Hello and welcome to Antiquarian Ghosts, a new site dedicated to the father of the modern ghost story, M. R. James. As I mentioned in the introductory section of the homepage, I had originally envisaged this site primarily as a place to assemble a visual catalogue of my ever-growing collection of M. R. James’ books, but the idea soon evolved into wanting to create a more comprehensive space to explore my interest in James and his works.
Currently you’ll find a section for the aforementioned book collection, alongside full text reproductions of all of James’ completed ghost stories, a short biography, and an articles section which will contain original pieces on James’ life, works, and any other suitably Jamesian topics.
I’ve spent a several weeks populating the site with the content currently available, and am planning to expand the scope of this as time progresses. Ultimately I’d like to add more information and more photographs for each of the books in my collection, and indeed if there is a specific aspect of a particular book you would like to see in more detail, please do let me know. I also intend at some point to add a section for discussion and review of the many adaptations of James’ ghost stories that exist, particularly those made for film and television.
A little about me: I am 35 years old, originally from Cambridge and now living in Ely, Cambridgeshire. I work for a well-known academic publisher with a strong historical tie to M. R. James himself (I’m sure you can guess which), and where I have been for the last twelve-and-a-half years in a variety of roles.
I can’t remember exactly when I first discovered M. R. James and his ghost stories (some time in my early twenties), but I do remember that it was due to, of all things, a terrible Channel 4 list programme entitled 100 Greatest Scary Moments, during which I encountered my first glimpse of Jonathan Miller’s 1968 BBC adaptation Whistle and I’ll Come to You (ranked at a paltry number 80). Apparently the programme originally aired in 2003, but it must have been a later repeat that I had watched. Nevertheless, the short piece of footage I saw of the final bedroom scene piqued my interest enough to convince me to search out a copy of the full film, and my fascination with James developed from there.
I began seriously collecting James’ written works at the start of 2018 (having the type of personality which is unfortunately susceptible to such things), and while the task of collecting a copy of everything he ever published is probably somewhat unachievable without very deep pockets, I’m nevertheless really enjoying hunting down new items and learning more about MRJ as I go. I hope you will find the collection I’ve assembled thus far similarly interesting.
I’m looking forward to growing this site with more additions to the book collection (something in James’ own hand would be the dream acquisition) and hopefully providing some new and interesting content for those of you similarly interested in the legacy of M. R. James. Please enjoy the site.
Duncan J. Rule.
Antiquarian Ghosts 