Mez·zo·tint
Definition: a print made from an engraved copper or steel plate for the reproduction of paintings.

Now please keep in mind, some of these stories are summarized or excerpts of the original stories by M.R. James. Maybe it will whet your appetite so that you will read the full stories.

I added two additional lines of dialogue at the beginning of "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" for listener clarity, as I was very confused reading it the first time. I only read a slight excerpt of "A Warning to the Curious," because I was WAAY over my hour limit and the actual ending is VERY dark anyway. I don't want to spoil it, but it's kind of like the ending of Old Yeller.

Mr. Montague Rhodes James was a medievalist scholar and provost of both King's College and Eton College. His stories have a strong foundation in historical research with an element of truth at their core, making their plots almost believable. My highschool fencing instructor at St. Louis de Montfort Academy, Mr. Roark Mitzell, was enchanted with the writing style of M.R. James which departed from the goth ghost tales of the Victorian era. He told me that Professor James would attempt to teach history class to his students, but they would keep begging him to tell one of his historical ghost stories during class. I don’t know how he got such a reputation for spinning yarns, but I heard that he had made a deal with his students: if they had good marks, he would oblige them in making up a sufficiently chilling tale. He never had any intention of publishing these fictional digressions, until his students forced his hand to write them down and that’s how we have the books today.

The main characters of his tales are often archaeologists or antiquaries. This was fitting, for in 1902, M.R. James himself discovered a manuscript fragment which led to excavations in the ruins of the abbey at Bury St. Edmunds, in which the graves of several twelfth-century abbots were rediscovered, having been lost since the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He also catalogued many of the manuscript libraries of the University of Cambridge and translated the Book of Baruch from its original Ethiopic in 1879.

Being such an authority in the experiences of historical research puts him in a league all of his own when it comes to ghost stories and you feel as if you can just reach out and touch the characters of his gripping plots.

I hope you enjoyed it. Sleep with the Angels and Rise with the Saints!

00:00 "The Mezzotint"
11:32 "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas"
33:18 "A School Story"
49:52 Excerpt of "A Warning to the Curious"