rudyard
James, M. R.
Paperback
Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories (Royal Collector's Edition) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
The Diary of Mr. Poynter: A Ghostly Tale of a Cursed Pattern and Lingering Spirits
James, M. R.
Paperback
The Diary of Mr. Poynter: A Ghostly Tale of a Cursed Pattern and Lingering Spirits (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Number 13: A Haunting Tale of Vanishing Rooms and Supernatural Secrets (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Bibliotheca Pepysiana. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Library of Samuel Pepys: Mediaeval Manuscripts
James, M. R.
Paperback
Bibliotheca Pepysiana. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Library of Samuel Pepys: Mediaeval Manuscripts
James, M. R.
Hardcover
Also in
Classic Fiction
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, a Midsummer Night's Dream, the Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories
Baughman, Judith
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Bruccoli, Matthew J.
Paperback
The Princess Bride Deluxe Limited Edition: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Paperback
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paperback
The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (Revised and easy-to-read)
Vermilye, Alan
Bunyan, John
Paperback
The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by the Author: Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Hardcover
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Hardcover
Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Stoker, Bram
Shelley, Mary
Paperback