61-551: More Ghost Stories is a horror short story collection by British writer M. R. James , published in 1911. Some later editions include the stories in this collection and the earlier Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), combined in a single volume. This is his second short story collection. This article about a collection of horror short stories published in the 1910s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Montague Rhodes James Montague Rhodes James OM FBA (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936)
122-521: A boarder at Temple Grove School in East Sheen , west London, one of the leading boys' preparatory schools of the day. From September 1876 to August 1882, he studied at Eton College , where he claims to have translated the Book of Baruch from its original Ethiopic in 1879. He lived for many years, first as an undergraduate (1882–1885), then as a don and provost , at King's College, Cambridge , where he
183-404: A close friendship between the learned old man and the teenage boy lasting until the death of the former in 1729. Martin soon afterwards became clerk in the office of his brother Robert, who practised as an attorney in that town. According to notes by Martin, dated 1715, he disliked this employment, and regretted that want of means had prevented him from going to Cambridge University . In 1722 he
244-419: A collection of English antiquities and pictures intended by Le Neve for donation to a public institution. By his second wife he had four children, Samuel, Peter, Matthew, and Elizabeth. The Le Neve collection of historical books and manuscripts relating to the county of Norfolk, which Martin misappropriated, has been described by Richard Gough as 'the greatest fund of antiquities for his native county that ever
305-416: A few days after having given birth to twins. Soon afterward he married Frances, widow of Peter Le Neve , Norroy king-of-arms, then living at Great Witchingham , Norfolk. He had been acting as one of Le Neve's two executors, the other executor Thomas Tanner having recently been made a bishop and moved to his new diocese at St Asaph . By his marriage with the widow Martin illegally came into the possession of
366-516: A fictional account of how he became interested in the supernatural. The older James was played by John Rowe , and the younger James by Jonathan Keeble. Chris Priestley's Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror (2007) is a volume of ghost stories influenced by James in mood, atmosphere, and subject matter, as the title suggests. In 2008 the English experimental neofolk duo The Triple Tree, featuring Tony Wakeford and Andrew King from Sol Invictus , released
427-551: A further three stories before his death in 1936, and seven previously unpublished or unfinished stories appeared in The Fenstanton Witch and Others: M. R. James in Ghosts and Scholars (1999), all of which have been included in later collections. James redefined the ghost story for the new century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic clichés of his predecessors, and is noted for his use of realism and dry humour to ground
488-617: A large number of important paintings and manuscripts, including notable portraits by Titian . James was Provost of Eton College from 1918 to 1936. He was awarded the Order of Merit in 1930. He died in 1936 (age 73) and was buried in Eton town cemetery. James's ghost stories were published in a series of collections: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), and A Warning to
549-615: A macabre journey to a ruined church after following marginalia in a copy of James's guidebook Suffolk and Norfolk . In 2001, Campbell edited the anthology Meddling with Ghosts: Stories in the Tradition of M. R. James . The novelist James Hynes wrote an updated version of "Casting the Runes" in his 1997 story collection Publish and Perish . In 2003, Radio 4 broadcast The House at World's End by Stephen Sheridan. A pastiche of James's work, it contained numerous echoes of his stories while offering
610-543: A painting by T. Bardwell. A copy of this, engraved by P. Audinet, is in Nichols's Illustrations of Literature . A memoir of Martin was communicated by Sir John Cullam ; the public were indebted to Francis Grose for a new set of the plates; and the coins were arranged by Benjamin Bartlett . Martin's lack of money obliged him to dispose of books, with manuscript notes, to Thomas Payne , in 1769. A catalogue of his remaining library
671-411: A sinister dabbler in the occult who cuts their hearts from their still-living bodies. In a 1929 essay, James stated: Reticence may be an elderly doctrine to preach, yet from the artistic point of view, I am sure it is a sound one. Reticence conduces to effect, blatancy ruins it, and there is much blatancy in a lot of recent stories. They drag in sex too, which is a fatal mistake; sex is tiresome enough in
