Collected Ghost Stories

M.R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. These tales are not only classics of their genre, but are also superb examples of beautifully-paced understatement, convincing background and chilling terror.


As well as the preface, there is a fascinating tail-piece by M.R. James, 'Stories I Have Tried To Write', which accompanies these thirty tales. Among them are 'Casting the Runes', 'Oh, Whistle and I'll come to you, My Lad', 'The Tractate Middoth', 'The Ash Tree' and 'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook'


'There are some authors one wishes one had never read in order to have the joy of reading them for the first time. For me, M.R. James is one of these'. Ruth Rendell


Stories include:


Canon Alberic's Scrapbook


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


A School Story


The Rose Garden


The Tractate Middoth


Casting the Runes


The Stalls of Barchester


Cathedral


Martin's Close


Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance


The Residence at Whitminster


The Diary of Mr Poynter


An Episode of Cathedral History


The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance


Two Doctors


The Haunted Dolls' House


The Uncommon Prayer-Book


A Neighbour's Landmark


A View from a Hill


A Warning to the Curious


An Evening's Entertainment


There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard


Rats


After Dark in the Playing Fields


Wailing Well


Stories I Have Tried to Write