Book Entry · Horror

The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James

by M. R. James · 1931

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What is The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James about?

The omnibus gathering of James's four collections plus strays: 'Casting the Runes' (occult revenge by cursed slip of paper, later filmed as Night of the Demon), 'A Warning to the Curious' (a dug-up Anglian crown and its tireless guardian), 'The Mezzotint', 'Count Magnus' and more than two dozen others. Read together they map a haunted England of cathedral closes, coastal digs and country libraries where curiosity is the cardinal sin. The definitive bedside book for anyone who likes their dread courteous and their revenants implacable.

Why it matters

The standard one-volume James and a permanent fixture of horror's canon, continuously in print for over ninety years.

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