If you can, listen to A Podcast to the Curious in between chapters. They provide color commentary, historical details, and analysis. It made reading this a lot of fun. ( )

CANON ALBERIC’S SCRAP-BOOK

‘They were in the sitting-room of the house, a small, high chamber with a stone floor,
full of moving shadows cast by a wood-fire that flickered on a great heart.’ (p.13)

Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book was first published in 1904, although it was written in 1894.
The story is set in southern France.
An English tourist is photographing the interior of the cathedral of Saint-Bernard-de-Comminges at the foot of Pyrenees, when the cathedral’s sacristan tries to sell him a strange book. The Englishman is impressed by a drawing in the book. After buying it, he returns to his room, and …
‘his attention was caught by an object lying on the red cloth just by his left elbow. …
A pen wiper? No, no such thing in the house.
A rat? No, too black.
A large spider? I trust to goodness not - no. …
God! a hand like the hand in that picture!’ (p. 23-4)

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LOST HEARTS and THE MEZZOTINT

‘it’s a funny thing to me how them marks and scratches can ‘a’ come there -
too high up for any cat or dog to have made them,
much less a rat … ‘ (p.42)

Lost Hearts (1904) by Montague Rhodes James.
The orphaned Stephen moves to the house of his uncle Abney.
Stephen soon discovers that the house is haunted by two ghostly children: a gypsy boy and an orphaned girl.
Stephen also discovers that his uncle is obsessed with the idea of immortality.
Is there a connection between the two ghosts and uncle Abney?

The Mezzotint (1904) is a classic ghost story.
Mr. Williams is employed in a museum, and his attention is to enlarge its collection of English topographical drawings. Mr.Britnell is a publisher of art’s catalogue, he asks Mr. Williams to buy an ‘Interesting mezzotint’. Mr.Williams, although interested, wonders why the mezzotint is so expensive.
Watching the mezzotint:
‘- But there’s just one other thing.
- What?
- Why, one of the windows on the ground floor, left of the door is open.
- Is it really so? My goodness! he must have got in.’ (p.69)

Ghosts wandering between the yard and the house in a picture, jumping on a window.

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THE ASH-TREE

‘It will be long, I think, before we arrive at a just estimate of the amount of solid reason - if there was any - which lay at the root of the universal fear of witches in old times.’ (p.85)

The Ash-Tree (1904) tells of Sir Richard Castringham who has just inherited a house, and an ash-tree.
Richard’s ancestors Sir Matthew condemned a woman to death for witchcraft. After that, the house has been cursed, but the real problem is the ash-tree.

James writes a ghost story about an ash-tree for many reasons, mainly connected with legends, superstitions, that tells of ash-trees.
Upon ash branches witches could fly; venomous animals don’t take shelter under an ash-tree; ash seedpods are used in divination; people don’t cut ash-trees for construction lumber: the houses could catch fire.

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NUMBER 13 and COUNT MAGNUS and THE TREASURE OF ABBOT THOMAS

NUMBER 13

‘His back was now to the door. In that moment the door opened, and an arm came out and clawed at his shoulder.’ (page 143)

Mr. Anderson, narrator’s cousin, went to Denmark engaged upon some researches into the history of Danish church. He stays in an inn where the room number 13 is missing. Returning to his room, Mr. Anderson notices that the door refuses to open, he hears some noises in the room: ‘He had tried the wrong door, of course. … He glanced at the number: it was 13.’ (page 120) Finally, entering in his room number 12, it ‘seemed to have contracted in length …’ (page 121)
The landlord confirms to Mr. Anderson that the number 13 room had never existed, but a contract concerning these extraordinary phenomena is discovered: a professor sold himself to ...

COUNT MAGNUS

Mr. Wraxall wants to write a book about Scandinavia. He learns about an important collection of family papers belonging to the proprietors of an ancient manor-house in Vestergothland.
The earliest owner of the manor was Magnus de la Gardie, buried in the church’s mausoleum. Mr. Wraxall becomes interested in Count Magnus, especially because he had been on the Black Pilgrimage and had brought ‘something or someone back with him.’
‘Just at that instant … I (Mr. Wraxall) felt a blow on my foot. Hastily enough I drew it back, and something fell on the pavement with a clash. It was the third, the last of the three padlocks which had fastened the sarcophagus (Count Magnus’). I stooped to pick it up, and - Heaven is my witness that I am writing only the bare truth - before I had raised myself there was a sound of metal hinges creaking, and I distinctly saw the lid shifting upwards. … I was outside that dreadful building in less time than I can write.’ (page 175)

