A Pleasing Terror: The Complete Supernatural Writings of M. R. James

M. R. James

M. R. James, montague Rhodes James (1862–1936), medievalist and Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, defined the English antiquarian ghost story: the dusty archive, the unwelcome discovery, the thing that should have been left alone. He read new tales aloud to friends at Christmas; “Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book” and “Lost Hearts” were among the earliest.

About

A Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror Pleasing Terror, Pleasing Terror, much important Jamesian scholarship has been produced in recent years, and some of the more important articles are reproduced in A Pleasing Terror. The thirty-three completed ghost stories are fully annotated, and a bibliography provides a starting point for further research. Biographical details are provided by S. G.

Lubbock’s A Memoir of Montague Rhodes James, and the volume is introduced by Steve Duffy, and has a preface by Christopher and Barbara Roden. Each story is illustrated by Paul Lowe, who has shown himself to be one of the finest interpreters of the ghostly vision of M. R. James.

The 712 pages of A Pleasing Terror bring together all of James’s collected ghost stories, and much more besides.

Edition Details
  • This is a full clothbound edition limited to 1000 copies.
Contents:
  • preface by Christopher Roden and Barbara Roden
  • Preface by Christopher Roden and Barbara Roden
  • Introduction by Steve Duffy and Ian Rodwell
  • A Memoir of Montague Rhodes James by S. G. Lubbock
  • GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY:
    • Preface
    • Canon Alberic's Scrap-book
    • 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;
  • MORE GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY:
    • Preface
    • 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
  • A THIN GHOST AND OTHERS:
    • Preface
    • The Residence at Whitminster
    • The Diary of Mr Poynter
    • An Episode of Cathedral History
    • The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance
    • Two Doctors
  • A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS AND OTHER GHOST STORIES:
    • Acknowledgments
    • 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
  • OTHER GHOST STORIES:
    • Preface to Collected Ghost Stories (1931)
    • There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard
    • Rats
    • After Dark in the Playing Fields
    • Wailing Well
    • The Experiment
    • The Malice of Inanimate Objects
    • A Vignette
  • FRAGMENTS:
    • The Fenstanton Witch
    • Marcilly-le-Hayer
    • John Humphreys
    • A Night in King's College Chapel
    • The Game of Bear
    • Speaker Lenthall's Tomb
    • Merfield House;
  • TWELVE MEDIEVAL GHOST-STORIES
  • ARTICLES:
    • Stories I Have Tried to Write
    • Some Remarks on Ghost Stories
    • Ghosts, Treat Them Gently!
    • Ghost Story Competition
    • Introduction for Ghosts & Marvels
    • The Novels and Stories of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
    • MRJ's Prologue to Madam Crowl's Ghost
    • MRJ's Epilogue to Madam Crowl's Ghost
    • MRJ's Introduction to Uncle Silas
    • Letters: MRJ to Gwendolen McBryde
    • Letters to a Child
  • THE FIVE JARS
  • AUDITOR AND IMPRESARIO
  • APPENDICES:
  • M. R. JAMES: A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • M. R. JAMES ON FILM, RADIO, AND TELEVISION.
Related Titles
Two Ghost Stories: A Centenary
Two Ghost Stories: A Centenary
Eton and King's
Eton and King's
The Five Jars
The Five Jars
External Links