Included in this volume of M.R. James's ghostly stories are "The Residence at Whitminster," "The Diary of Mr. Poynter," "An Episode of Cathedral History," "The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance," and "Two Doctors."

Author Biography

Montague Rhodes James (1862 - 1936), who published under the name M. R. James, was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905-18) and of Eton College (1918-36). Though James's work as a medievalist is still highly regarded, he is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre. James redefined the ghost story for the new century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic cliches of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings. However, James's protagonists and plots tend to reflect his own antiquarian interests. Accordingly, he is known as the originator of the "antiquarian ghost story."