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Collected Ghost Stories
"I was conscious of a most horrible smell of mold, and of a cold kind of face pressed against my own..."
Considered by many to be the most terrifying writer in English, M. R. James was an eminent scholar who spent his entire adult life in the academic surroundings of Eton and Cambridge. His classic supernatural tales draw on the terrors of the everyday, in which documents and objects unleash terrible forces, often in closed rooms and nighttime settings where imagination runs riot. Lonely country houses, remote inns, ancient churches or the manuscript collections of great libraries provide settings for unbearable menace from creatures seeking retribution and harm. These stories have lost none of their power to unsettle and disturb.
This edition presents all of James' published ghost stories, including the unforgettable "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" and "Casting the Runes," and an appendix of James' writings on the ghost story. Darryl Jones' introduction and notes provide a fascinating insight into James's background and his mastery of the genre he made his own.
Considered by many to be the most terrifying writer in English, M. R. James was an eminent scholar who spent his entire adult life in the academic surroundings of Eton and Cambridge. His classic supernatural tales draw on the terrors of the everyday, in which documents and objects unleash terrible forces, often in closed rooms and nighttime settings where imagination runs riot. Lonely country houses, remote inns, ancient churches or the manuscript collections of great libraries provide settings for unbearable menace from creatures seeking retribution and harm. These stories have lost none of their power to unsettle and disturb.
This edition presents all of James' published ghost stories, including the unforgettable "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" and "Casting the Runes," and an appendix of James' writings on the ghost story. Darryl Jones' introduction and notes provide a fascinating insight into James's background and his mastery of the genre he made his own.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published October 13, 2011
165 people are currently reading
1246 people want to read
About the author
M.R. James
1,520 books910 followersMontague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
March 15, 2018
This collection collects all of the known printed ghost stories of M.R. James. And if you love classic creepers you are in for a major treat.
The stories that particularly stood for me were, "The Mezzotint", "Oh, Whistle, and I Will Come to You, My Lad", "The Haunted Dolls' House", "The Uncommon Prayer-Book", "A View From a Hill", Wailing Well", and "Casting The Runes".
So get ready to have your hair stand on end.
The stories that particularly stood for me were, "The Mezzotint", "Oh, Whistle, and I Will Come to You, My Lad", "The Haunted Dolls' House", "The Uncommon Prayer-Book", "A View From a Hill", Wailing Well", and "Casting The Runes".
So get ready to have your hair stand on end.
September 7, 2022
A collection of the author's all completed stories, this is a well-arranged one. The introduction for my book has spoilers. James would have been surprised that he is best known for his stories here, for he did write other things for his main career (good ones I hear), and considered the stories to be more of an hobby to amuse his friends on certain evenings. At the end of this book is a collection of his comments on ghost stories (incl. what he thinks are crucial elements, what stories he didn't complete and why, and his opinions on other ghost story writers).
He had had some interest in ghost stories since his childhood, and some of the places and events in his life had their influences, though he didn't always use their real names in stories (and also borrowed some for other authors, like Trollope's Barchester). He had of course his flaws; he was a deeply Victorian man who was uneasy, to put it mildly, with modern age especially after WWI, was wary of too much knowledge (shows in stories), and also of women (partly due to very repressed homosexuality; one of the stories here, "An Evening's Entertainment", is perhaps the gayest he unintentionally goes).
Hair, insects, and spiders are some elements that often pop up in the stories. Plus some nostalgia: the stories often happen slightly in the past. There is possible to see a certain formula in them, as the author admits in the ghost-stories comments at the end of the book. And as the reader goes on reading the stories, one can see how the stories change and get shorter; the author has less time and inspiration to write as time passes.
Some themes:
getting of some object with bad consequences (one because attempt to get it was made in the nighttime, not day-time)
sinister-intentioned man or place
past crimes or mistakes
disappearances
ill-meaning ghosts and creatures
And not all people who suffer consequences are adults (some are boys, like a rich boy in "The Residence At Whitminster", or a boy scout in "Wailing Well"). Some happen outside Britain (Sweden, Denmark). But in all stories I liked the atmosphere and how the places were described, and that the horror is often not seen in clear view and description, and the stories don't feel particularly bloody most of the time.
It's quite nice to have the stories all in the same place, and to have a good view on this side of the author's career (I'm sure I'm not going to read his main work writings, even though they're no doubt interesting to some). These stories are very much worth reading, even if their scariness level depends a little on the reader. :)
He had had some interest in ghost stories since his childhood, and some of the places and events in his life had their influences, though he didn't always use their real names in stories (and also borrowed some for other authors, like Trollope's Barchester). He had of course his flaws; he was a deeply Victorian man who was uneasy, to put it mildly, with modern age especially after WWI, was wary of too much knowledge (shows in stories), and also of women (partly due to very repressed homosexuality; one of the stories here, "An Evening's Entertainment", is perhaps the gayest he unintentionally goes).
Hair, insects, and spiders are some elements that often pop up in the stories. Plus some nostalgia: the stories often happen slightly in the past. There is possible to see a certain formula in them, as the author admits in the ghost-stories comments at the end of the book. And as the reader goes on reading the stories, one can see how the stories change and get shorter; the author has less time and inspiration to write as time passes.
Some themes:
getting of some object with bad consequences (one because attempt to get it was made in the nighttime, not day-time)
sinister-intentioned man or place
past crimes or mistakes
disappearances
ill-meaning ghosts and creatures
And not all people who suffer consequences are adults (some are boys, like a rich boy in "The Residence At Whitminster", or a boy scout in "Wailing Well"). Some happen outside Britain (Sweden, Denmark). But in all stories I liked the atmosphere and how the places were described, and that the horror is often not seen in clear view and description, and the stories don't feel particularly bloody most of the time.
It's quite nice to have the stories all in the same place, and to have a good view on this side of the author's career (I'm sure I'm not going to read his main work writings, even though they're no doubt interesting to some). These stories are very much worth reading, even if their scariness level depends a little on the reader. :)
October 30, 2024
I have saved the very best for the climax of my Spooky Season reading — The Complete Ghost Stories Collection of M.R. James. James is the all-time grandmaster of the ghost story with an immediately recognizable style. His tales have a distinctive, Edwardian Englishness, with a dry wit, an understated sense of dread and foreboding, and a cast of characters straight out of Upstairs, Downstairs.
Old cathedrals, rectories, and churchyards, ancient estates, private libraries, as well as eccentric and sometimes corrupted churchmen and stuffy academics are common tropes in his uncanny and quietly disturbing tales. Very often his stories are framed as men telling each other ghost stories they have experienced or heard tell of over port and cigars, or scholars coming upon records of strange and unsettling events from the distant past. The very proper and restrained Englishness of the tale’s tellers serves to amplify the uncanny eeriness of these stories.
I listened to this collection on audiobook with narration by Jonathan Keeble. His voice and intonation set the perfect mood for these particular stories, and adds additional value to the reading experience. I highly recommend experiencing the book in this way.
Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book: James’ earliest known horror story. Eerie and atmospheric tale of an Englishman touring a French cathedral, who afterwards purchases an unusual manuscript from the haunted, old sacristan. the manuscript contains a horrifying illustration of a demon, who later manifests to the Englishman’s detriment.
4 ⭐️
Lost Hearts: A child murdering sorcerer is foiled by the vengeful ghosts of his victims before he can complete his final, ritual sacrifice.
3 ⭐️
The Mezzotint: An old print is haunted. From night to night the scene changes — moonrise, a menacing figure creeping closer to house each night, etc. Some terrible event is either being forecast or replayed on it. Maximum creepiness. This is among the greatest ghost stories ever written.
5 ⭐️
The Ash-tree: A tale of a condemned witch and her curse on her accuser that spanned three generations, and took two lives. A huge, looming Ash tree (and what is found in it) provides the atmosphere of haunting menace.
4 ⭐️
Number 13: A guest in a Danish hotel, staying in room 12, is haunted by a mysterious, phantom room 13 that only appears at night.
3 1/2 ⭐️
Count Magnus: An author of travelogues becomes obsessed with the history and the mausoleum of a three centuries dead Swedish count of dark reputation. It doesn’t end well.