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#1732851653867732-501: Is about birth control or some kindred subject, isn't it? I find it difficult to believe either that it is a good novel or that its suppression causes any loss to literature." When he was a student at King's, James had opposed the appointment of Thomas Henry Huxley as Provost of Eton because of Huxley's agnosticism ; he later became Provost of Eton himself. In his later life James showed little interest in politics and rarely spoke on political issues. However, he often spoke out against
793-410: Is also an homage to James's work, which Harvey admired. The composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote two pieces for piano with a link to James: Quaere reliqua hujus materiei inter secretiora (1940), inspired by "Count Magnus", and St. Bertrand de Comminges: "He was laughing in the tower" (1941), inspired by "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book". Gerald Heard 's novel The Black Fox , published in 1950,
854-467: Is an occult thriller inspired by "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral". Kingsley Amis 's 1969 novel The Green Man is partly an homage to James's ghost stories. Between 1976 and 1992, Sheila Hodgson authored and produced for BBC Radio 4 a series of plays which portrayed M. R. James as the diarist of a series of fictional ghost stories, mainly inspired by fragments referred to in his essay "Stories I Have Tried to Write". These consisted of Whisper in
915-518: Is best known for his ghost stories, but his work as a medievalist scholar was prodigious and remains highly respected in scholarly circles. Indeed, the success of his stories was founded on his antiquarian talents and knowledge. His discovery of a manuscript fragment led to excavations in the ruins of the abbey at Bury St Edmunds , West Suffolk, in 1902, in which the graves of several twelfth-century abbots described by Jocelyn de Brakelond (a contemporary chronicler) were rediscovered, having been lost since
976-537: The London Mercury . Manly Wade Wellman esteemed his fiction. In The Great Railway Bazaar , Paul Theroux refers to " The Mezzotint " as "the most frightening story I know". In his list "The 13 Most Terrifying Horror Stories", T. E. D. Klein placed James's " Casting the Runes " at number one. E. F. Bleiler stated that James is "in the opinion of many, the foremost modern writer of supernatural fiction", and he described Ghost Stories of an Antiquary as "one of
1037-740: The Dissolution of the Monasteries . He held the Sandars Readership in Bibliography two times, speaking on "Manuscripts in Cambridge" in 1902 and "The Pictorial Illustration of the Old Testament from the 14th Century to the 16th" in 1923. He published a detailed description of the sculptured ceiling bosses of the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral in 1911. This included drawings of all the bosses in
1098-511: The Irish Home Rule movement , and in his letters he also expressed a dislike for Communism . His friend A. C. Benson considered him to be "reactionary", and "against modernity and progress". 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 " (1927). Another renowned fan of James in
1159-639: The New Testament apocrypha and contributed to the Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903). His ability to wear his learning lightly is apparent in his Suffolk and Norfolk (Dent, 1930), in which a great deal of knowledge is presented in a popular and accessible form, and in Abbeys . He also achieved a great deal during his directorship of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (1893–1908). He managed to secure
1220-416: The 1981 non-fiction book Danse Macabre ) and Ramsey Campbell , who edited Meddling with Ghosts: Stories in the Tradition of M. R. James and wrote the short story "The Guide" in tribute. The author John Bellairs paid homage to James by incorporating plot elements borrowed from James's ghost stories into several of his own juvenile mysteries. Several of Jonathan Aycliffe 's novels, including Whispers in
1281-600: The Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925). The first hardback collected edition appeared in 1931. Many of the tales were written as Christmas Eve entertainments and read aloud to friends. This idea was used by the BBC in 2000 when they filmed Christopher Lee reading James's stories in a candle-lit room in King's College . James perfected a method of story-telling which has since become known as Jamesian. The classic Jamesian tale usually includes
