Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

I was pleased with the quick delivery and the excellent condition of the used book. This book is a classic and I was delighted to find it so quickly and so easily.

Well, if you are familiar at all with this type of writing, then you cannot have helped but cross paths with M.R.James. If not, don't expect the obvious skeleton in the closet or the cliche' distant howling at the moon. James will succeed, with your help,in placing you in the empathetic position of strongly identifying with the narrator, or a helpless secondary character in his story. Suspend time and disbelief and be welcomed to his world. You'll be powerless to resist so be well prepared. Turn ALL the lights on and forget a good night's sleep. Not going to happen. Your identification allows James, through masterful writing ,to transport you to the very center of what you instinctively know will be one of the most subtle yet frightening literary experiences of your life. Believe me, you'll be so glad to be able to remind yourself afterward that this is just a collection of "stories". There will be lingering after-effects however and you'll never forget these stories once you've read them. You'll be reached and overpowered on a very primitive psychological level, just as the characters in James' stories have been. The surviving characters recover from their experiences at the end of the stories....but are never again the same. Neither will you be....

If you don't find "horror" fiction frightening, this is for you. These stories scare everyone. This edition also has a very charming cover.

The ghost stories of M.R. James (MRJ) are widely considered to be the best supernatural literature ever written. "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" was his first collection of short stories to be published (Arnold 1904) and is a fine introduction to this chilling, scholarly author.However, you might want to spend a bit more money and buy the "The Penguin Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James." If you completely succumb to the refined but potent horror of this author's writings, only "A Pleasing Terror" (Ash Tree Press 2001) will then do. This book contains all of MRJ's supernatural literature, including story fragments that were never completed, biographies, bibliographies, commentary, and his fantasy novelette, "The Five Jars." "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" consists of the following stories:"Canon Alberic's Scrap-book"--The original title for this story was 'A Curious Book,' and it is one of 'the' classical MRJ invocations of a scholar who unwittingly opens the wrong book and pays horribly for his misadventure. This story and the following "Lost Hearts" were originally read aloud at an 1897 meeting of the Cambridge Chitchat Society, a literary gathering which met for "the promotion of rational conversation.""Lost Hearts"--This story is unusual for MRJ in that the ghosts participate in an actual physical assault on the villain who had murdered them. It is narrated in the third person by a little boy who is orphaned and goes to live with his elderly cousin at Aswarby Hall (an actual estate in Lincolnshire, now largely demolished). Slowly he begins to realize that there were two other children who had lived with his cousin before him."The Mezzotint"--A collector of topographical pictures purchases a mezzotint that shows a view of a manor-house from the early part of the eighteenth century. The picture slowly evolves through a story of murder and revenge from beyond the grave."The Ash-tree"--If your Bible falls open to the verse, "Thou shalt seek me in the morning, and I shall not be" do not, I repeat DO NOT sleep in Sir Matthew's old bedroom next to the ancient ash-tree. This story is a unique reworking of the "executed witch's revenge" theme. "Number 13"--A scholar settles into a Danish hotel to research the town's ecclesiastical history and learns more than he ever wanted to know about a bishop who sold his soul to Satan."Count Magnus"--Another story (along with "Number 13") that may have had its origin in MRJ's trips to Scandinavia. Mr. Wraxall, the scholarly hero of this tale dooms himself by reading a forbidden treatise of alchemy and expressing a wish to meet its long-dead (or not so dead) Swedish author. This tale is definitely not for the faint-hearted, especially the scene in the mausoleum of Count Magnus, when the locks start popping off of the sarcophagus."Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"--A Professor takes a golfing vacation on England's East Coast, and agrees to take a look at the site of an ancient Templars' preceptor

M.R. James is one of the greatest writers of ghost stories ever; we all know that. Add Nigel Lambert as reader. I enjoy audio books almost as much as print, but never have I heard such a perfect combination of voice and material as in this collection. Lambert masters accents and voices of every kind. This--and the companion volume," A Warning to the Curious" are an unending delight, well worth the price.