3 h 36 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 36 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A sound in the next room. A shape beneath a sheet. How little does it take to make you afraid?
In A Thin Ghost and Others, M. R. James brings scholars, clergymen, travellers and collectors into contact with something old and troubling. Libraries, churches and country houses offer familiar shelter, but the past holds dark secrets. These five ghost stories let fear gather slowly, until an ordinary room no longer feels safe.
The collection explores scholars who walk into old trouble, ordinary places that hide old wrongs, and dread built from what remains unseen. A movement at the corner of the eye or a touch that feels wrong carries the threat. James pairs this quiet unease with a dry sense of humour, keeping terror close to everyday life.
What you’ll discover
- Curiosity meets old trouble Follow antiquaries and collectors whose love of the past brings them close to danger.
- Familiar places turn uneasy Enter cathedral closes, village inns and university rooms where ordinary surroundings conceal old wrongs.
- The terror of half glimpses Watch a shape, a movement or a sound make the unseen feel terribly near.
- Restraint that deepens fear Discover how dread grows without grand villains or long speeches about evil.
- Humour beside the shadows Enjoy a dry sense of humour alongside the collection’s slow and quiet horror.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy ghost stories told by firelight, with old churches, dusty manuscripts and scholars who stumble on things better left alone, and if you like fear that grows from quiet detail and dry humour.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Ordinary things disturb a quiet world
- A welcome guest brings hidden danger
- A glass tablet reveals earlier terrors
- A pleasing pattern carries unease
- A cathedral alteration exposes something restless
- Letters follow a rector's disappearance
- Rival doctors leave an incomplete puzzle
- Everyday voices make the fear convincing
- Small disturbances let the past return
Who’s who
- Dr. Thomas AshtonA stern prebendary of Whitminster who takes a young Irish lord into his house and begins to suspect a danger he cannot name.
- Lord SaulA thin, polite young viscount sent from Ireland, who wins the servants over and keeps secrets about his games with Frank.
- Mary OldysDr. Oldys's niece, fond of romances, who looks into a glass tablet and sees scenes from the house's past.
- James DentonA scholar and squire who buys an old diary and, to please his aunt, has a pinned scrap of cloth copied for curtains.
- Mr. LakeA scholar examining the archives of Southminster Cathedral, who lodges with the verger and listens to a story about a tomb.
- Mr. WorbyThe head verger of Southminster, once a chorister, who tells a tale about the tomb under the old pulpit and asks for discretion.
- Mr. BowmanThe talkative landlord of the King's Head, who nurses a grievance over a cask of beer and promises to leave no stone unturned.
- Dr. QuinnA plain, honest Islington physician troubled by a recurring dream of a chrysalis that reveals his own face in death.
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A Thin Ghost and Others
by M. R. James · 1919
A glass tablet in a rubbish heap, a patterned curtain and a cracked tomb feature in three English hauntings.
Medium level2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Imagine a boy running into a house, crying out for someone to keep them off, after a young lord has drawn him into a frightening game. That is the first great chill in A Thin Ghost and Others, five ghost stories by M. R. James.
A Thin Ghost and Others at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h1 h 35 min fast, 2 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 28,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1919by M. R. James
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A guardian takes in a strange young lord
The first tale, The Residence at Whitminster, opens in December 1730 in the study of Dr. Thomas Ashton, a Doctor of Divinity with a ruddy face and a fierce eye. His wife hurries in to say that their young nephew, Frank Sydall, is very ill. She begs him to stop the minster clock from chiming, because the bells ring right above the sick boy's bedroom.
Then the story steps back. In September a young Irish viscount named Saul arrived, sent by his father, the Earl of Kildonan. Saul is thin, pale and polite, and within ten days the servants fall over each other to please him. Yet Mrs. Ashton cannot find maids willing to work in the house.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1919
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
James, M. R. A Thin Ghost and Others. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-thin-ghost-and-others.
James, M. R. (2026). A thin ghost and others. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-thin-ghost-and-others (Original work published 1919)
James, M. R. A Thin Ghost and Others. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-thin-ghost-and-others.
@book{james2026thin,
author = {James, M. R.},
title = {A Thin Ghost and Others},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-thin-ghost-and-others},
note = {First published 1919}
}
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What is A Thin Ghost and Others about?
It collects five ghost stories by M. R. James. Each starts with an ordinary setting, such as a cathedral house, an auction room or an inn, and builds a quiet sense of dread around an old object or place.
What is the title A Thin Ghost about?
The title comes from the first story, in which a housekeeper repeats a sexton's saying that a withered heart makes an ugly thin ghost. The phrase describes the restless spirit of a cruel young lord.
Are these stories true?
No, they are fiction. James wrote them as entertainment, and presents them as found papers, diaries and letters to make them feel real. He mentions in the preface that they were meant for a Christmas storybook.
The author
M. R. James
1862–1936 · English ghost story writer
M. R. James was an English medieval scholar — Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and later of Eton — who became the acknowledged master of the English ghost story. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary collects the first and most famous of his quietly terrifying tales.
More by M. R. James
See all their booksMore like this
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