M.R. James - Two Ghost Stories: A Centenary (Manuscript Facsimile)

M.R. James - Two Ghost Stories: A Centenary. A facsimile of the manuscripts of 'Canon Alberic's Scrap-book' and 'Lost Hearts'. London: Ghost Story Press, 1993. 

First edition thus, published on 28th October 1993 as one of the first four books brought forward by the Ghost Story Press. 31 x 21.8 cm. Publisher's purple laminated boards, roundel featuring McBryde's illustration for the story Canon Alberic's Scrap Book to front cover, orange title to front cover and spine; no dust wrapper, as issued. An edition limited to only 200 copies, of which this is number 72 (thus hand-numbered to copyright page).

Illustrated by the author's student and good friend, James McBryde, who was among the few priviliged to be a part of James' bookish circle and who heard James' ghost stories by the light of a candle in a draughty set of rooms at King's. Edited by founders of Ash-Tree Press Barbara and Christopher Roden. Introduction by Michael Cox, widely known as the biographer of M. R. James. Afterword by Rosemary Pardoe, the esteemed essayist and editor of the famed M. R. James related Ghosts & Scholars magazine.

Square and tight, with no previous ownership inscriptions. Clean, unfaded boards, with sharp corners, and minimal scuffing and only light creasing to foot of spine. Edges clean, perhaps ever-so-slightly tanned. The binding is tight with no cracked hinges. A very attractive copy, now in a protective archival wrapper.

A very scarce limited edition published by the Ghost Story Press, a publisher that appeared on the scene in 1993 and returned to print, over the following ten years, many of the rarest volumes in weird fiction, as well as publishing several new collections; all limited editions, these are, today, very collectable by lovers of the supernatural.