Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

I enjoyed the collection overall. I thought the stories were interesting, well constructed, and in a few cases even eerie, if not actually frightening, and the humor worked for me.

Unfortunately, I found the running thread of...I'm not even sure what to call it, Christian supremacy, maybe? Pro-Christian propaganda? Anti-non-Christian bigotry? Well, whatever it was, I found it incredibly off-putting.
It noticeably detracted from my enjoyment of the stories, enough so that it brought my rating down from 4 stars to 3.5.

For anyone not bothered by that sort of thing, this collection will probably be a solid read. I will note that I was able to read several stories by phone on my balcony after dark without trouble, and I've gotten spooked show more watching Criminal Minds alone on sunny afternoons, so those looking for the truly frightening should probably look elsewhere. show less

I love the BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas adaptations that Lawrence Gordon Clark directed back in the 1970s; they're atmospheric, creepy, folksy, and have a touch of the esoteric. The original stories, however, are rather dry. M.R. James was a scholar first, and a writer of ghost stories second, and that reflects in the stories here. They're more like reading scholarly articles than stories, and he wasn't an author like Borges who could use these techniques in a literary way.

These stories are very well written and I'm impressed by the author's ability to create suspense and mood with such subtlety and a few well chosen words. These aren't horror stories in the modern sense, but they are most definitely spooky, and I'm sure the excellent reading by the Librivox narrator made a great contribution to the book's ambience.
But, I'm not into spooky. I can admire the writing, I can sit on the edge of my seat in suspense, but I can't actually enjoy spooky. So after listening to three of the stories I'm moving on. But for readers out there who enjoy ghostly tales, take a look at these. I'm sure you won't regret it.

This volume contains eight tasty little nuggets of supernatural horror that I found very satisfying. In each of them the story is told second or even third hand by a genial narrator whose acquaintances, who are themselves of a decidedly scholarly bent, have been the victims of supernatural intrusion into our world. Often the stories revolve around an ancient artifact able to invoke the otherworldly that is discovered by these particularly luckless individuals (though they often feel themselves lucky indeed when they first make their discoveries). The tales are all good, but my favourites were “Canon Alberic's Scrap-book”, “Lost Hearts”, “”The Mezzotint”, and “Count Magnus”. I found myself thinking of both Lovecraft (in show more James’ use of made-up manuscripts and a reliance on protagonists of a learned bent whose curiosity proves to be their bane) and Clark Aston-Smith (though with prose that was a little less flowery) though I think James is a much better stylist than the former and a little less given to the more extreme flights of fancy of the latter.

“Canon Alberic's Scrap-book” – An antiquary discovers a scrap-book of ancient manuscripts compiled by the titular Canon Alberic in the 17th century that is in the keeping of the sacristan of a church in France that he is studying. One picture, “The dispute of Solomon with a demon of the night”, proves to be particularly compelling…and why is the sacristan so eager to get rid of a book so obviously of great value? Great evocation of mood and the way in which the supernatural creature manifests itself was suitably creepy.

"Lost Hearts" – A rather moving tale of revenge from beyond the grave and the perils of devoting oneself to the arcane teachings of the ancients in the hopes of gaining eternal life. I knew where this one was going pretty much after the first paragraph, but I heartily enjoyed the ride.

"The Mezzotint" – I really liked the interesting way in which the artifact in question here, the mezzotint of the title, manifested the supernatural and the foreboding sense of a quiet yet unstoppable horror that was the result.

"The Ash-tree" – A nobleman and his descendants find that being the star witness in a witch trial probably isn’t a good idea. Good creepy/gross factor with the creatures invoked for vengeance.

"Number 13" – What happens when you book a room in an inn that used to belong to a man accused of having been an alchemist and magician several generations ago? Nothing good, especially if you rent the room right next to the one in which he mysteriously died. Space and time have a funny way of bending and twisting when the undead get involved.

