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Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book
M. R. James is the master of the English ghost story, whose tales are inhabited not by ethereal spirits, but by terrifying, palpable forces of evil. In these four stories figures appear in paintings, demonic voices are heard, books awaken ancient horrors - and ordinary objects and situations are transformed into inescapable nightmares. This book includes:
• Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book
• The Mezzotint
• The Rose Garden
• The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral
• Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book
• The Mezzotint
• The Rose Garden
• The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral
112 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1894
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359 people want to read
About the author
M.R. James
1,529 books915 followersMontague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
October 27, 2024
Time present
And time past
Are both perhaps contained
In time future
- Burnt Norton
Want to hear a little story - a story that is quite literally OUT OF THIS WORLD?
Canon Alberic’s present and past - while living - are both perhaps present in his FUTURE fate in the Eternal Fire.
Such is life - and Death. For when Canon Alberic’s “pride snapped (with his death) - (the) Shadow of pride (still remained) long.”
The radioactive half-lives of Greed are lengthy - but their Judgement is Eternal.
That is the background of this marvellously ghoulish tale. And hints of the story’s plot may be found in it!
We often feel, when we have done something wrong, that a heavy curtain has fallen upon a wonderful, carefree interlude in our lives. We may try after that to right the wrong we have caused.
But the Way Up is much harder than the Way Down.
Canon Alberic may not even have seen that curtain falling, so entranced and overcome with his Dark Love was he - like Frodo’s cave-dwelling Nemesis with his new-found ‘Precious!’ - the Fateful One Ring of original sin.
And so he slid right down to the Dungeon of the Underworld....
Plato, the wise ancient writer, says we ALL pay for our misdeeds... Sooner or LATER. And - get this - HE lived many Hundreds of Years before the Christian Era.
As if that ain’t enough, he had a version of Hell in his writings comparable to the DARKEST visions of the great mystics! It’s like he’s sayin:: DON’T SHOOT ME - I’M ONLY THE MESSENGER.
But don’t try to figure it out for yourself -
Hey, the e-book’s only three ninety-nine (last time I looked) - a quick scary read, cheap!
So do yourself a favour, and spring a few bucks for it.
Why not buy it for tonight, when all’s dark and spooky?
“Say, guys, is there a Full Moon tonight...?”
Best to check.
And time past
Are both perhaps contained
In time future
- Burnt Norton
Want to hear a little story - a story that is quite literally OUT OF THIS WORLD?
Canon Alberic’s present and past - while living - are both perhaps present in his FUTURE fate in the Eternal Fire.
Such is life - and Death. For when Canon Alberic’s “pride snapped (with his death) - (the) Shadow of pride (still remained) long.”
The radioactive half-lives of Greed are lengthy - but their Judgement is Eternal.
That is the background of this marvellously ghoulish tale. And hints of the story’s plot may be found in it!
We often feel, when we have done something wrong, that a heavy curtain has fallen upon a wonderful, carefree interlude in our lives. We may try after that to right the wrong we have caused.
But the Way Up is much harder than the Way Down.
Canon Alberic may not even have seen that curtain falling, so entranced and overcome with his Dark Love was he - like Frodo’s cave-dwelling Nemesis with his new-found ‘Precious!’ - the Fateful One Ring of original sin.
And so he slid right down to the Dungeon of the Underworld....
Plato, the wise ancient writer, says we ALL pay for our misdeeds... Sooner or LATER. And - get this - HE lived many Hundreds of Years before the Christian Era.
As if that ain’t enough, he had a version of Hell in his writings comparable to the DARKEST visions of the great mystics! It’s like he’s sayin:: DON’T SHOOT ME - I’M ONLY THE MESSENGER.
But don’t try to figure it out for yourself -
Hey, the e-book’s only three ninety-nine (last time I looked) - a quick scary read, cheap!
So do yourself a favour, and spring a few bucks for it.
Why not buy it for tonight, when all’s dark and spooky?
“Say, guys, is there a Full Moon tonight...?”
Best to check.
August 1, 2020
My first reading of “Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook” will always hold a special place in my heart, because it was the first time I was conscious of experiencing an “M.R. James’ story,” the first time I let myself be scared by James in a sophisticated fashion, surrendering myself to the fright but also appreciating the artifice, the skill.
