In the decayed Pyrenean town of St Bertrand de Comminges, an English academic stumbles across a unique book, a collection of writings and illustrated manuscripts dating back many centuries. It's incredibly rare, and yet the owner of the book seems surprisingly happy to part with it... The story starts at 00:01:28

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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:28 Canon Alberic's Scrapbook
00:36:10 Credits, thanks and further listening

Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936) was a medievalist and scholar, and is probably the best known and most celebrated English ghost story writer of the 20th century, although he actually began composing supernatural tales in the late Victorian era, beginning with 'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook' and 'Lost Hearts' (both 1893). He was born in Kent, but spent most of his childhood in Suffolk, a county which features prominently in many of his stories, including 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'. Several of James's protagonists also reflect his own antiquarian interests, with academics and historians featuring regularly. James published four volumes of ghost stories in his lifetime: 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1904), 'More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1911), 'A Thin Ghost and Others' (1919) and 'A Warning to the Curious and Other Stories' (1925).

During a long academic career which encompassed several positions at King's College, Cambridge, and Eton College, M. R. James developed a tradition of reading his ghost stories aloud to a group of friends, most famously on Christmas eve, and the majority of his published stories were first heard in that setting.

'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook' is generally regarded as M. R. James' very first ghost story. In fact it was first heard alongside 'Lost Hearts', when both stories were read aloud by James himself at the Chit Chat Club in Cambridge, on the evening of Saturday, 28 October 1893. It's not known for certain which tale was read first, but 'Canon Alberic' was placed first in the 1904 volume published by James, 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary', and subsequent collected editions have followed the same order.

Recording © Bitesized Audio 2024.