"Count Magnus" – The titular count reminded me a bit of Vigo the Carpathian from Ghost Busters 2; he was a mean-spirited son of a bitch who liked to torture people in his spare time and go on trips with names like “the Black Pilgrimage”. Perhaps it’s wisest if you’re a travel writer getting good copy from his native village to leave the crypt where he’s entombed alone. Just sayin’.

"'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" – Ah skeptics…they always learn their lesson in the end, don’t they? Well, they do in these kind of stories anyway. If you’re kind of a priggish and pedantic professor going on a holiday to sharpen up your golf game (golf is a re-occurring motif in these stories and I don’t think James was a fan) don’t promise to do some investigating of the local Templar preceptory for a colleague, and if you do for God’s sake don’t muck around with anything you find there. If you’re lucky you’ll run into an old military type who doesn’t trust papists.

"The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" – When the Abbot of a 16th century monastery basically dares you, though the enciphered clues he left behind in some striking stained glass windows, to uncover his hidden treasure don’t do it. Trust me on this.

I like the way in which James gives us enough of a glimpse at the ghosts and undead horrors he unleashes in his stories to avoid Lovecraft’s almost laughable (to me at least) approach of “oh, it was so horrible I can’t even begin to describe it, just trust me it was really, really, really, mind-crushingly horrible!” and yet was sufficiently vague to leave enough of the horror to the imagination of the reader. The charming, almost homely, voice of the narrator was also a nice contrast to the ultimate invocation of otherworldly menace in the tales. All in all a really solid collection of old-school ghost stories that may not leave you cringing in terror, but you may end up looking over your shoulder from time to time. And you’ll definitely take greater care the next time that weird old manuscript seems to fortuitously land in your lap. show less

A classic of the genre. The stories typically involve a studious bachelor gentleman staying in a slightly shabby hotel or country house, who through his antiquarian researches into an old book, print, inscription, or artefact, accidentally encounters some threatening manifestation of the occult, typically in a repellent, humanoid or quasi-animal form. The style may now be rather dry and dusty for modern taste (though familiar enough to readers of 19th century novelists such as Walter Scott or George MacDonald), but if you can match James's imagination with your own, this is well worth reading, preferably on a windy night in an old house. MB 15-iii-07

Ghost stories really don't get a heck of a lot better than many of these. I've listed my individual ratings for each of the 8 stories, rating some as low as 3 (surprisingly - one of which has a reputation for being among the best, The Mezzotint) - but they are all worthwhile. The particular mood and atmosphere of the reading has an impact, I suspect - - as does whether or not you have read spoilers.
It is a pure joy to read someone write on a subject about which they are a seasoned professional (M R James being a paleographer and medievalist scholar) - and see them have a little fun with it. You can imagine the ideas coming to him as he poured over some ancient work or location and having his mind take a side trip, perhaps disturbing show more himself enough to encourage him to share the feeling.
Lost Hearts strikes me as a great vehicle for Tim Burton to get morbid and stylistic with. Number 13 inadvertently became a bedtime story for my 9yr old (she listened to the first 75%, then had me tell her the ending in the morning), and Oh, Whistle is among the best of the batch (illustrated in an overly-revealing way on the cover pictured).

As for anyone who finds the text too antiquated and bogged down with locations, history, and so forth - just trust it to pull you along, don't get hung up - context will give you all you need. If my 9yr old can follow enough to speculate on the resolution, we all can. Looking forward to more.

"Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" 5/5
"Lost Hearts" 4/5
"The Mezzotint" 3/5
"The Ash-tree" 4/5
"Number 13" 5/5
"Count Magnus" 3/5
"'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad''" 5/5
"The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" 3/4 show less

First published in 1904, this is a collection of spooky stories with a very Gothic feel. Several of the stories involve a traveler doing research in Scandinavia and finding that long-ago myths are real. My favorites are "Number 13", in which the traveler staying in a pleasant hotel finds that his room, number 12, sometimes has a noisy neighbor next door in 13, though the hotel owner insists there is no room 13. The most effective is "Mezzotint", in which a University student is sent a tint of an old, nameless house, but finds sinister changes to the photo every time he returns to his room.