M.R. Jame’s work had already scared me at least twice, when I first read “The Mezzotint” and “Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.” But I was only ten or eleven years old at the time and I didn’t really care who had written the scary story—unless it was Poe, of course—provided it scared the hell out of me.
I don’t remember how old I was when I first encountered “Canon Alberic," but it was after I had become both a Poe and a Lovecraft fan, and had begun to suspect that every great author of weird tales must have his own distinctive way of generating terror. I remembered “The Mezzotint” and “Whistle” vividly, so when, at the local Salvation Army, I found a used paperback of Ghost Stories of an Antiquary--the blue-and-purple Dover edition with “Whistle”’s murderous bed clothes on the cover—I purchased it and returned directly home, eager to sample the delights within.
I started with the first story (I always do), and that story was “Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook.”
I enjoyed the antiquarian atmosphere James’ creates in his first two hundred words, as he speaks of “the wonderful church that dominates the little hill of Comminges.” but my pleasurable anxiety began to increase with the description of the old sacristan:
Oh, and the rest of the story? It is thoroughly worthy of the passage quoted above.
M.R. Jame’s work had already scared me at least twice, when I first read “The Mezzotint” and “Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.” But I was only ten or eleven years old at the time and I didn’t really care who had written the scary story—unless it was Poe, of course—provided it scared the hell out of me.
I don’t remember how old I was when I first encountered “Canon Alberic," but it was after I had become both a Poe and a Lovecraft fan, and had begun to suspect that every great author of weird tales must have his own distinctive way of generating terror. I remembered “The Mezzotint” and “Whistle” vividly, so when, at the local Salvation Army, I found a used paperback of Ghost Stories of an Antiquary--the blue-and-purple Dover edition with “Whistle”’s murderous bed clothes on the cover—I purchased it and returned directly home, eager to sample the delights within.
I started with the first story (I always do), and that story was “Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook.”
I enjoyed the antiquarian atmosphere James’ creates in his first two hundred words, as he speaks of “the wonderful church that dominates the little hill of Comminges.” but my pleasurable anxiety began to increase with the description of the old sacristan:
It was not in the personal appearance of the little, dry, wizened old man that the interest lay, for he was precisely like dozens of other church-guardians in France, but in a curious furtive, or rather hunted and oppressed, air which he had. He was perpetually half glancing behind him; the muscles of his back and shoulders seemed to be hunched in a continual nervous contraction, as if he were expecting every moment to find himself in the clutch of an enemy.James supports this anxiety with little touches here and there: the sacristan’s odd behavior in the church, his cryptic comments on the walk back. the anxious looks of the old man’s daughter when they reach his dwelling. Then, about two-thirds of the way through our story, our hero, the man from Cambridge, opens the “scrap-book” of the title, and examines one of its illustrations:
. . . a Biblical scene. . . . On the right was a King . . . evidently King Solomon. He was bending forward with outstretched sceptre, in attitude of command . . . The left half of the picture was the strangest, however. The interest plainly centred there. On the pavement before the throne were grouped four soldiers, surrounding a crouching figure which must be described in a moment. A fifth soldier lay dead on the pavement, his neck distorted, and his eyeballs starting from his head. The four surrounding guards were looking at the King. In their faces the sentiment of horror was intensified. . . . All this terror was plainly excited by the being that crouched in their midst. I entirely despair of conveying by any words the impression which this figure makes upon anyone who looks at it. . . . At first you saw only a mass of coarse, matted black hair; presently it was seen that this covered a body of fearful thinness, almost a skeleton, but with the muscles standing out like wires. The hands were of a dusky pallor, covered, like the body, with long, coarse hairs, and hideously taloned. The eyes, touched in with a burning yellow, had intensely black pupils, and were fixed upon the throned King with a look of beast-like hate. Imagine one of the awful bird-catching spiders of South America translated into human form, and endowed with intelligence just less than human, and you will have some faint conception of the terror inspired by the appalling effigy. One remark is universally made by those to whom I have shown the picture: 'It was drawn from the life.'From the moment I read this passage, I was hooked on the work of the master of the antiquarian ghost story, Montague Rhodes James. I have read every one of his stories, and I have never been seriously disappointed.
Oh, and the rest of the story? It is thoroughly worthy of the passage quoted above.
March 29, 2021
3.5 stars
September 25, 2023
Entertaining horror listening🎧
I listened to this as part of Classic Tales of Horror - 500+ Stories. This story is very interesting with will developed characters.