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#17328516538671342-522: The Dark and The Matrix are influenced by James's work. Aycliffe/MacEoin studied for his PhD in Persian Studies at King's College, Cambridge. This makes three King's College authors of ghost stories (James, Munby and Aycliffe). H. Russell Wakefield's story " ' He Cometh and He Passeth By! ' " (1928) is a homage to James's "Casting the Runes". W. F. Harvey 's ghost story "The Ankardyne Pew" (1928)
1403-568: The Ear (October 1976), Turn, Turn, Turn (March 1977), The Backward Glance (22 September 1977), Here Am I, Where Are You? (29 December 1977), Echoes from the Abbey (21 November 1984), The Lodestone (19 April 1989), and The Boat Hook (15 April 1992). David March appeared as James in all but the final two, which starred Michael Williams . Raidió Teilifís Éireann also broadcast The Fellow Travellers , with Aiden Grennell as James, on 20 February 1994. All
1464-534: The English Ghost Story (1977). As Nigel Kneale wrote in the introduction to the Folio Society edition of Ghost Stories of M. R. James , "In an age where every man is his own psychologist, M. R. James looks like rich and promising material. ... There must have been times when it was hard to be Monty James." Or, to put it another way, "Although James conjures up strange beasts and supernatural manifestations,
1525-661: The age of three (1865) until 1909 James's home, if not always his residence, was at the Rectory in Great Livermere , Suffolk. This had previously been the childhood home of another eminent Suffolk antiquary, Thomas Martin of Palgrave (1696–1771). Several of James's ghost stories are set in Suffolk, including " 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' " ( Felixstowe ), " A Warning to the Curious " (Aldeburgh), "Rats" and " A Vignette " (Great Livermere). In September 1873, he arrived as
1586-623: The album Ghosts on which all but three songs were based upon the stories of James. One of the songs, "Three Crowns" (based on the short story "A Warning to the Curious"), also appeared on the compilation album John Barleycorn Reborn (2007). Helen Grant 's novel The Glass Demon (2010) was inspired by "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas". In February 2012, the UK psychedelic band The Future Kings of England released their 4th album, Who Is This Who Is Coming , based on James's " 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' " . An instrumental work, it evokes
1647-558: The author of "the 20th century's most influential canon of ghost stories". Sir John Betjeman , in an introduction to Peter Haining's book about James, shows how influenced he was by James's work: In the year 1920 I was a new boy at the Dragon school , Oxford , then called Lynam's, of which the headmaster was C. C. Lynam, known as 'the Skipper'. He dressed and looked like an old Sea Salt, and in his gruff voice would tell us stories by firelight in
1708-450: The boys' room of an evening with all the lights out and his back to the fire. I remember he told the stories as having happened to himself. ... they were the best stories I ever heard, and gave me an interest in old churches, and country houses, and Scandinavia that not even the mighty Hans Christian Andersen eclipsed. Betjeman later discovered the stories were all based on those of M. R. James. H. Russell Wakefield 's supernatural fiction
1769-509: The crown of glory for the anniversary of the Society of Antiquaries," of which he was so long the senior fellow ( Gent. Mag. 1779, p. 411). His house at Palgrave was pulled down in 1860. It was large, with central entrance, and thirteen windows in front looking towards the village church. By his first wife, Sarah, widow of Thomas Cropley, and daughter of John Tyrrel of Thetford, he had eight children, of whom two died early; she died in 1731,
1830-681: The death of Worth, consisting chiefly of the papers relating to Thetford, Bury, and the county of Suffolk, were purchased by Thomas Hunt, who sold many of them to private purchasers. Richard Gough had the Bury papers. The dispersion was completed by the sale of Ives's collection in London, in March 1777, he having been a principal purchaser at each previous one. Two volumes, almost entirely in Martin's handwriting, with some notes of Blomefield, Ives, and others, by 1893 came into
1891-664: The early Jamesian writers were male, there were several notable female writers of such fiction, including Eleanor Scott (pseudonym of Helen M. Leys, 1892–1965) in the stories of her book Randall's Round (1929) and D. K. Broster in the collection Couching at the Door: Strange and Macabre Tales (1942). L. T. C. Rolt also modelled his ghost stories on James's work, but, unlike other Jamesian writers, set them in industrial locations, such as mines and railways. James's stories continue to influence many of today's great supernatural writers, including Stephen King (who discusses James in