THE TREASURE OF ABBOT THOMAS

‘it’s perfectly safe in the daytime.’ (page 243)

The story tells about a hidden treasure of Abbot Thomas. Mr. Somerton is interested in Abbot Thomas’ treasure and discovers that the secret has to be found somewhere in the window. Abbot Thomas himself had placed the window illustrating Job Patriarcha, Johannes Evangelista, and Zacharias Propheta.
Mr. Somerton deciphers the meaning of the series of letters written on the window. But there is also a warning: Gare a qui la touche.
‘Then I heard him call softly: All right, sir; and went on pulling out the great bag, in complete darkness. It hung for an instant on the edge of the hole, then slipped forward on to my chest, and put his arms round my neck.’ (page 264)

M.R. James’ character are always quiet teachers who become actors in supernatural events. James usually doesn’t tells who is the ghost, and he doesn’t explain the causes of the events.
James accompanies the readers by hand towards these irrational phenomenons.
It’s worth reading M.R. James for his excellent style and grammar, maybe coming from his Latin’s study (he was a medieval scholar).

‘I found myself at Steinfeld as soon as the resources of civilizations could put me there.’ (pages 254-5)

The best story is The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, followed by Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad; The Mezzotint.


( )

For classic ghost stories, these were not too bad, but a few of the stories I didn't know what was happening. I do have three favorites: Lost Hearts, The Ash-Tree, and Number 13. Nothing truly scary within these pages. Giving it three stars. ( )

Enjoyed reading this. M.R. James knew how to write a good horror story. Subtle, but with enough going on to keep the reader interested. ( )

The Haunting of Antiquaries
Review of the Dover Publications paperback edition (2011) of the original [book:Ghost Stories of an Antiquary|23677563] (1904) hardcover published by Edward Arnold.

I've been gradually working my way through Collected Ghost Stories (1931 original / 2017 expanded edition) by Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936). For Halloween 2021 I decided to just review the first 8 stories as they were collected in James' initial 1904 collection.

This is a classic collection of late Victorian/early Edwardian ghost stories. Almost all of them have been adapted for radio or TV broadcasts in the UK, even as recently as 2021 (see under Trivia). They are also thoroughly detailed on Wikipedia, each with story details (spoilers obviously if you click on the story titles).

James honed his style by giving annual Christmas Eve readings at Cambridge or Eton of his latest effort. These are usually within a set story framework which has since been described as Jamesian. This style involves a) a historic building or setting where b) a gentleman scholar / researcher found or sought c) an artifact or object which is d) later found to be cursed and haunted in some manner. This Jamesian format is thus the precursor all sorts of modern day adventure stories such as the Indiana Jones series or the Robert Langdon series of movies and TV shows.

See image at https://as2.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/02/55/17/49/500_F_255174935_rw7J07Vsej2MdgU6xFABFMd...
Illustration by James McBryde for the story 'Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" in the 1st edition of "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" (1904). Image sourced from Adobe Stock Images, also available at Wikipedia

I found all of the stories to be of 3 to 5 level quality. My favourite was definitely Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad with its title borrowed from a 1793 Robert Burns poem which otherwise had nothing to do with the plot, except for its use of a whistle. I especially liked the element of cryptography that it used, one element of which (the FLA BIS FLE FUR inscription) is not even decoded (it is usually explained in later editions with footnotes), as if to leave an Easter Egg behind for later readers.

Mild Spoilers ahead. I only discuss the setups of most of the stories without disclosing the endings, but some may consider these spoilers, so I've blocked it accordingly.

1. Canon Alberic's Scrap-book A university antiquarian buys the title object from a sacristan for what seems like an absurdly low price.
2. Lost Hearts A pre-12 year old boy orphan is welcomed into a older cousin's household where other children have previously gone missing.
3. The Mezzotint A purchaser of etchings is offered a mezzotint which appears to change its picture every time it is observed.
4. The Ash-tree An estate where an earlier owner executed witches is haunted by a nearby ash tree.
5. Number 13 An inn dweller in Room 12 at an Inn discovers that a mysterious Room 13 appears and disappears next to his own.
6. Count Magnus A writer of travelogues investigates the mausoleum of a Count Magnus who had apparently undertaken the 'Black Pilgrimage.'
7. 'Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' A university professor investigates the ruins of a Templar preceptory and finds an ancient whistle with engravings on it.
8. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas A clue leads to the uncovering of a secret treasure.

Trivia and Links
The Mezzotint was recently filmed for BBC2 and will be broadcast this December 2021. There is some background information at The Mezzotint Announcement. ( )