I would recommed this individual story and box set to readers of horror stories. 2023
I listened to this as part of Classic Tales of Horror - 500+ Stories. This story is very interesting with will developed characters.
I would recommed this individual story and box set to readers of horror stories. 2023
February 21, 2021
This is a horror story, but it ain't pulp fiction. This is a horror story written by a true artist. Have you ever wondered what would happen if an erudite Englishman wrote scary fiction? Something like this would come out.
June 21, 2024
A very classic old story about an academic finding an old scrap book in the decayed pyrenean town of st bertrand
As it's incredebly rare the man was so pleased to buy it
And yet he wasn't lucky as he seemed to be
As it's incredebly rare the man was so pleased to buy it
And yet he wasn't lucky as he seemed to be
October 30, 2019
The language was good but not perfect. It could have been much more atmospheric. The Latin citations were cool.
The content took me over. Fantastical and with that battle of good and evil.
Summoning a demon by accident is as bad as being black and voting Democrat.
The antimodernist core of this short story nailed it on many levels.
The apotropaic power of words, the evil that lurks in the dark, the nerdy scientist who is a naive child of modernism...
When you get older and smarter, especially more red pilled, you know that these kinds of stories are not mere plays of literature.
M.R. James always has content laid this way, a scientist and a secret discovery which is usually a book. And he never makes a mistake with that kind of story construction.
The content took me over. Fantastical and with that battle of good and evil.
Summoning a demon by accident is as bad as being black and voting Democrat.
The antimodernist core of this short story nailed it on many levels.
The apotropaic power of words, the evil that lurks in the dark, the nerdy scientist who is a naive child of modernism...
When you get older and smarter, especially more red pilled, you know that these kinds of stories are not mere plays of literature.
M.R. James always has content laid this way, a scientist and a secret discovery which is usually a book. And he never makes a mistake with that kind of story construction.
September 4, 2025
This work, despite being a mild and almost cozy tale where nobody dies, had created a sub-genre within horror, and had allowed its creator to be unquivocally associated with that particular literary form. Ghost story, until then the forte of lurid storytellers of somewhat disrepute, had attained an altogether different level, thanks to this tale and its successors, as the author had poured his scholarly knowledge and erudition in inducing "a pleasing terror".
Read it. You won't regret it. I promise.
Highly recommended.
Read it. You won't regret it. I promise.
Highly recommended.
November 2, 2023
Not the creepiest, and very short so it doesn't have the biggest effect. There were a lot of references to extra-biblical texts which even the footnotes couldn't explain very clearly, which made much of it go over my head. I liked the narrative style and framing though.
August 26, 2020
A good short story.
October 9, 2025
3.5 ⭐️
December 5, 2025
Actually pretty spooky. No stealing strange books from churches for me!
January 5, 2022
Four quintessential MR James Ghost Stories. Nimble paced tales that build on slowly. Some charming iconography and grotesque finales, coming along the ride.
'Canon Alberic's Scrap-book' stand out for its demonic outreach. The story is well plotted and reaches a somewhat predictable crescendo. Although its the descriptions that keep this one afloat. However, wish the author focused a bit more on the climax.
'The Mezzotint' was a re-read. And I'm very fond of this story. A creepy effigy crawling on all fours is still creepy even if it's within a portrait. Can be easily read post 'Canon Alberic', as a character overlap within the tales.
'The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral' is let down by its shoddy structuring. The initial bits of obituaries and setting the table takes forever, and almost kills the story off. But it recovers. And trickles towards a satisfying finale. No wonder, the tale has been adapted in greater media before.
'The Rose-Garden' is the weakest of the bunch, although it does contain some lovely banter by our middle-aged protagonists. The older dream sequence is the spookiest part of the story. Otherwise it is just that. A short story that calls to be skipped.
3 stars all through. ✨
'Canon Alberic's Scrap-book' stand out for its demonic outreach. The story is well plotted and reaches a somewhat predictable crescendo. Although its the descriptions that keep this one afloat. However, wish the author focused a bit more on the climax.
'The Mezzotint' was a re-read. And I'm very fond of this story. A creepy effigy crawling on all fours is still creepy even if it's within a portrait. Can be easily read post 'Canon Alberic', as a character overlap within the tales.