2 1/2 ⭐️
Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad: A young Cambridge professor on a golfing holiday finds an odd, old whistle while exploring the ruins of a Templar’s church. From the moment he discovers it, odd occurrence happen, culminating with a terrifying nighttime encounter in his hotel room. An eerie, unsettling tale, with an uncannily disturbing haunt.
4 1/2 ⭐️
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas: A medieval scholar finds clues leading him to the treasure hidden by a disgrace abbot. He descends into an ancient well to find it, but the treasure has a guardian…
2 1/2 ⭐️
A School Story: A man relates a story from years before when he was a student. A Latin teacher received a couple of mysterious, unexplainable messages from his student’s Latin exercises that disturbed him. Later, he and another student observe a man-like apparition outside the teacher’s quarters, and the next morning the teacher was gone. Years later a gruesome discovery deepened the mystery.
5 ⭐️
The Rose Garden: Clearing ground for a rose garden stirs up long buried dread and nightmares of forgotten events. Hints and snatches of the original event and some eerie elements of renewed haunting make an oppressive atmosphere.
3 ⭐️
The Tractate Middoth: Ghost in the stacks of a library. An old book containing a secret will. An old, eccentric and disagreeable parson, twenty years dead, playing out a nasty game with his heirs from beyond the grave. This one is fun.
4 1/2 ⭐️
Casting the Runes: A despicable, vengeful man seeks revenge for a bad review that kept his work on Alchemy from being published. The revenge that he seeks is magical in nature, and murderous. And he had successfully accomplished this already on another. He may be an atrocious writer, but apparently is an excellent sorcerer. The reviewer learns of his peril and desperately attempts to avoid his doom.
4 ⭐️
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral: something sinister is happening at the cathedral. The old Archdeacon died mysteriously, and his replacement experienced malevolent haunting that seems connected to the grotesque carvings in the stalls.
3 ⭐️
Martin’s Close: The story consists of a discovered report of an infamous murder trial from 1684. The trial was of a wealthy squire accused of murdering a homely, simpleminded girl. The presiding judge was known as “The Bloody Judge, and a haunting by the murdered girl was entered in the evidence.
3 ⭐️
Mr. Humphrys and His Inheritance: This tale, of a man learning the strange history of the maze and temple in the garden of the property he inherited is too long and dull, with far too little reward for preserving to the end. James may have been aiming at a foreboding, mysterious story that never completely reveals its dark secret, but the style didn’t work for me.
2 ⭐️
The Residence of Whitminister: A complex tale, told from multiple viewpoints and in two time periods, a century apart. Part one tells of two teen boys, one of whom is sinisterly creepy, who dabble in the occult, and both come to early ends. Part two occurs a century later, with the new residences of Whitminister experiencing various haunting visions, dreams, and insect infestations seeming connected to the history of the dead boys. A particularly effective though ambiguous ending.
”A withered heart makes an ugly, thin ghost.”
4 1/2 ⭐️
The Diary of Mr. Poynter: A loose sample of ancient fabric is found in the pages of an 18th century diary. Taken with the pattern, James Denton has the pattern of the fabric reproduced for his room’s curtains. This invokes a terrifying, hairy haunting. The clue to the haunting is found on pasted pages of the diary in which the fabric was found.
3 1/2 ⭐️
An Episode of Cathedral History: A renovation in the cathedral reveals an anonymous, medieval tomb, and unleashes something decidedly unholy, eerie, and lethal. This one could be considered a vampire tale.
4 ⭐️
The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance: A Christmas ghost tale, a murder mystery and an epistolary story. The narrator’s description of his Christmas Eve Punch and Judy nightmare is eerily terrifying. The story is a slow-reveal horror that resolves while leaving most details still shrouded in mystery at tale’s end. Masterfully done.
5 ⭐️
Two Doctors: This is a frankly baffling tale of mystery, mischief, and misdirection. While you may be able to piece together some of the details to get a vague idea of what happened to Doctor Quinn, and what role Doctor Abell played in his fate, nothing is certain, and several details, including the final one about the robbing of a noble family’s mausoleum provide only added menace and mystery without providing any illumination. This story very much depends upon ambiguity and uncertainty to build its dread, and may not be to all tastes.
4 ⭐️
An Evening’s Entertainment: An old granny tells a gruesome tale to explain why the children shouldn’t pick berries along a certain lane.
3 ⭐️
A Warning to the Curious: A grimly oppressive tale of an antiquarian name of Paxton who, while visiting a sea-side town in East Anglia, disturbs the last of the legendary three, buried crowns of East Anglia, which legend say protect the country from invasion. But the crown has a ghostly guardian, and Paxton feels its oppressive presence, and feels doomed. Two men he meets at the hotel (one of whom is the narrator, hear his fantastic tale and agree to help him return the crown. But some ghosts don’t forgive.
4 ⭐️
A View from a Hill: A pair of strange spy glasses that show scenes that are no longer there. The nasty, deceased watchmaker/alchemist who made them, and a haunted gallows hill.
3 1/2 ⭐️
A Neighbor’s Landmark: ”That which walks in Betton Wood/Knows why it walks or why it cries.” These oblique lines, found in a letter in an old library the narrator is cataloguing, stir his curiosity and send him searching for more clues about what appears to be a local haunting. The narrator has a single, unnerving encounter with the presence, which when combined with the fruits of his research makes for a disturbingly chilly little ghost story.
4 ⭐️
The Uncommon Prayer-Book: Despite the fascinating subject matter of rare, outlawed prayer books printed during Cromwell’s rule, and the vengeful ghost still cursing Cromwell’s memory from beyond the grave, this isn’t a particularly good story. It’s far too wordy, takes a long time coming to its point, doesn’t present the ghost until the very end, and that without James’ usual talent of building up atmosphere and dread.
2 1/2 ⭐️
The Haunted Dolls’ House: This story was commissioned as a small book by Queen Mary, wife of George V, for her own famous doll’s house (still on display in Windsor Castle). The haunting consists of a night time transformation where the house appears to become real, and a scene of murder and retribution is played out in it. This story is related to James’ tale The Mezzotint in theme and action, but is inferior in that it fails to excite the same chilling dread as did that earlier tale.
3 1/2 ⭐️
Wailing Well: This tale starts out as a kind of boy’s tale, featuring two young scouts that are a sort of Goofus and Gallant, one an example of excellence and the other a rude troublemaker. Upon learning from an old shepherd that the forbidden area on their map is dangerously haunted, Stanley Judkins, the troublesome boy, determines that he will defy the prohibition and enter the area. This is the point where the story moves away from being an amusing boy’s tale and becomes one of James’ grimmest and most gruesome tales with a horrifying ending.
3 1/2 ⭐️
There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard: Despite the title and set-up that allude to the unfinished story of “sprites and goblins” from Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, this slight, short story resembles the type of juvenile ghost story told by boys round camp fires.
2 1/2 ⭐️
Rats: A story where the scary thing confronts directly instead of being sidled around and come at by hints and allusions. A curious-natured guest staying at an inn near the coast examines some of the other inn rooms and discovers a room with only a bed, and in it…
”Under the counterpane someone lay, and not only lay, but stirred. That it was someone, and not something was certain, because the shape of a head was unmistakable on the bolster, and yet it was all covered, and no one lies with covered head but a dead person, and this was not dead, not truly dead, for it heaved and shivered.”
Many of James’ tales would stop there, hinting at dark things without making them explicit, but this tale goes on. The guest examines the room again before taking his leave of the inn, and discovers…
4 ⭐️
After Dark in the Playing Fields: On Mid-Summer’s Eve our narrator converses with a cranky, cockney owl who is fed up being annoyed by fairies. Short and kinda silly, with an ominous coda.
”I do not like a crowd after dark…I see such curious faces, and the people to whom they belong flit about so oddly…and looking close into your face as if they were searching for someone, who may be thankful, I think, if they do not find him. Where do they come from? Why some I think out of the water, and some out of the ground…I am sure it is best to take no notice of them, and not to touch them.”
3 ⭐️
The Experiment: A supposedly wealthy man dies, but his widow and stepson can find no trace of his treasure. In the dead man’s papers is a “recipe” for making the recently dead speak, but it warns of possible dire consequences for so doing. Nevertheless, the stepson conducts the experiment and mother and son must endure the consequences.
