Montague Rhodes James, (August 1, 1862–June 12, 1936). A noted medieval scholar and Provost of King's College, Cambridge, he is best remembered today for his ghost stories. These were published in a series of collections: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), A Warning to the Curious and other Ghost Stories (1925). H. P. Lovecraft was a great enthusiast for James' stories, rightly regarding them as classics.

The BBC, in a long-standing tradition, used to broadcast a reading of an M. R. James story each Christmas.

At least one of his stories, The Casting of the Runes, has been filmed, with the rather more attention-catching title of Night of the Demon (1957) (aka Curse of the Demon); while somewhat more literal than the original story, which was loosely based on the foul reputation of Aleister Crowley, the demon, its bulb-fingered design inspired by medieval woodcuts, is among the most incongruously chilling creatures in horror cinema.

Whilst M. R. James is best remembered for his ghost stories, his output of medieval scholarship was phenomenal.

External links

• A complete chronological bibliography of all of his writings (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/publics/mrjames/MRJBIBL.htm) hosted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences
• Night of the Demon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt/) at the Internet Movie Database