The M. R. James Collection cover art

The M. R. James Collection

No. 13 and Other Ghost Stories, Ghost Stories, More Ghost Stories

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About this listen

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.

This curated collection of M. R. James’ supernatural stories is read by critically acclaimed star of stage and screen, Sir Michael Hordern.

This collection includes M. R. James’ most beloved stories, including The Haunted Doll’s House; The Ash Tree; Lost Hearts; Casting the Runes; The Haunted Doll’s House; The Ash Tree; Lost Hearts; Casting the Runes; Number 13; Count Magnus; Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book; The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral; and Lost Hearts; alongside other spine-tingling tales.

 Classics Fantasy Genre Fiction Ghosts Historical Horror Small Town & Rural Heartfelt
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For me these are the finest recordings of m r James ghost stories - Michael Hordern rocks😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

Legendary

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Classic tales read by a superb actor. Anyone who has not heard these vintage recordings is in for a treat.

Brilliant

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Sir Michael Hordern's wonderful acting and narrative skills manages to enhance these already superb ghost stories. I've not heard another narrator who is anywhere close to being as good as Hordern.

Perfection.

The perfect way to listen to these stories

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As noted by others, the only drawbacks here are the utter lack of a contents listing. Not only are we expected to buy on trust, but once we do, are confronted with a bland chapter menu of 'Chapter 1' (portmanteau title credits), 'Chapter 2' (credits for first selection), 'Chapter 3' (Count Magnus) and so on. Not user-friendly and frankly shoddy (MRJ, as cataloguer and bibliophile, must be furiously rattling his chains at such treatment). See Amazon reviews for a full contents, which I won’t bother repeating. The selection is also presented in a rather random order; putting Haunted doll’s house before Mezzotint is a particularly curious choice.

As far as content goes, well for a start it’s Hordern reading Oh, whistle and I’ll come to you, my lad – which is close to the Holy Grail of Jamesiana and worth a credit on its own. Sadly no Warning to the curious, but still a very solid selection read in a truly gorgeous voice which is soothing yet just unsettling enough, and particularly suited to the donnish fussiness and random narrative jokes. Lee, Suchet and Jacobi all have their points, but you can’t help feeling that Sir Michael is perhaps closest to what it might have been like hearing Monty read them for the first time.

Peerless content, carelessly packaged

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Sir Michael Hordern is the ideal narrator. You can smell the scotch and pipe smoke and hear the noise on the landing. Rich and satisfying.

The definitive narration

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