2 ⭐️
The Malice of Inanimate Objects: A ghost story for a modern age.
”Do not these facts, if facts they are, bare out my suggestion that there is something not inanimate about the malice of inanimate objects? Do they not further suggest that when this malice begins to show itself we should be very particular to examine, and if possible rectify any obliquities in our recent conduct?
3 ⭐️
A Vignette: James’ final and shortest piece. It is a return to the vague dread that he mastered so well in many stories. A story of boyhood, with some possible autobiographical elements.
”There is something horrifying in the sight of a face looking at one out of a frame as this did, more particularly if its gaze is unmistakably fixed upon you.”
5 ⭐️
The Fenstanton Witch: A posthumously published story, first appearing in 1990. In the early 18th century, two university fellows attempt to use black magic at the grave of a recently killed accused witch for material gain. It doesn’t end well.
3 1/2 ⭐️
Appendix: M.R. James’ notes on writing his ghost stories.
”I wrote these stories at long intervals, and most of them were read to patient friends, usually at the season of Christmas.”
”The stories themselves do not make any exalted claim. If any of them succeed in making their readers feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours my purpose in writing them will have been obtained.”
Old cathedrals, rectories, and churchyards, ancient estates, private libraries, as well as eccentric and sometimes corrupted churchmen and stuffy academics are common tropes in his uncanny and quietly disturbing tales. Very often his stories are framed as men telling each other ghost stories they have experienced or heard tell of over port and cigars, or scholars coming upon records of strange and unsettling events from the distant past. The very proper and restrained Englishness of the tale’s tellers serves to amplify the uncanny eeriness of these stories.
I listened to this collection on audiobook with narration by Jonathan Keeble. His voice and intonation set the perfect mood for these particular stories, and adds additional value to the reading experience. I highly recommend experiencing the book in this way.
Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book: James’ earliest known horror story. Eerie and atmospheric tale of an Englishman touring a French cathedral, who afterwards purchases an unusual manuscript from the haunted, old sacristan. the manuscript contains a horrifying illustration of a demon, who later manifests to the Englishman’s detriment.
4 ⭐️
Lost Hearts: A child murdering sorcerer is foiled by the vengeful ghosts of his victims before he can complete his final, ritual sacrifice.
3 ⭐️
The Mezzotint: An old print is haunted. From night to night the scene changes — moonrise, a menacing figure creeping closer to house each night, etc. Some terrible event is either being forecast or replayed on it. Maximum creepiness. This is among the greatest ghost stories ever written.
5 ⭐️
The Ash-tree: A tale of a condemned witch and her curse on her accuser that spanned three generations, and took two lives. A huge, looming Ash tree (and what is found in it) provides the atmosphere of haunting menace.
4 ⭐️
Number 13: A guest in a Danish hotel, staying in room 12, is haunted by a mysterious, phantom room 13 that only appears at night.
3 1/2 ⭐️
Count Magnus: An author of travelogues becomes obsessed with the history and the mausoleum of a three centuries dead Swedish count of dark reputation. It doesn’t end well.
2 1/2 ⭐️
Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad: A young Cambridge professor on a golfing holiday finds an odd, old whistle while exploring the ruins of a Templar’s church. From the moment he discovers it, odd occurrence happen, culminating with a terrifying nighttime encounter in his hotel room. An eerie, unsettling tale, with an uncannily disturbing haunt.
4 1/2 ⭐️
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas: A medieval scholar finds clues leading him to the treasure hidden by a disgrace abbot. He descends into an ancient well to find it, but the treasure has a guardian…
2 1/2 ⭐️
A School Story: A man relates a story from years before when he was a student. A Latin teacher received a couple of mysterious, unexplainable messages from his student’s Latin exercises that disturbed him. Later, he and another student observe a man-like apparition outside the teacher’s quarters, and the next morning the teacher was gone. Years later a gruesome discovery deepened the mystery.
5 ⭐️
The Rose Garden: Clearing ground for a rose garden stirs up long buried dread and nightmares of forgotten events. Hints and snatches of the original event and some eerie elements of renewed haunting make an oppressive atmosphere.
3 ⭐️
The Tractate Middoth: Ghost in the stacks of a library. An old book containing a secret will. An old, eccentric and disagreeable parson, twenty years dead, playing out a nasty game with his heirs from beyond the grave. This one is fun.
4 1/2 ⭐️
Casting the Runes: A despicable, vengeful man seeks revenge for a bad review that kept his work on Alchemy from being published. The revenge that he seeks is magical in nature, and murderous. And he had successfully accomplished this already on another. He may be an atrocious writer, but apparently is an excellent sorcerer. The reviewer learns of his peril and desperately attempts to avoid his doom.
4 ⭐️
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral: something sinister is happening at the cathedral. The old Archdeacon died mysteriously, and his replacement experienced malevolent haunting that seems connected to the grotesque carvings in the stalls.
3 ⭐️
Martin’s Close: The story consists of a discovered report of an infamous murder trial from 1684. The trial was of a wealthy squire accused of murdering a homely, simpleminded girl. The presiding judge was known as “The Bloody Judge, and a haunting by the murdered girl was entered in the evidence.
3 ⭐️
Mr. Humphrys and His Inheritance: This tale, of a man learning the strange history of the maze and temple in the garden of the property he inherited is too long and dull, with far too little reward for preserving to the end. James may have been aiming at a foreboding, mysterious story that never completely reveals its dark secret, but the style didn’t work for me.
2 ⭐️
The Residence of Whitminister: A complex tale, told from multiple viewpoints and in two time periods, a century apart. Part one tells of two teen boys, one of whom is sinisterly creepy, who dabble in the occult, and both come to early ends. Part two occurs a century later, with the new residences of Whitminister experiencing various haunting visions, dreams, and insect infestations seeming connected to the history of the dead boys. A particularly effective though ambiguous ending.
”A withered heart makes an ugly, thin ghost.”
4 1/2 ⭐️
The Diary of Mr. Poynter: A loose sample of ancient fabric is found in the pages of an 18th century diary. Taken with the pattern, James Denton has the pattern of the fabric reproduced for his room’s curtains. This invokes a terrifying, hairy haunting. The clue to the haunting is found on pasted pages of the diary in which the fabric was found.
3 1/2 ⭐️
An Episode of Cathedral History: A renovation in the cathedral reveals an anonymous, medieval tomb, and unleashes something decidedly unholy, eerie, and lethal. This one could be considered a vampire tale.
4 ⭐️
The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance: A Christmas ghost tale, a murder mystery and an epistolary story. The narrator’s description of his Christmas Eve Punch and Judy nightmare is eerily terrifying. The story is a slow-reveal horror that resolves while leaving most details still shrouded in mystery at tale’s end. Masterfully done.
5 ⭐️
Two Doctors: This is a frankly baffling tale of mystery, mischief, and misdirection. While you may be able to piece together some of the details to get a vague idea of what happened to Doctor Quinn, and what role Doctor Abell played in his fate, nothing is certain, and several details, including the final one about the robbing of a noble family’s mausoleum provide only added menace and mystery without providing any illumination. This story very much depends upon ambiguity and uncertainty to build its dread, and may not be to all tastes.
4 ⭐️
An Evening’s Entertainment: An old granny tells a gruesome tale to explain why the children shouldn’t pick berries along a certain lane.
3 ⭐️
A Warning to the Curious: A grimly oppressive tale of an antiquarian name of Paxton who, while visiting a sea-side town in East Anglia, disturbs the last of the legendary three, buried crowns of East Anglia, which legend say protect the country from invasion. But the crown has a ghostly guardian, and Paxton feels its oppressive presence, and feels doomed. Two men he meets at the hotel (one of whom is the narrator, hear his fantastic tale and agree to help him return the crown. But some ghosts don’t forgive.
4 ⭐️
A View from a Hill: A pair of strange spy glasses that show scenes that are no longer there. The nasty, deceased watchmaker/alchemist who made them, and a haunted gallows hill.
3 1/2 ⭐️
A Neighbor’s Landmark: ”That which walks in Betton Wood/Knows why it walks or why it cries.” These oblique lines, found in a letter in an old library the narrator is cataloguing, stir his curiosity and send him searching for more clues about what appears to be a local haunting. The narrator has a single, unnerving encounter with the presence, which when combined with the fruits of his research makes for a disturbingly chilly little ghost story.