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1952-411: The following elements: According to James, the story must "put the reader into the position of saying to himself, 'If I'm not very careful, something of this kind may happen to me!'" He also perfected the technique of narrating supernatural events through implication and suggestion, letting his reader fill in the blanks, and focusing on the mundane details of his settings and characters in order to throw
2013-474: The horrific and bizarre elements into greater relief. He summed up his approach in his foreword to the anthology Ghosts and Marvels : "Two ingredients most valuable in the concocting of a ghost story are, to me, the atmosphere and the nicely managed crescendo. ... Let us, then, be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let
2074-470: The horror and fantasy genre was Clark Ashton Smith , who wrote an essay on him. Michael Sadleir described James as "the best ghost-story writer England has ever produced". Marjorie Bowen also admired his work, referring to his ghost stories as "the supreme art of M. R. James". Mary Butts , another admirer, wrote the first critical essay on his work, "The Art of Montagu James", in the February 1934 issue of
2135-481: The landmark books in the history of supernatural fiction" and characterised the stories in James's other collections as "first-rate stories" and "excellent stories". Ruth Rendell has also expressed admiration for James's work, stating, "There are some authors one wished 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." David Langford has described James as
2196-457: The methods of M G Lewis . Although not overtly sexual, plots of this nature have been perceived as unintentional metaphors of the Freudian variety. James's biographer Michael Cox wrote in M. R. James: An Informal Portrait (1983), "One need not be a professional psychoanalyst to see the ghost stories as some release from feelings held in check." Reviewing this biography ( Daily Telegraph , 1983),
2257-611: The north walk by C. J. W. Winter. His 1917 edition of the Latin hagiography of Æthelberht II of East Anglia , king and martyr, remains authoritative. He catalogued many of the manuscript libraries of the colleges of the University of Cambridge . Among his other scholarly works, he wrote The Apocalypse in Art , which placed the English Apocalypse manuscripts into families. He also translated
2318-574: The novelist and diarist Anthony Powell , who attended Eton under James's tutelage, commented that "I myself have heard it suggested that James's (of course platonic) love affairs were in fact fascinating to watch." Powell was referring to James's relationships with his pupils, not his peers. Other critics have seen complex psychological undercurrents in James's work. His authorial revulsion from tactile contact with other people has been noted by Julia Briggs in Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of
2379-457: The novels; in a ghost story, or as the backbone of a ghost story, I have no patience with it. At the same time don't let us be mild and drab. Malevolence and terror, the glare of evil faces, 'the stony grin of unearthly malice', pursuing forms in darkness, and 'long-drawn, distant screams', are all in place, and so is a modicum of blood, shed with deliberation and carefully husbanded; the weltering and wallowing that I too often encounter merely recall
2440-631: The ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage." He also noted: "Another requisite, in my opinion, is that the ghost should be malevolent or odious: amiable and helpful apparitions are all very well in fairy tales or in local legends, but I have no use for them in a fictitious ghost story." Despite his suggestion (in the essay "Stories I Have Tried to Write") that writers employ reticence in their work, many of James's tales depict scenes and images of savage and often disturbing violence. For example, in "Lost Hearts", pubescent children are taken in by
2501-488: The possession of G. G. Milner-Gibson Cullum of Hardwick House, Suffolk . These volumes, containing notes on about 235 Suffolk churches, were purchased by Sir John Cullum, author of the History of Hawstead and Hardwick , from John Topham the antiquary in 1777. In addition to these Cullum had a thin notebook on some Norfolk churches; and some of Martin's notes passed to the family of Mills of Saxham. Another volume of Martin's notes
