Books

First edition. Frontispiece and 3 other illustrations by James McBryde. 8vo. xi, [1, blank], 270, [2, blank], 16 [publisher's catalogue dated November 1904] pp. Original buff buckram, upper cover and spine blocked with the title in black and red rules, lower cover with red rules, yapp edges on the covers. London, Edward Arnold. Written 'at long intervals' as occasional stories to be read aloud to friends and students 'usually at the season of Christmas'. As James modestly noted in the preface to Ghost Stories, 'The Stories themselves so not make any exalted claim. If any of them succeed in causing their readers to feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours, my purpose in writing them will have been attained.' The first two of the eight Ghost Stories were published in the National Review and Pall Mall Magazine while the rest appeared for the first time in this volume. A near fine copy, with a little wear to the cloth at the tail of the spine, and previous ownership inscription dated 1953.

Ghost-Stories of an Antiquary is a collection of short ghost stories by M. R. James. It was first published in 1904 by Edward Arnold, inspired by the author's lifelong fascination with antiquities.