4 ⭐️
The Uncommon Prayer-Book: Despite the fascinating subject matter of rare, outlawed prayer books printed during Cromwell’s rule, and the vengeful ghost still cursing Cromwell’s memory from beyond the grave, this isn’t a particularly good story. It’s far too wordy, takes a long time coming to its point, doesn’t present the ghost until the very end, and that without James’ usual talent of building up atmosphere and dread.
2 1/2 ⭐️
The Haunted Dolls’ House: This story was commissioned as a small book by Queen Mary, wife of George V, for her own famous doll’s house (still on display in Windsor Castle). The haunting consists of a night time transformation where the house appears to become real, and a scene of murder and retribution is played out in it. This story is related to James’ tale The Mezzotint in theme and action, but is inferior in that it fails to excite the same chilling dread as did that earlier tale.
3 1/2 ⭐️
Wailing Well: This tale starts out as a kind of boy’s tale, featuring two young scouts that are a sort of Goofus and Gallant, one an example of excellence and the other a rude troublemaker. Upon learning from an old shepherd that the forbidden area on their map is dangerously haunted, Stanley Judkins, the troublesome boy, determines that he will defy the prohibition and enter the area. This is the point where the story moves away from being an amusing boy’s tale and becomes one of James’ grimmest and most gruesome tales with a horrifying ending.
3 1/2 ⭐️
There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard: Despite the title and set-up that allude to the unfinished story of “sprites and goblins” from Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, this slight, short story resembles the type of juvenile ghost story told by boys round camp fires.
2 1/2 ⭐️
Rats: A story where the scary thing confronts directly instead of being sidled around and come at by hints and allusions. A curious-natured guest staying at an inn near the coast examines some of the other inn rooms and discovers a room with only a bed, and in it…
”Under the counterpane someone lay, and not only lay, but stirred. That it was someone, and not something was certain, because the shape of a head was unmistakable on the bolster, and yet it was all covered, and no one lies with covered head but a dead person, and this was not dead, not truly dead, for it heaved and shivered.”
Many of James’ tales would stop there, hinting at dark things without making them explicit, but this tale goes on. The guest examines the room again before taking his leave of the inn, and discovers…
4 ⭐️
After Dark in the Playing Fields: On Mid-Summer’s Eve our narrator converses with a cranky, cockney owl who is fed up being annoyed by fairies. Short and kinda silly, with an ominous coda.
”I do not like a crowd after dark…I see such curious faces, and the people to whom they belong flit about so oddly…and looking close into your face as if they were searching for someone, who may be thankful, I think, if they do not find him. Where do they come from? Why some I think out of the water, and some out of the ground…I am sure it is best to take no notice of them, and not to touch them.”
3 ⭐️
The Experiment: A supposedly wealthy man dies, but his widow and stepson can find no trace of his treasure. In the dead man’s papers is a “recipe” for making the recently dead speak, but it warns of possible dire consequences for so doing. Nevertheless, the stepson conducts the experiment and mother and son must endure the consequences.
2 ⭐️
The Malice of Inanimate Objects: A ghost story for a modern age.
”Do not these facts, if facts they are, bare out my suggestion that there is something not inanimate about the malice of inanimate objects? Do they not further suggest that when this malice begins to show itself we should be very particular to examine, and if possible rectify any obliquities in our recent conduct?
3 ⭐️
A Vignette: James’ final and shortest piece. It is a return to the vague dread that he mastered so well in many stories. A story of boyhood, with some possible autobiographical elements.
”There is something horrifying in the sight of a face looking at one out of a frame as this did, more particularly if its gaze is unmistakably fixed upon you.”
5 ⭐️
The Fenstanton Witch: A posthumously published story, first appearing in 1990. In the early 18th century, two university fellows attempt to use black magic at the grave of a recently killed accused witch for material gain. It doesn’t end well.
3 1/2 ⭐️
Appendix: M.R. James’ notes on writing his ghost stories.
”I wrote these stories at long intervals, and most of them were read to patient friends, usually at the season of Christmas.”
”The stories themselves do not make any exalted claim. If any of them succeed in making their readers feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours my purpose in writing them will have been obtained.”
January 31, 2020
What a delightful treat to return to the ghostly tales of M.R. James, even though I’ve read many of them before (though not all) they still manage to make my spine grow colder. At his best, he truly is unmatched in creating atmosphere and delivering some of the most sleep-depriving climaxes in the history of the genre. No matter how many times I’ve read The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, the reveal still makes my hair stand on end. It was an interesting experience to read them chronologically as well, to see how James evolved as a writer and expanded upon certain themes and variations within his stories. Some of my absolute favorites tales are The Ash Tree, Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, The Mezzotint, Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book, and Number 13. I find these particular tales almost infinitely re-readable, their ghoulish splendor never ceases to amaze me. M.R. James' work still stands as truly influential and original and it should be required reading for anyone with an interest in ghostly and strange fiction.
October 27, 2022
The Collected M.R. James
Review of the Oxford World Classics hardcover (2017), an expanded and enhanced edition of the original The Collected Ghost Stories Of M. R. James (1931)
I read Collected Ghost Stories in stages, and reviewed the earlier selections Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911) and A Thin Ghost and Others (1919) over the past two years. Those included the first 19 stories of this collection, so this review only covers the final 13.
The quality drops off quite a lot in the final short vignettes (#26 to #32). In a letter, James himself even admitted to #32 not being up to his previous standards. Still I don't hesitate in rating the entire collection with 5 stars due to the extensive introduction and explanatory notes provided by the editor Darryl Jones.
A copy of the first edition of Collected Ghost Stories (1931). Image sourced from Wikipedia.
Included in A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925)
20. The Haunted Doll's House A collector buys an elaborate doll's house which appears to come alive during the night and allows him to see a reenactment of a crime that happened in the real house which the replica is based on. James himself admitted that this was somewhat of a variation on his earlier story The Mezzotint.
21. The Uncommon Prayer-Book A traveller comes across a deserted chapel where there are several copies of a prayer book illegally printed during the time of Oliver Cromwell. The books appear to be haunted in some manner. A book dealer is also interested in them.
22. A Neighbour's Landmark A haunted forest was cut down in an attempt to remove a curse. The curse appears to remain though in the shape of a howling figure.
23. A View from a Hill A traveller visits a friend in the country and together they observe the nearby district from a viewpoint on top of a hill. A cursed pair of homemade binoculars allows the traveller to view scenes from past history which the friend cannot see.
24. A Warning to the Curious An antiquarian finds one of the three lost crowns of East Anglia and is then stalked by its ghost guardian.
25. An Evening's Entertainment A grandmother tells a frightening story to her grandkids.
Included in the original Collected Ghost Stories (1931)
26. There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard An invented ghost story to continue the interrupted story of Prince Mamilius in Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale".
27. Rats An inn contains a haunted room.
28. After Dark in the Playing Fields More of a fantasy story. A man meets a talking owl.
29. Wailing Well A reckless boy scout leaves his troop to inspect a cursed well.
Included in the expanded editions of Collected Ghost Stories
30. The Experiment The death of a man leads to an experiment as to whether he can communicate the location of a treasure after his death.
31. The Malice of Inanimate Objects Mostly just a listing of the harm caused by accidents, but then there is an unexplained murder.
32. A VIgnette A plantation gate is haunted.
[33.] The Fenstanton Witch [Not included in this collection]
Appendix: M.R. James on Ghost Stories . This is a collection of the various introductions and articles that M.R. James wrote for his own ghost story books and for other books and journals.
I read Collected Ghost Stories as part of a subscription to independent bookshop Shakespeare and Company's 2020 Year of Reading Lost Treasures.
Trivia and Links
The Ghost Stories of M.R. James have been adapted on an occasional basis by the BBC TV Series A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971-78, 2005-ongoing). There is also an excellent BBC documentary "MR James: Ghost Writer" (2013) dir. John Das, where Mark Gatiss (who has directed and screenwritten the past several BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas) presents the life of M.R. James. You can watch it on YouTube here.
