Ghost stories from 1904, quaint, erudite, and not particularly shocking for a modern audience, but well executed and highly entertaining. Thomas Ligotti refers to M. R. James—in the introduction to his own story collection The Nightmare Factory—with an example of “forbidden knowledge,” which he calls horror writing’s supreme trope:
We are reading—in a quiet, cozy room, it goes without saying—one of M. R. James’ powerful ghost stories. It is “Count Magnus,” in which a curious scholar gains knowledge he didn’t even know was forbidden and suffers the resultant doom at the hands of the count and his betentacled companion. The story actually ends before we have a chance to witness its fabulous coup de grace, but we know that a sucked-off face is in store for our scholar.
The entire collection is fun reading, and I actually like and appreciate all the learned bits, partly true and partly cleverly invented, that provide the backdrop for his stories.
James, M. R. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. Edward Arnold, 1904.