Ghost-Stories of an Antiquary.: With four illustrations by the late James McBryde.

London: Edward Arnold,, 1904. Who is this who is coming? First edition, first impression, with the publisher's adverts dated November 1904, in notably bright condition. Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) began writing ghost stories upon entering Cambridge in 1882 and quickly become known for his candlelit readings. Several of James's ghost stories were printed in magazines in the 1890s and, in 1904, he was persuaded by the publisher Edward Arnold to bring out the present collection of eight tales. The illustrator, James McBryde, died in June 1904 from complications following an appendix operation, leaving the illustrations unfinished. Although Arnold suggested another illustrator, James, a close friend of McBryde's, was adamant that he could not be replaced. Ghost-Stories of an Antiquary was accordingly published with just the four completed works as a tribute to McBryde. The fourth plate in the book (facing p. 222) was the last McBryde prepared before his death. He wrote excitedly to James on 6 May 1904: "I have finished the Whistle ghost... I covered yards of paper to put in the moon shadows correctly and it is certainly the best thing I have ever drawn". "There is no question of apprenticeship here; the first story, 'Canon Alberic's Scrap Book', contains the donnish tone, the massing of verisimilitudinous detail (often of a tongue-in-cheek scholarly sort), and the using of that detail to intensify the terror when it comes, that are James's trademarks" (ODNB). The popularity of this collection led to widespread requests for more: consequently More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary followed in 1911, A Thin Ghost and other Stories in 1919, and A Warning to the Curious in 1925. The influence and import of James's 31 published ghost stories has been a topic of scholarly discussion since publication. Many of James's tales were read contemporaneously as Christmas Eve entertainments, an idea that was taken up by the BBC in 2000 when they filmed Christopher Lee reading James's stories in King's College, Cambridge, as the author himself had done years before. Octavo. Original brown buckram, yapp edges, spine and front board lettered in black, boards double ruled in red, top edge brown, others untrimmed. Frontispiece with tissue guard and 3 plates. With 16 pp. of publisher's advertisements at rear. Ownership inscription of Frank Leslie Nightingale (1881-1915) and newspaper clipping from The Daily Telegraph, dated 12 March 1956 in manuscript, on front free endpaper; undated newspaper obituary for James loosely inserted, once attached to front pastedown with consequent skinning and glue residue. Spine and board edges browned, ink splashes to foot of rear board, inner hinges starting, book block remaining firm, scattered foxing to contents, tide mark to fore edge of front free endpaper, a very good copy. Bleiler 911.