Most of the Collected Ghost Stories in their earlier separate book releases can be read for free at both Wikisource and Project Gutenberg.
Most of the Collected Ghost Stories can also be listened to for free through public domain audiobooks at LibriVox.
Review of the Oxford World Classics hardcover (2017), an expanded and enhanced edition of the original The Collected Ghost Stories Of M. R. James (1931)
I have my ideas of how a ghost story ought to be laid out if it is to be effective. I think that, as a rule, the setting should be fairly familiar and the majority of the characters, and their talk such as you may meet or hear any day. ... Another requisite, in my opinion, is that the ghost should be malevolent or odious: amiable or helpful apparitions are all very well in fairy tales or in local legends, but I have no use for them in a fictitious ghost story. - M.R. James from the Preface to More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911)
Do not, in any case, bring it into the house. It may not be alone ... (Dots are believed by many writers of our day to be a good substitute for effective writing. They are certainly an easy one. Let us have a few more ......) - a rare instance of humour from M.R. James in his article "Stories I Have Tried to Write".
I read Collected Ghost Stories in stages, and reviewed the earlier selections Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911) and A Thin Ghost and Others (1919) over the past two years. Those included the first 19 stories of this collection, so this review only covers the final 13.
The quality drops off quite a lot in the final short vignettes (#26 to #32). In a letter, James himself even admitted to #32 not being up to his previous standards. Still I don't hesitate in rating the entire collection with 5 stars due to the extensive introduction and explanatory notes provided by the editor Darryl Jones.
A copy of the first edition of Collected Ghost Stories (1931). Image sourced from Wikipedia.
Included in A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925)
20. The Haunted Doll's House A collector buys an elaborate doll's house which appears to come alive during the night and allows him to see a reenactment of a crime that happened in the real house which the replica is based on. James himself admitted that this was somewhat of a variation on his earlier story The Mezzotint.
21. The Uncommon Prayer-Book A traveller comes across a deserted chapel where there are several copies of a prayer book illegally printed during the time of Oliver Cromwell. The books appear to be haunted in some manner. A book dealer is also interested in them.
22. A Neighbour's Landmark A haunted forest was cut down in an attempt to remove a curse. The curse appears to remain though in the shape of a howling figure.
23. A View from a Hill A traveller visits a friend in the country and together they observe the nearby district from a viewpoint on top of a hill. A cursed pair of homemade binoculars allows the traveller to view scenes from past history which the friend cannot see.
24. A Warning to the Curious An antiquarian finds one of the three lost crowns of East Anglia and is then stalked by its ghost guardian.
25. An Evening's Entertainment A grandmother tells a frightening story to her grandkids.
Included in the original Collected Ghost Stories (1931)
26. There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard An invented ghost story to continue the interrupted story of Prince Mamilius in Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale".
27. Rats An inn contains a haunted room.
28. After Dark in the Playing Fields More of a fantasy story. A man meets a talking owl.
29. Wailing Well A reckless boy scout leaves his troop to inspect a cursed well.
Included in the expanded editions of Collected Ghost Stories
30. The Experiment The death of a man leads to an experiment as to whether he can communicate the location of a treasure after his death.
31. The Malice of Inanimate Objects Mostly just a listing of the harm caused by accidents, but then there is an unexplained murder.
32. A VIgnette A plantation gate is haunted.
[33.] The Fenstanton Witch [Not included in this collection]
Appendix: M.R. James on Ghost Stories . This is a collection of the various introductions and articles that M.R. James wrote for his own ghost story books and for other books and journals.
I read Collected Ghost Stories as part of a subscription to independent bookshop Shakespeare and Company's 2020 Year of Reading Lost Treasures.
Trivia and Links
The Ghost Stories of M.R. James have been adapted on an occasional basis by the BBC TV Series A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971-78, 2005-ongoing). There is also an excellent BBC documentary "MR James: Ghost Writer" (2013) dir. John Das, where Mark Gatiss (who has directed and screenwritten the past several BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas) presents the life of M.R. James. You can watch it on YouTube here.
Most of the Collected Ghost Stories in their earlier separate book releases can be read for free at both Wikisource and Project Gutenberg.
Most of the Collected Ghost Stories can also be listened to for free through public domain audiobooks at LibriVox.
October 19, 2021
4.5*
When you mention ‘ghost stories’, M.R. James’s name is bound to appear in the conversation. His stories, especially his most famous one Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to you, My Lad, are included in most anthologies of the genre.
Over the years, I have read quite a few of his, enjoying them immensely, before I finally bought this volume. Here I discovered more excellent tales but also so much more. The introduction to the author and his life was fascinating. I knew James was an academic but had no idea of his character.
Those details built a better image of how this repressed Victorian ended up penning such stories. Somehow, his fears and obsessions, combined with the settings he knew best, that of universities and visited locales, work amazingly well. Several themes do recur too, such as the danger of searching for truths. How contradictory that a scholar would be so afraid of ‘knowledge’? Actually, no, it makes sense if you take knowledge in the biblical sense... (now, I’m thinking of Philip Pullman. The way the mind jumps!). The volume also had an enlightening appendix of the author’s own writings on the genre. Again, this added a new angle.
Favourite stories? Quite a few. ‘Oh Whistle’ of course, but also ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘Warning to the Curious’, ’The Tractate Middoth’,and ’Number 13’.
When you mention ‘ghost stories’, M.R. James’s name is bound to appear in the conversation. His stories, especially his most famous one Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to you, My Lad, are included in most anthologies of the genre.
Over the years, I have read quite a few of his, enjoying them immensely, before I finally bought this volume. Here I discovered more excellent tales but also so much more. The introduction to the author and his life was fascinating. I knew James was an academic but had no idea of his character.
Those details built a better image of how this repressed Victorian ended up penning such stories. Somehow, his fears and obsessions, combined with the settings he knew best, that of universities and visited locales, work amazingly well. Several themes do recur too, such as the danger of searching for truths. How contradictory that a scholar would be so afraid of ‘knowledge’? Actually, no, it makes sense if you take knowledge in the biblical sense... (now, I’m thinking of Philip Pullman. The way the mind jumps!). The volume also had an enlightening appendix of the author’s own writings on the genre. Again, this added a new angle.
Favourite stories? Quite a few. ‘Oh Whistle’ of course, but also ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘Warning to the Curious’, ’The Tractate Middoth’,and ’Number 13’.
October 12, 2011
There are classics that deserve no separate review apart from mere stating of the fact that these stories have been shaping the contours of horror fiction for the past century, and since 1931 (when these stories were brought out together, except 3 stories that were later collected) they have remained continuously in-print. However, this book was special in the sense that the stories often mention certain details that require gentle ministrations in the shape of annotations & explanations for Latin-challenged readers like us (who must be 99.9% of the total readers), and this book does it to some extent. Of course, its comparison with the gold-standard of annotated editions set by "A Pleasing Terror" published by the Ash Tree Press would be made, and the book would be found short on many grounds (esp. in terms of non-inclusion of certain non-fiction written by MRJ himself that have immense relevance in understanding the stories themselves) rather inevitably. Nevertheless, it is very reasonably priced, and deserves to be appreciated, esp. since the Penguin volumes (edited by S.T Joshi) are ridiculously overpriced, and since the Ash Tree Press is not coming out with their long-awaited 2nd edition of "A Pleasing Terror" (in 2 volumes!) any time soon. Recommended.
May 31, 2018
This is just going to be a lazy review. I felt this deserves closer to 3.5* as a whole, but I just don't feel generous enough to round up to 4*. Of course I thought some stories were stronger than others, which is par for the course in a collection, and I never truly thought any were worse than 2*; the problem was that too many hovered at 2* and 3*. Most of my favorites seemed located around the first half of the book, and I admit, with much guilt, that I started skimming near the end. I might revisit this collection at another time. I just stopped caring somewhere along the way with this one right now.
November 22, 2021
What's there to say? These are simply some of the best works within the genre—and when I say "genre", I don't just mean the genre of the ghost story, but the genre(s) of Gothic and (proto-)Weird fiction as a whole. James's stories, which are laden with verbose Victorian English, Anglican clerical jargon, and pastoral depictions of the English countryside, are undeniably products of their time, but if anything, that makes the fact that they manage to scare/unsettle/unnerve/disturb modern audiences all the eerier...
