The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James is an omnibus collection of ghost stories.
Many of these stories are time-tested classics.
Montague Rhodes James is best remembered for his ghost stories, which some consider among the best in the genre. He redefined the ghost story for the new century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic clichés of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings.
However, his protagonists and plots tend to reflect his own antiquarian interests. Accordingly, he is known as the originator of the "antiquarian ghost story".
H. P. Lovecraft was an admirer of James's work, extolling the stories as the peak of the ghost story form in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature".
Contents:
CANON ALBERIC'S SCRAP-BOOK
LOST HEARTS
THE MEZZOTINT
THE ASH-TREE
NUMBER 13
COUNT MAGNUS
THE TREASURE OF ABBOT THOMAS
A SCHOOL STORY
THE ROSE GARDEN
THE STALLS OF BARCHESTER CATHEDRAL
THE DIARY OF MR. POYNTER
AN EPISODE OF CATHEDRAL HISTORY
THE STORY OF A DISAPPEARANCE AND AN APPEARANCE
AN EVENING'S ENTERTAINMENT
A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS
A NEIGHBOUR'S LANDMARK
THE UNCOMMON PRAYER-BOOK
THE HAUNTED DOLLS' HOUSE
WAILING WELL
THERE WAS A MAN DWELT BY A CHURCHYARD
RATS
AFTER DARK IN THE PLAYING FIELDS
THE EXPERIMENT
THE MALICE OF INANIMATE OBJECTS
A VIGNETTE