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2562-711: The shock effect of his stories is usually strongest when he is dealing in physical mutilation and abnormality, generally sketched in with the lightest of pens." In addition to writing his own stories, James championed the works of Sheridan Le Fanu , whom he viewed as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories", editing and supplying introductions to Madame Crowl's Ghost (1923) and Uncle Silas (1926). James's statements about his actual beliefs about ghosts are ambiguous. He wrote, "I answer that I am prepared to consider evidence and accept it if it satisfies me." James held strongly traditional views about literature. In addition to ghost stories, he also enjoyed reading
2623-537: The stories and contrast with the supernatural elements. He is known as the originator of the " antiquarian ghost story" and "the Father of Folk Horror " for the way his plots and characters drew on his own scholarly interests in ancient folklore and the rural landscapes of East Anglia . This association has continued into the 21st century due to the many adaptations of his stories , which have made him, according to critic Jon Dear, "the go-to folk horror writer". James
2684-505: The stories later appeared in Hodgson's collection The Fellow Travellers and Other Ghost Stories ( Ash-Tree Press , 1998). On Christmas Day 1987, The Teeth of Abbot Thomas , a James parody by Stephen Sheridan, was broadcast on Radio 4. It starred Alfred Marks (as Abbot Thomas), Robert Bathurst , Denise Coffey , Jonathan Adams and Bill Wallis . In 1989, Ramsey Campbell published the short story "The Guide", which takes an antiquarian on
2745-456: The stories to friends and select students at Eton and Cambridge as Christmas Eve entertainments, and received wider attention when they were published in the collections Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925), and the hardback omnibus The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James (1931). James published
2806-590: The story from beginning to end, with the tracks segueing into one another to form a continuous piece of music. On 23 February 2012 the Royal Mail released a stamp featuring James as part its "Britons of Distinction" series. In 2013, the Fan Museum in London hosted two performances of The Laws of Shadows , a play by Adrian Drew about M. R. James. The play is set in James's rooms at Cambridge University and deals with his relationships with his colleague E. F. Benson and
2867-493: The work of William Shakespeare , the detective stories of Agatha Christie , and the works of Charles Dickens and P. G. Wodehouse . He disliked most contemporary literature, strongly criticising the work of Aldous Huxley , Lytton Strachey and James Joyce (whom he called "a charlatan" and "that prostitutor of life and language"). He also supported the banning of Radclyffe Hall 's 1928 novel about lesbianism , The Well of Loneliness , stating, "I believe Miss Hall's book
2928-633: The young artist James McBryde. On 9 January 2019, in the third episode of the seventh series of the BBC One programme Father Brown , titled "The Whistle in the Dark", the character Professor Robert Wiseman reads a collection of ghost stories by M. R. James and later suggests that the whistle in his possession is the one described in James's " 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad ' ". Thomas Martin of Palgrave Thomas Martin FSA (8 March 1696/7 – 7 March 1771), known as " Honest Tom Martin of Palgrave",
2989-443: Was a blunt, rough, honest, downright man; of no behaviour or guile; often drunk in a morning with strong beer, and for breakfast, when others had tea or coffee, he had beefsteak or other strong meat. . . . His thirst after antiquities was as great as his thirst after liquors". His great desire was not only to be esteemed, but to be known and distinguished by the name of "Honest Tom Martin of Palgrave". For many years his "hoary hairs were
3050-529: Was also a member of the Pitt Club . The university provides settings for several of his tales. Apart from medieval subjects, James toured Europe often, including a memorable 1884 tour of France in a Cheylesmore tricycle, studied the classics and appeared very successfully in a staging of Aristophanes ' play The Birds , with music by Hubert Parry . His ability as an actor was also apparent when he read his new ghost stories to friends at Christmas time. James
3111-435: Was an antiquarian and lawyer. Martin was born at Thetford in the school house of St. Mary's parish, which is the only parish of that town situated in the county of Suffolk. He was son of William Martin, rector of Great Livermere , Suffolk, and of St Mary's, Thetford, by his wife Elizabeth, only daughter of Thomas Burrough of Bury St. Edmunds , and aunt to Sir James Burrough, master of Caius College , Cambridge . Martin
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#17328516538673172-536: Was an English medievalist scholar and author who served as provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as well as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1913–1915). James's scholarly work is still highly regarded, but he is best remembered for his ghost stories , which are considered by many critics and authors as the finest in the English language and widely influential on modern horror . James originally read
3233-542: Was born in a clergy house in Goodnestone, Dover , Kent , England, although his parents had associations with Aldeburgh in Suffolk . His father was Herbert James, an Evangelical Anglican clergyman, and his mother, Mary Emily ( née Horton), was the daughter of a naval officer. He had two older brothers, Sydney and Herbert (nicknamed "Ber"), and an older sister, Grace. Sydney James later became Archdeacon of Dudley . From
3294-451: Was buried, with others of his family, in the porch of the parish church, where a small mural monument of white marble, with an English inscription, was erected by his friend Sir John Fenn . John Worth, chemist, of Diss, advertised in 1774 proposals for publishing a history of Thetford, compiled from Martin's papers by Mr. Davis, a dissenting minister, of Diss, and five sheets of the work were actually printed by Crouse of Norwich. The project
3355-524: Was collected for any single one in the kingdom'. This collection was supplemented by Martin during his remaining years, notably by the acquisition of the collections of Francis Blomefield in 1753. Blomefield's manuscripts included the Paston Letters . Martin was a good lawyer, but he gradually lost his practice. Money troubles meant that he was obliged to sell many of his books and some of his manuscript collections. He died at Palgrave on 7 March 1771, and
3416-538: Was largely self-taught, having had a neglected education. For many years he was the only pupil at the Thetford free school, being left to read on his own. He took an early interest in antiquities. In 1710 Thetford was visited by the elderly Peter Le Neve , Norroy King of Arms and first President of the revived Society of Antiquaries . Le Neve sought a guide to the many antiquities of the town only to be told that no-one knew more than thirteen-year-old Master Martin. This began
3477-601: Was printed after his death, at Lynn, in 1771. Worth purchased it, with his other collections, for £600. The printed books he immediately sold to Booth & Berry of Norwich , who disposed of them in a catalogue, 1773. The pictures and lesser curiosities Worth sold by auction at Diss; part of the manuscripts in London, in April 1773, by Samuel Baker; and in a second sale there, in May 1774, manuscripts, scarce books, deeds, grants, pedigrees, drawings, prints, coins, and curiosities. What remained on
3538-521: Was sold with the books of John Gough Nichols , and is in the library of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. There was in the British Museum a copy of Gough's Anecdotes of British Topography , 1768, with copious manuscript notes by Martin. Many of his letters are printed in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes (ix. 413 et seq.) At the sale of William Upcott 's manuscripts, Sir John Fenn's Memoirs of
3599-628: Was still at Thetford, but in 1723 he was settled at Palgrave, Suffolk , where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a student of topography and antiquities , became a member of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society , and was admitted a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries , at the same time as Martin Folkes , on 17 February 1720. Cole, who often met him at Sir James Burrough's lodge at Caius College, and who had also been at his house at Palgrave, said, "he
3660-469: Was stopped by Worth's sudden death, and the manuscript was purchased by Thomas Hunt, bookseller, of Harleston , Norfolk; who subsequently sold it, together with the undigested materials, copyright, and plates, to Richard Gough . Gough published the work under the title of The History of the Town of Thetford , London, 1779. Prefixed is a portrait of Martin engraved by P. S. Lamborn, at the expense of John Ives, from
3721-492: Was strongly influenced by the work of James. A large number of British writers deliberately wrote ghost stories in the Jamesian style; these writers, sometimes described as the "James Gang", include A. N. L. Munby , E. G. Swain , "Ingulphus" (pseudonym of Sir Arthur Gray , 1852–1940), Amyas Northcote and R. H. Malden , although some commentators consider their stories to be inferior to those of James himself. Although most of
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