Some of my personal favourties:
-Lost Hearts
-Number 13
-Count Magnus
-'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'
-Casting the Runes
-The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral
-Martin's Close
-An Episode of Cathedral History
-The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance (!!!)
-Two Doctors
-The Haunted Dolls' House
-The Uncommon Prayer-Book
-Rats
-The Malice of Inanimate Objects
Some of my personal favourties:
-Lost Hearts
-Number 13
-Count Magnus
-'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'
-Casting the Runes
-The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral
-Martin's Close
-An Episode of Cathedral History
-The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance (!!!)
-Two Doctors
-The Haunted Dolls' House
-The Uncommon Prayer-Book
-Rats
-The Malice of Inanimate Objects
November 15, 2018
I will not put dots or stars, for I dislike them, but I will say that apparently someone tried to shave Mr Burton in the train, and did not succeed overly well. He was however satisfied with what he had done, if we may judge from the fact that on a once white napkin spread on Mr Burton’s chest was an inscription in red letters: GEO. W. FECI.
January 24, 2025
I‘m a sucker for stories about scholars or the like getting in too deep with haunted books, chapels or artifacts. All of these are about scholars getting in too deep with haunted books, chapels or artifacts.
It‘s scholar open season
It‘s scholar open season
October 14, 2024
not sure why this was marked as read when I only just got around to it. weird.
I had never read any of M.R. James stories before picking this up, so it was really fun to be thrown into such a well-researched edition of not only his stories, but also his life. this collection includes a timeline of James' entire life, as well as a very lengthy 'Explanatory Notes' section that explains various elements that pop up in his stories, usually something to do with British or religious history but also sometimes just defining specific terms. it did make this read a bit longer than I expected it to be, as some stories have over 20 "explanatory notes", so I found myself often flipping back and forth between the story and the notes section. I took to placing my bookmark in the "notes" section while I read so I could reference things easier. even if many of the stories were a 3.5 to me, the thoroughness of this volume easily bumps it to 4 stars. (out of the 33 stories, 21 were a 3.5 or higher, with only four rating a 2, which is a pretty great turnout!)
as for the stories themselves, reading such a big collection of them back-to-back makes it easy to pick up on certain themes. I could see that being overwhelming or boring for a lot of people, but I really enjoyed James' "voice" and so seeing the same central themes and tropes was entertaining. I didn't expect to laugh as much as I did while reading these (James' distaste for golf felt palpable in several of the stories, and I appreciated him sparing us from long descriptions of it). I also found it interesting how a lot of the stories central scares were often not from the perspective of the narrator, and were usually told to them instead of us experiencing them as they happen (there are exceptions to this, and some of my favorites were the exceptions, so take that as you will).
the way the ghouls and monsters are described really took me by surprise - there's a lot of variety, and I could see them so clearly in my head that I wished I was a better artist just so I could sketch them out! I think I wasn't expecting such detail when it came to their appearances, and to be as creeped out as I was (something about the way he describes how a lot of them move could really make my skin crawl!). I'm looking forward to watching some live action adaptations I've seen recommended, especially since a lot of them seem to be of my favorite stories.
speaking of, my favorites were 'The Mezzotint', 'The Ash-Tree', 'Number 13', 'Casting the Runes', 'A Warning to the Curious', and 'Wailing Well'. I can easily see myself referring back to these in the future, especially during these spooky and colder months.
as far as the stories that I wasn't a fan of, I think most of them were bogged down in a lot of history that I'm not well-versed in and also don't care as much about. there's a lot of academics in these tales, and while we are often spared some of the most boring topics, James still has some he quite likes to focus on. I probably would have liked these stories even less if I didn't have the context from the "notes" in the back! I really can't stress enough how much those helped contextualize and add flavor to a lot of these tales. if you're going to pick up his work, I highly recommend this specific edition.
I had never read any of M.R. James stories before picking this up, so it was really fun to be thrown into such a well-researched edition of not only his stories, but also his life. this collection includes a timeline of James' entire life, as well as a very lengthy 'Explanatory Notes' section that explains various elements that pop up in his stories, usually something to do with British or religious history but also sometimes just defining specific terms. it did make this read a bit longer than I expected it to be, as some stories have over 20 "explanatory notes", so I found myself often flipping back and forth between the story and the notes section. I took to placing my bookmark in the "notes" section while I read so I could reference things easier. even if many of the stories were a 3.5 to me, the thoroughness of this volume easily bumps it to 4 stars. (out of the 33 stories, 21 were a 3.5 or higher, with only four rating a 2, which is a pretty great turnout!)
as for the stories themselves, reading such a big collection of them back-to-back makes it easy to pick up on certain themes. I could see that being overwhelming or boring for a lot of people, but I really enjoyed James' "voice" and so seeing the same central themes and tropes was entertaining. I didn't expect to laugh as much as I did while reading these (James' distaste for golf felt palpable in several of the stories, and I appreciated him sparing us from long descriptions of it). I also found it interesting how a lot of the stories central scares were often not from the perspective of the narrator, and were usually told to them instead of us experiencing them as they happen (there are exceptions to this, and some of my favorites were the exceptions, so take that as you will).
the way the ghouls and monsters are described really took me by surprise - there's a lot of variety, and I could see them so clearly in my head that I wished I was a better artist just so I could sketch them out! I think I wasn't expecting such detail when it came to their appearances, and to be as creeped out as I was (something about the way he describes how a lot of them move could really make my skin crawl!). I'm looking forward to watching some live action adaptations I've seen recommended, especially since a lot of them seem to be of my favorite stories.
speaking of, my favorites were 'The Mezzotint', 'The Ash-Tree', 'Number 13', 'Casting the Runes', 'A Warning to the Curious', and 'Wailing Well'. I can easily see myself referring back to these in the future, especially during these spooky and colder months.
as far as the stories that I wasn't a fan of, I think most of them were bogged down in a lot of history that I'm not well-versed in and also don't care as much about. there's a lot of academics in these tales, and while we are often spared some of the most boring topics, James still has some he quite likes to focus on. I probably would have liked these stories even less if I didn't have the context from the "notes" in the back! I really can't stress enough how much those helped contextualize and add flavor to a lot of these tales. if you're going to pick up his work, I highly recommend this specific edition.
October 29, 2025
Very well written, but they are definitely "adjacent" to what I would consider ghost stories. Whole at the time these were written, I'm sure they were revolutionary, I think I was hoping for more than a "hint" at something spooky.
Most stories followed a similar pattern of someone coming I. Contact with something spooky, but then it was left at that. M.R. James didn't seem to really get into anything gritty. On the other hand, this did make for a cozy read! Each story was easy to read, and it was entertaining to read what strange encounter the characters would get into, but nothing was disturbing or too sinister.
Some of my favorites included Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, Casting The Runes (this one was my favorite), A Neighbour's landmark, and An Evening's Entertainment.
Most stories followed a similar pattern of someone coming I. Contact with something spooky, but then it was left at that. M.R. James didn't seem to really get into anything gritty. On the other hand, this did make for a cozy read! Each story was easy to read, and it was entertaining to read what strange encounter the characters would get into, but nothing was disturbing or too sinister.
Some of my favorites included Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, Casting The Runes (this one was my favorite), A Neighbour's landmark, and An Evening's Entertainment.
