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M R James And His Books
We have compiled here a brief bibliography of M R James' ghost stories. Our idea for this was to create a greater appreciation of his numerous works in this genre. We hope you will find it useful.
M R James's protagonists and plots in most of his stories, especially in his original stories, seem to reflect his own antiquarian interests. It is not surprising therefore that M R James is known as the originator of the 'antiquarian ghost story'.
Indeed, his first collection of ghost stories published in 1904 was entitled Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary, which was followed by the publication of its successor in 1911 More Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary, or Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary Part 2: More Ghost Stories, or simply More Ghost Stories. Two of the stories in his first collection and one from his second had in fact previously appeared in magazines. A few later editions of Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary combine both the original collection of stories as well as the stories of More Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary in one volume.
M R James's protagonists and plots in most of his stories, especially in his original stories, seem to reflect his own antiquarian interests. It is not surprising therefore that M R James is known as the originator of the 'antiquarian ghost story'.
Indeed, his first collection of ghost stories published in 1904 was entitled Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary, which was followed by the publication of its successor in 1911 More Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary, or Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary Part 2: More Ghost Stories, or simply More Ghost Stories. Two of the stories in his first collection and one from his second had in fact previously appeared in magazines. A few later editions of Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary combine both the original collection of stories as well as the stories of More Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary in one volume.
Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary
- Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book : written in 1894 and first published in the National Review XXV #145, March 1895
- Lost Hearts : first published in Pall Mall Magazine VII #32, December 1895
- The Mezzotint
- The Ash-tree
- Number 13
- Count Magnus
- Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad : novelette
- The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas
More Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary
- A School Story
- The Rose Garden
- The Tractate Middoth
- Casting The Runes : novelette
- The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral : first published in Contemporary Review XCVII #35, April 1910
- Martin's Close
- Mr Humphreys And His Inheritance : novelette
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M R James On Audio
Considering that M R James originally wrote his ghostly tales to be read aloud, we thought it only fitting that we also include some information on audio-recordings of his stories done by various companies who specialize in this particular field i.e. the taping of narrated stories on cassette tape or CD.
First, allow us to recommend the audio-books site LibriVox at librivox.org, who offer a set of audio-readings of M R James' ghost stories under the collective heading Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary. LibriVox is an online digital-library of free public-domain audio-books read by volunteers, with a large catalogue of unabridged books as well as shorter works available as free downloads. About ninety percent of their collection is in English, although their recordings are available in thirty-three languages.
In the 1980s, a series of four double audio-cassette tapes were produced by Argo Records, a British record label primarily specialising in spoken-word recordings and other esoteric/commercially marginal material. Narrated by British actor Sir Michael Hordern, the four audio-cassettes featured nineteen unabridged M R James ghostly tales, and were released collectively under the titles Ghost Stories (in 1982), More Ghost Stories (in 1984), A Warning To The Curious (in 1985) and Number 13 And Other Ghost Stories (in 1988).
Oxford-based ISIS Audio Books of Isis Publishing Ltd released two audio-cassette collections of unabridged M R James ghost stories narrated by British 'voice' actor Nigel Lambert. The first collection, A Warning To The Curious And Other Tales, were recorded on four audio-cassette tapes containing six stories and released in March 1992. The second collection, Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary, were recorded on three audio-cassette tapes containing eight stories and released in December 1992. These collections can be purchased either via their website at isis-publishing.co.uk on mp3, CD or cassette-tape, or digitally through audible.co.uk. Isis Publishing Ltd has been producing unabridged audio-books for over twenty years.
Craftsman Audio Books, at craftsmanaudio.co.uk, released the first complete set of audio-recordings of M R James's stories on CD back in 2007. The stories were spread across two volumes and read by British actor David Collings. The British ghost story author Reggie Oliver acted as consultant on the project. Craftsman Audio Books, headed by Publisher Tim Cook, is an associate of the Pelican Group of Companies.
Tales Of The Supernatural: Volume One was released in April 2007 by the West Midlands media company Fantom Films, at website fantomfilms.co.uk. This audio CD presentation featured the M R James stories Lost Hearts, Rats, Number 13, Casting The Runes and There Was A Man Dwelt By A Churchyard read by British actors Geoffrey Bayldon and Ian Fairbairn and Welsh actor Gareth David-Lloyd. Tales Of The Supernatural: Volume Two followed with the stories The Ash Tree, A View From A Hill, The Tractate Middoth and Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book read by British actors Gareth David-Lloyd, Ian Fairbairn and Phil Reynolds. Finally there was Tales Of The Supernatural: Volume Three which contained Oh Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My lad, A School Story, The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral and The Mezzotint read by British Actors Murray Melvin, Ian Fairbairn and Phil Reynolds.
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