'The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral' is let down by its shoddy structuring. The initial bits of obituaries and setting the table takes forever, and almost kills the story off. But it recovers. And trickles towards a satisfying finale. No wonder, the tale has been adapted in greater media before.
'The Rose-Garden' is the weakest of the bunch, although it does contain some lovely banter by our middle-aged protagonists. The older dream sequence is the spookiest part of the story. Otherwise it is just that. A short story that calls to be skipped.
3 stars all through. ✨
August 23, 2024
Great.
This was great, but not going to review it.
For the moment at least.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1894] [100p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★★☆ The Mezzotint [4.5]
★★★☆☆ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary <--
-----------------------------------------------
Genial.
Esto fue genial, pero no voy a reseñarlo.
Al menos por ahora.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1894] [100p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
This was great, but not going to review it.
For the moment at least.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1894] [100p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★★☆ The Mezzotint [4.5]
★★★☆☆ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary <--
-----------------------------------------------
Genial.
Esto fue genial, pero no voy a reseñarlo.
Al menos por ahora.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1894] [100p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
May 4, 2012
M.R. James is the pre eminent writer of Victorian "cozy" ghost stories, but with a sinister edge. Anyone who enjoys the boarding school atmosphere of Harry Potter, but is looking for "the real thing" would do well to read James' work. He was a historian, and headmaster of Eton, and wrote ghost stories for the boys' amusement. I suppose his closest comparison with be Saki (H. H. Munro), but James is more erudite and dusty, and more Victorian.
For a wonderful introduction to his work, try "The Mezzotint", online here:
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/mezztint.htm
For a wonderful introduction to his work, try "The Mezzotint", online here:
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/mezztint.htm
November 9, 2024
James takes typical delight in describing the antiquated image of the demon in the throne room, but otherwise I though this was pretty average. The payoff was not very satisfying, and though this story commences the anthology of this man's work that I am reading, I know from past experience that he has much better stories.
November 22, 2020
I guess it being old and everything my modern mind has been simplified in stories ranging from Stephen King to James Herbert, with classical tales that rely on build up to this extent has bored me.
It felt tiring trying to read this and felt surprised at how acclaimed and adored this and his other stories have come to be, I guess just not my thing.
It felt tiring trying to read this and felt surprised at how acclaimed and adored this and his other stories have come to be, I guess just not my thing.
January 26, 2022
4.5 stars, again with the early childhood religious trauma, I’m shook, but in the best way possible. Do I want to pick up a bible anytime soon? No. Do I also want to look at scrapbooks made of leaves? Absolutely not. Never buy from a merchant who wants to get rid of stuff cheap, lesson learned.
August 28, 2017
How to identify a master of the ghost story: he can really put you out with the simple words "he was more comfortable with a wall at his back." Brilliant.
January 8, 2016
Another short creepy tale from James. There is perhaps just a bit too much build-up for my taste, but it's typical for the time and the actual horror part is quite well-done.
June 6, 2019
This is a fairly strange story of a man who gets a book that is apparently possessed by a demon with the typical nightmares that ensue.
September 3, 2025
#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads #Horror Short Stories #Anthologies # Gothic & Classic Horror (1800s–early 1900s)
This was M. R. James’s first published ghost story, and it already contains the hallmarks of his style: scholarly settings, antiquarian objects, and a creeping sense that the past is not safely buried but alive, waiting. The tale unfolds when a visiting antiquarian in a French cathedral town acquires a peculiar manuscript filled with grotesque imagery, only to find that the relic carries more than artistic value.
Compared with Casting the Runes, which is brisk and almost modern in its pacing, Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book is leisurely and descriptive, steeped in gothic atmosphere. James lingers on architecture, dusty tomes, and the minutiae of ecclesiastical history, grounding his supernatural dread in careful realism. Where Le Fanu (Schalken the Painter) builds unease through painterly visuals and Machen (The Great God Pan) invokes forbidden knowledge, James blends both impulses but in miniature—an antiquarian curiosity as a doorway to terror.
The story also highlights James’s signature method: an object as the catalyst of horror. Instead of haunted houses or overtly demonic landscapes, a simple book becomes the vessel through which the uncanny intrudes. This subtlety distinguishes James from more flamboyant Gothic predecessors; his restraint makes the final brush with the supernatural all the more startling.
In retrospect, Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book feels like James laying the blueprint for modern ghost stories—anchored in realism, textured with scholarship, yet culminating in moments of unforgettable, otherworldly shock.