July 26, 2022
Letdown. That’s the word I would describe my feelings towards this book. Ever since I started reading more horror stories after viewing Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature”, I’ve always read the opinions of many that of all the classic horror writers, M.R. James is the greatest of them all. I first read “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You my Lad” cuz I heard that was one of the scariest stories ever and suffice to say I was spooked and greatly enjoyed it. Due to my nascent interest in the genre, I decided to save the best for last and I perused countless short horror stories written by Lovecraft, Bierce, W.W. Jacobs, Machen, CAS, Stevenson, Stoker, Maupassant, Robert E. Howard, Ralph Adams Cram, Hoffmann, Doyle, Saki, Hawthorne, Le Fanu, Wakefield, EF Benson, and Algernon Blackwood. So now lastly I come into M.R. James. All the past authors and their stories I was able to read more or less but what no one ever told me was how utterly “English” M.R. James written style was. What I mean by that is that James writes just the same way as I imagine he talks; posh Victorian English. What was so confusing is that I read from authors from the same era but their stories were all readable! I was so utterly dumbfounded, confused, frustrated and chiefly bored when reading his stories. It’s not even the prose and choice of words that are difficult, it’s the grammar and syntax used, as if the story was being told by a rich well-bred English gentleman-caricature repeatedly saying “Good day ol chap!” as he's walking from his evening exercise to his house just in time for afternoon tea. There was no active language behind the words so my eyes would end up scanning the words and not register anything to my brain. He also writes in a very condescending manner, which I found out later was that he was a university professor, using “Sir” to address the main characters and dumbing down the speech for any servants or anyone not coming from a rich and learned background. He also expects his readers to know Latin because there were so many instances in his stories where the crux and explanation of the story was some Latin phrase left behind as a warning. In my view, M.R. James is not as great as he is purported to be and is overrated. I greatly enjoyed the stories of Bierce and Benson way more and while his peak story “Oh Whistle” does stand among the scariest stories I’ve read, the rest of his works weigh him down heavily in my rankings. I did not end up reading every single story in this collection as I saw no further point in viewing beyond the premier works. The top 3 most enjoyable stories are Oh Whistle, Lost Hearts, and A View from A Hill. The rest you would be better off not reading.
• Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book – haunted book
• Lost Hearts – evil uncle
• The Mezzotint – haunted metal painting
• The Ash-Tree – evil tree
• Number 13 – haunted hotel room
• Count Magnus – evil ancestry
• Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You my Lad – ghost haunting
• The Treasure of Abbot Thomas – treasure hunt detective story
• A School Story – teacher is stalked by monster
• The Rose Garden – haunted garden
• The Tractate Middoth – family feud, librarian is main character
• Casting the Runes – evil magician curse
• The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral – ambitious pastor murder
• Martin’s Close – murderer trial
This is when I stopped reading this naturally and straight-on because I was just so bored and numb to his style of horror. Nothing jumped out at me as particularly terrifying or creepy or spooky. I just read other Goodreads reviews to find out which stories other people liked and found worth mentioning, so I just jumped from story to story from here.
• A Warning to the Curious –cursed crown dug up in beach resort
• An Episode of Cathedral History – Haunted church
• The Uncommon Prayer Book – Haunted prayer book
• Rats – haunted scarecrow
• A View from a Hill – An actual readable story. James tones down the “Englishness” of his prose and it results in a simpler and enjoyable read. Seriously, if MR James wrote more stories in this manner, I would have enjoyed this book more. The plot is also somewhat spooky and interesting and I always love a good dream nightmare scene.
• Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book – haunted book
• Lost Hearts – evil uncle
• The Mezzotint – haunted metal painting
• The Ash-Tree – evil tree
• Number 13 – haunted hotel room
• Count Magnus – evil ancestry
• Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You my Lad – ghost haunting
• The Treasure of Abbot Thomas – treasure hunt detective story
• A School Story – teacher is stalked by monster
• The Rose Garden – haunted garden
• The Tractate Middoth – family feud, librarian is main character
• Casting the Runes – evil magician curse
• The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral – ambitious pastor murder
• Martin’s Close – murderer trial
This is when I stopped reading this naturally and straight-on because I was just so bored and numb to his style of horror. Nothing jumped out at me as particularly terrifying or creepy or spooky. I just read other Goodreads reviews to find out which stories other people liked and found worth mentioning, so I just jumped from story to story from here.
• A Warning to the Curious –cursed crown dug up in beach resort
• An Episode of Cathedral History – Haunted church
• The Uncommon Prayer Book – Haunted prayer book
• Rats – haunted scarecrow
• A View from a Hill – An actual readable story. James tones down the “Englishness” of his prose and it results in a simpler and enjoyable read. Seriously, if MR James wrote more stories in this manner, I would have enjoyed this book more. The plot is also somewhat spooky and interesting and I always love a good dream nightmare scene.
June 13, 2014
I have a sneaking suspicion that M.R James is like catnip to frustrated academics. His ghost stories take place in a world that is otherwise almost utopian - immense libraries with eldritch tomes, countrysides with horrible (but FASCINATING) histories, great cathedrals (both physical and spectral), and scholars as far as the eye can see. Perhaps that last is what makes his winter tales so effective: something horrid and alien enters into a world of reason and science, and proceeds to wreak havoc.
This edition collects, as far as I am aware, all of James' ghost stories which is a great boon to those of us who are sick of the same four being reprinted ad nauseam with no love for the rest. There were a few which I'd never read before, such as Martin's Close, which were fantastically terrifying.
I think, in a just world, James would have the attention that Lovecraft gets these days. James is - in my opinion at least - a superior writer in every way. Admittedly, he had the benefit of the kind of education Lovecraft would not have been able to access. But at the same time, his stories are all the more creepy for lacking the kind of hysterical adjective-bound style of Lovecraftian horror.
For the modern reader, there is also the benefit of James not feeling the need to engage in racial-bigotry based narratives as well.
All together a great collection, and magnificent to read out loud on a cold and starless night.
This edition collects, as far as I am aware, all of James' ghost stories which is a great boon to those of us who are sick of the same four being reprinted ad nauseam with no love for the rest. There were a few which I'd never read before, such as Martin's Close, which were fantastically terrifying.
I think, in a just world, James would have the attention that Lovecraft gets these days. James is - in my opinion at least - a superior writer in every way. Admittedly, he had the benefit of the kind of education Lovecraft would not have been able to access. But at the same time, his stories are all the more creepy for lacking the kind of hysterical adjective-bound style of Lovecraftian horror.
For the modern reader, there is also the benefit of James not feeling the need to engage in racial-bigotry based narratives as well.
All together a great collection, and magnificent to read out loud on a cold and starless night.
May 30, 2017
Jag måste erkänna mig besegrad, till slut. Montague Rhodes James var onekligen en av förgrundsfigurerna inom genren, en av dem som tog den längre bort från dess gotiska ursprung, och jag förstår vad Lovecraft (som kallade honom en modern mästare) såg i honom. På baksidan kallas han till och med för den mest skrämmande figuren som verkat inom den engelska litteraturen vilket är en vansinnig överdrift. Det är inte dåligt, egentligen, men jag orkade inte mer än 300 sidor innan jag gav upp. Novellerna lästes upp av James för kollegor på Cambridge och jag kan absolut tänka mig att de vore mycket bättre under rätt omständigheter men som bok funkade det inte alls för mig. Prosan är skriven som om den är mer berättad än vad den är faktiskt just skriven. Vilket inte behöver vara något dpligt men i detta fall fungerade det inte. Resultat blir istället ofokuserat och det blir oerhört svårt att bygga upp en bra atmosfär, något som James själv sade att han eftersträvade.
Vad är det då som fallerar?
Språket, mest. Samtalstonen ställer först till det och sedan gör det träiga ordvalet det hela värre. James var ingen ordkonstnär och det blir ofta svårt att fokusera, då varesig karaktärerna eller stämningen kompenserar för det. Men på det stora hela är det nog mer jag som inte är rätt person snarare än att det är något egentligt fel på novellerna. M.R James är i alla fall en författare värd att kolla upp i och med hans plats i genren.
July 23, 2013
As a lover of the classical English ghost story, I have of course read all of these tales before, but when I came across this handsome annotated hardcover edition I knew I had to buy it and read them all again.
And so I did.
James was a specialised ghost story writer; this was the only kind of fiction he wrote. And he was a master of the genre. I don't know of any other ghost story writer whose work is of such consistently high quality. So what's good about these stories? The atmosphere, to begin with. Most of these stories are set in a decidedly masculine academic world, among scholars and antiquaries or among clergymen in ancient churches and cathedrals. We meet antiquaries who search in ancient documents for hints at terrible events with repercussions down the ages. The ghosts themselves come in different shapes – some are actively malevolent towards the unfortunate souls who have somehow disturbed them while others are "just" unsettling manifestations of something outside our normal physical world. In other stories again material objects replay evil deeds without directly interacting with the protagonists, as in "The Mezzotint". These stories are old-fashioned, and probably were so even at the time of writing – to me, that's part of the appeal.
The introduction and the notes are first class.
And so I did.
