Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) was a renowned English scholar and author. He made significant contributions to medieval studies and served in prestigious academic roles at Cambridge and Eton. While his scholarly work is still respected, he is most famous for his ghost stories which he published as M.R. James. According to Wikipedia, these ghost tales are considered among the best in English literature and have had a profound impact on the horror genre.

“Canon Albric’s Scrap-Book” is the first story in a collection by James called Ghost Stories of an Antiquary that was first published in 1904. As a story it is a good introduction to James’ fiction.

The story is set in the quaint French town of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges. An English tourist, while exploring the local cathedral, is intrigued by a peculiar manuscript sold to him by the sacristan. This manuscript, believed to be the work of a long-lost Canon Albéric de Mauléon, contains a disturbing image of King Solomon and a demon. This mysterious artifact sets the stage for a suspenseful narrative.

There is in James’ story the 19th-century sense that there is still much in this world that is mysterious and still to be discovered and understood. It is this 19th-century “sense-of-wonder” and mystery that makes me such a fan of classic adventure books like Treasure Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Dracula. In these works, our world is still largely unknown and so anything is possible.

The short story “Canon Albric’s Scrap-Book” and the book Ghost Stories of an Antiquary are in the Public Domain.  Here is a link to them at Gutenberg.

I recommend both.