This was M. R. James’s first published ghost story, and it already contains the hallmarks of his style: scholarly settings, antiquarian objects, and a creeping sense that the past is not safely buried but alive, waiting. The tale unfolds when a visiting antiquarian in a French cathedral town acquires a peculiar manuscript filled with grotesque imagery, only to find that the relic carries more than artistic value.
Compared with Casting the Runes, which is brisk and almost modern in its pacing, Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book is leisurely and descriptive, steeped in gothic atmosphere. James lingers on architecture, dusty tomes, and the minutiae of ecclesiastical history, grounding his supernatural dread in careful realism. Where Le Fanu (Schalken the Painter) builds unease through painterly visuals and Machen (The Great God Pan) invokes forbidden knowledge, James blends both impulses but in miniature—an antiquarian curiosity as a doorway to terror.
The story also highlights James’s signature method: an object as the catalyst of horror. Instead of haunted houses or overtly demonic landscapes, a simple book becomes the vessel through which the uncanny intrudes. This subtlety distinguishes James from more flamboyant Gothic predecessors; his restraint makes the final brush with the supernatural all the more startling.
In retrospect, Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book feels like James laying the blueprint for modern ghost stories—anchored in realism, textured with scholarship, yet culminating in moments of unforgettable, otherworldly shock.
March 2, 2021
The story although religious and stereotypical gothic trope based is still a spooky story. The themes of being followed, the shadows and even the need to destroy the first image to stop something coming out of it - is much used in horror today. The scrap book was sold at such a low price and one doesn’t have to wonder for long as to why. The use of the crucifix and a lot of Latin gives the impression of demons and therefore the scrap book being possessed, but could the scrap book actually just be possessed by greed and ambition - the daughter claims it to cause obsession despite scaring the owner out of their wits
November 20, 2025
This was okay overall. I think this wasn’t the best first impression of M.R. James for me. I totally get that his style leans subtle and creepy, very slow-burn British ghost-story energy but this one just didn’t hit. I’ve been reading so much Poe lately, so slipping into James’ quieter style was an adjustment. Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book has atmosphere, but the buildup felt a little too stretched, and the ending didn’t land hard enough to make it worth the wait. Still glad I read it, but I’m hoping the next James story grabs me more.
October 30, 2020
A great pamphlet like book of four short stories! Stayed reading throughout the day and finished the last spooky one at 1 a.m. Worth the buy years ago to read just before Halloween. Only one of the stories was less spooky than the others, and the language and terms are quite British in culture and practices; but this is not much of an obstacle to read through with just some patience and curiosity.
January 8, 2026
Μικρή συλλογή με τέσσερα διηγήματα του M. R. James. Το ύφος του γενικά δεν είναι για μένα. Την ομότιτλη ιστορία τη βρήκα αργή και αρκετά ανιαρή. Το Mezzotint έχει πραγματικά ενδιαφέρουσα ιδέα και ήταν το μόνο που όντως απόλαυσα. Το Rose Garden είναι συμπαθητικό αλλά όχι κάτι ιδιαίτερο, ενώ το Stalls of Barchester Cathedral έχει ωραία ατμόσφαιρα αλλά δεν με ενθουσίασε. Συνολικά μια αξιοπρεπής συλλογή. Απλώς δεν ταίριαξε στο γούστο μου.
⭐ 2.5
⭐ 2.5
August 10, 2021
Four short stories by a master of the genre of creepy tales of bizarre & disturbing relics...manuscripts, objects, mementoes....an antidote to happiness? Could that cat carved on a choir stall really be the devil in disguise? Miaow!
January 20, 2022
A cute little ghost story, I wouldn’t categorize this as horror for anyone over the age of 13! I loved the history woven in, the gruesome storytelling and the little notes at the bottom of each page telling their own story. Overall, very entertaining!
March 20, 2022
It is easy to see where this story is going, but that said , there is also a lot of creepiness in it. The Canon's scrap book is a treasure trove that happens to contain something unwanted.
Also available on youtube.
Also available on youtube.
February 22, 2025
Ein typisches Beispiel worin sich James unglaubliches Gespür für Atmosphäre zeigt. Leider ist die Geschichte etwas simpel und plump , sodass man hier nicht wirklich von einem Meisterwerk sprechen kann.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews