This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by author and playwright David Stuart Davies.The art of telling a ghost story is a refined one, and Montague Rhodes James was a master of the genre. He draws the reader into a narrative that at first seems innocuous, but which becomes darker and darker by gentle turns until he transfixes you with his prose, creating the most unforgettable, alarming and frightening images. Complete Ghost Stories by M. R. James contains all his timeless masterpieces from the four collections of his eerie tales: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), and A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925). . . . . . . .

This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by author and playwright David Stuart Davies.The art of telling a ghost story is a refined one, and Montague Rhodes James was a master of the genre. He draws the reader into a narrative that at first seems innocuous, but which becomes darker and darker by gentle turns until he transfixes you with his prose, creating the most unforgettable, alarming and frightening images. Complete Ghost Stories by M. R. James contains all his timeless masterpieces from the four collections of his eerie tales: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), and A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925). . . . . . . .

SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY RUTH RENDELL M. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense. .

SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY RUTH RENDELL M. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense. .

The art of telling a ghost story is a refined one, and Montague Rhodes James was a master of the genre. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by author and playwright David Stuart Davies. He draws the reader into a narrative that at first seems innocuous, but which becomes darker and darker by gentle turns until he transfixes you with his prose, creating the most unforgettable, alarming and frightening images. Complete Ghost Stories by M. R. James contains all his timeless masterpieces from the four collections of his eerie tales: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), and A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925).

M.R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense.

M.R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. The stories are classics of their genre. Among them are ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘Oh, Whistle and Ill come to you, my lad’, ‘The Tractate Middoth’, ‘The Ash Tree’ and ‘Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook’. They are all designed to instil that satisfying sensse of unease in the heart of the reader. ‘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

Malignant forces and supernatural visitors haunt this selection of superbly spooky tales selected and introduced by Ruth Rendell. M. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense.

'Still as the night was, the mysterious population of the distant moonlit woods was not yet lulled to rest' The aim of a good ghost story is to make the blood freeze, pleasurably, and this M. R. James achieves to perfection in these wonderful stories. His most atmospheric settings include English country houses and gardens, the north end of the churchyard, the yew-maze in 'Mr Humphreys and his Inheritance' and the unforgettable train journey in 'Casting the Runes'. To each of these stories he brings an eye for the telling detail, an imaginative twist and a narrative tone that is, at least to begin with, urbane and reassuring ... The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

M.R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. The stories are classics of their genre. Among them are ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘Oh, Whistle and Ill come to you, my lad’, ‘The Tractate Middoth’, ‘The Ash Tree’ and ‘Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook’. They are all designed to instil that satisfying sensse of unease in the heart of the reader. ‘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

This title is edited by M.R. James. In 1888 Henry James wrote 'There was the customary novel by Mr Le Fanu for the bedside; the ideal reading in a country house for the hours after midnight'. "Madam Crowl's Ghost and Other Stories" are tales selected from Le Fanu's stories which mostly appeared in "The Dublin University" Magazine and other periodicals, and their haunting, sinister qualities still have an enormous appeal for the modern reader. The great M.R. James, who collected and introduces the stories in this book, considered that Le Fanu 'stands absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories.' .

This title is edited by M.R. James. In 1888 Henry James wrote 'There was the customary novel by Mr Le Fanu for the bedside; the ideal reading in a country house for the hours after midnight'. "Madam Crowl's Ghost and Other Stories" are tales selected from Le Fanu's stories which mostly appeared in "The Dublin University" Magazine and other periodicals, and their haunting, sinister qualities still have an enormous appeal for the modern reader. The great M.R. James, who collected and introduces the stories in this book, considered that Le Fanu 'stands absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories.' .

In 1888 Henry James wrote 'There was the customary novel by Mr Le Fanu for the bedside; the ideal reading in a country house for the hours after midnight'. Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories are tales selected from Le Fanu's stories which mostly appeared in The Dublin University Magazine and other periodicals, and their haunting, sinister qualities still have an enormous appeal for the modern reader. The great M.R. James, who collected and introduces the stories in this book, considered that Le Fanu 'stands absolutely in the first rank as a writer of 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.

М. Р. Джеймса превозносят в качестве "мэтра ужасов" наряду с Э. По и Б. Стокером. Его рассказы выдержаны в традиционном "викторианском" ключе - действие происходит в старой доброй Англии, а героями историй неизменно выступают добропорядочные английские леди, джентльмены и... привидения. Издание сопровождается лингвострановедческим комментарием и словарем.

A high-pitched laugh echoes in an empty church. Servants discover their master dead in his bed, the only sign of disturbance an open window. The coffin of a woman hanged as a witch is found to be empty. A bed that hasn't been slept in is crumpled and distressed come the morning. A skeletal figure creeps closer and closer to the house where an unsuspecting family lie sleeping. In these chilling tales of the supernatural, M. R. James proves he truly is the master of the ghost story. Selected from the book Ghost Stories by M.R. James