James was a specialised ghost story writer; this was the only kind of fiction he wrote. And he was a master of the genre. I don't know of any other ghost story writer whose work is of such consistently high quality. So what's good about these stories? The atmosphere, to begin with. Most of these stories are set in a decidedly masculine academic world, among scholars and antiquaries or among clergymen in ancient churches and cathedrals. We meet antiquaries who search in ancient documents for hints at terrible events with repercussions down the ages. The ghosts themselves come in different shapes – some are actively malevolent towards the unfortunate souls who have somehow disturbed them while others are "just" unsettling manifestations of something outside our normal physical world. In other stories again material objects replay evil deeds without directly interacting with the protagonists, as in "The Mezzotint". These stories are old-fashioned, and probably were so even at the time of writing – to me, that's part of the appeal.
The introduction and the notes are first class.
October 31, 2016
I've a big collection of ghost stories, the consequence of a passing passion of a few years back, and occasionally I dip into them when I fancy, in the words of M R James 'a pleasing terror'. I have an old Penguin edition of the Collected Ghost Stories of M R James, but finding this excellent new Oxford World's Classics edition on the library shelf I was prompted to re-read the whole thing. The early stories are as excellent as I remember them: Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad, Lost Hearts and Casting the Runes are some of the best ghost stories in the language, and the late tale, A Warning to the Curious can also be so described. Most of the rest are very good, but some of the later tales (as James himself acknowledged) show a dropping off in terms of quality. My enjoyment and appreciation of these tales has been immeasurably enhanced by the quality of this new edition, with excellent notes to elucidate some of James' more arcane references (of which there are plenty) a fascinating scholarly introduction and a selection of James' writings on the craft of the ghost story. Discovering the endlessly interesting Podcast to the Curious (mrjamespodcast.com) has been a further pleasure.
February 24, 2013
Fabulous! James notes that--per Shakespeare (kind of)--ghost stories are meant to be read in the winter, and so it should be. The chill of the air and the early dark all lend a hand in creating the perfect atmosphere in which to allow oneself to be scared (even nowadays, when these stories must be considered quite "tame").
My favorites:
Canon Alberic's Scrap Book (the first of the collection) -- a typical, spooky sight story.
The Mezzotint -- a creepy moving picture. Cool.
The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance -- well written. Some amusing descriptions of other characters.
A Neighbour's Landmark -- just a good, creepy tale. Love how it describes old-time wealthy visiting-times (if there's a good household library "no host need trouble himself further about [his guest's] entertainment").
A View from A Hill -- loved it. Another gone visiting to a rich friend's house in the English countryside tale (watch out for those!)
Wailing Well -- written for (and about) Boy Scouts. Left me laughing, I couldn't help picture how the scouts must have felt about it, listening to it read about the fire at camp. Hah!
My favorites:
Canon Alberic's Scrap Book (the first of the collection) -- a typical, spooky sight story.
The Mezzotint -- a creepy moving picture. Cool.
The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance -- well written. Some amusing descriptions of other characters.
A Neighbour's Landmark -- just a good, creepy tale. Love how it describes old-time wealthy visiting-times (if there's a good household library "no host need trouble himself further about [his guest's] entertainment").
A View from A Hill -- loved it. Another gone visiting to a rich friend's house in the English countryside tale (watch out for those!)
Wailing Well -- written for (and about) Boy Scouts. Left me laughing, I couldn't help picture how the scouts must have felt about it, listening to it read about the fire at camp. Hah!
November 15, 2018
This is coming from a complete layman. M. R. James is a writer who is considered as one of the best writers of victorian short ghost stories and I suppose that in that he really is good. However, for the average person who likes ghost stories they might find them a bit lacking. In my opinion, some stories had overly developed background which didn't have to be 2/3 of the story long leaving the ending and the (more often than not) only interesting part only, sometimes, barely 2 pages long. English isn't my first language so I had to concentrate a bit more due to the oldish style of writing but overall it wasn't really a problem other than it took a bit longer for me to finish the stories.
Some stories were, as it usually is, more interesting than others and some were surprisingly scary. Most of them have Christian religious motifs and are usually either with strange vague demons or murder. If you're into victorian literature amd like ghost stories it's a definite recommendation, but if you're looking for some really scary short stories I'd say look elsewhere.
Some stories were, as it usually is, more interesting than others and some were surprisingly scary. Most of them have Christian religious motifs and are usually either with strange vague demons or murder. If you're into victorian literature amd like ghost stories it's a definite recommendation, but if you're looking for some really scary short stories I'd say look elsewhere.
February 15, 2015
Written in a more innocent and graceful era, MR James's ghost stories are subtle, with very polite and, at times, utterly chilling ghosts.
I enjoyed most of them, with some of the stories giving me delicious goosebumps (The Ash Tree, Number 13, Oh Whistle & I'll come to thee, my Lad, The Uncommon Prayer Book, Wailing Well and others).
One issue I had with this particular text, was that the explanatory notes were by means of an * (no differentiaton within each story) and the note itself was at the back of the book, rather than at the foot of the relevant page, which would have made reading the explanations without interrupting the pace and tension of the story a lot easier. In the end, I stopped looking at the notes and just enjoyed the stories, although I would have liked to know what some references meant.
Quaint and appealing, these ghost stories are a great read in bed late at night ...!
I enjoyed most of them, with some of the stories giving me delicious goosebumps (The Ash Tree, Number 13, Oh Whistle & I'll come to thee, my Lad, The Uncommon Prayer Book, Wailing Well and others).
One issue I had with this particular text, was that the explanatory notes were by means of an * (no differentiaton within each story) and the note itself was at the back of the book, rather than at the foot of the relevant page, which would have made reading the explanations without interrupting the pace and tension of the story a lot easier. In the end, I stopped looking at the notes and just enjoyed the stories, although I would have liked to know what some references meant.
Quaint and appealing, these ghost stories are a great read in bed late at night ...!
November 5, 2020
M. R. James has inspired horror writers across the world and his stories are classics. However when reading a horror I want to feel fear and have a chill down my spine but when reading these stories I felt nothing that doesn't mean they're terrible stories I just didnt find them particularly horrifying, I'm putting this down to the fact that I prefer modern horror which are often gory and violent. The horror in this collection is so subtle that its difficult to find. I wouldn't say this book is bad as it's clearly a well loved classic however it's not for me.
the-party-is-over
February 5, 2018Letto in biblioteca, avevo il tempo di leggerne un unico racconto e ho scelto "oh whistle and I'll come to you, my lad". Non è stato male, ma non mi ha lasciata la curiosità di leggere il resto della raccolta. L'edizione in questione è molto bella, sia dal punto di vista tipografico che editoriale. Propone un'introduzione e un bel comparto di note più o meno bibliografiche, mi sembra un buon modo per approcciare M.R. James.
August 19, 2022
Of course. It’s the top shelf stuff. Even after a century, these stories retain their ability to scare the living daylights out of the reader. That’s not something a lot of writers of that time period can claim.
I have several editions, but my favorite is the Oxford University Press edition edited by Darryl Jones. The introduction and commentary are tremendously insightful.
I have several editions, but my favorite is the Oxford University Press edition edited by Darryl Jones. The introduction and commentary are tremendously insightful.
October 30, 2021
Couldn’t finish it. Not my thing.
The language is too intricate and at the same time characters speak in 19 century slang.
The stories are mostly dull. Few flashes here and there, but mostly dull. Reached about 60% and decided to give it up. Sigh.
The language is too intricate and at the same time characters speak in 19 century slang.
The stories are mostly dull. Few flashes here and there, but mostly dull. Reached about 60% and decided to give it up. Sigh.
December 20, 2023
I rated it 5/5 in its own category. The atmosphere it creates is eerie and the stories have successfully raised the hair on my back. That being said, I do think it should be read randomly and seldomly, since the themes do tend to repeat.
November 15, 2013
Extremely overrated. Did not get my vote at all.
April 14, 2021
3.8* Review in oven.
October 2, 2024
2.5/5 estrellas.
Empezó más o menos y a medida que fui avanzando en historias no me convenció. Una que otra daba para más.
Empezó más o menos y a medida que fui avanzando en historias no me convenció. Una que otra daba para más.
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