The Stoneground Ghost Tales. Compiled from the Recollections of The Reverend Roland Batchel, Vicar of the Parish [Bone to His Bone]

Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd, 1912. Pictorial Cloth. Near Fine+. Scarce First Edition ("extremely rare") of this classic collection of antiquarian ghost stories dedicated to M. R. James. (Tymn) Crown 8vo (182 x 119mm): [8],187,[1]pp. Original pictorial coarse sky-blue cloth, spine lettered in black, front cover stamped in black and grey with scene of vicar Batchel in pursuit of a ghost, edges rough-trimmed. Neat name inked to front paste-down ("C. J. Stonebridge, May, 1912"). Two tiny scars to rear cover, else a bright, clean copy, securely bound and clean throughout. Tymn (Horror Literature) 3-238 ("delightful and extremely rare"). Ashley, p. 170 ("a very rare book"). Sullivan, p. 419. Wilson, p. 468. Barron 3-193. Bleiler (Guide to Supernatural Fiction) 1571. Reginald 13908. Locke, p. 209. Collects "The Man with the Roller," "Bone to His Bone," "The Richpins," "The Eastern Window," "Lubrietta," "The Rockery," "The Indian Lamp Shade," "The Place of Safety," and "The Kirk Spook." Swain was a chaplain of King's College, Cambridge, a contemporary of M. R. James, and a regular member of the select group to which James delivered his famous annual Christmas Eve reading of a ghost story composed specially for the occasion. Swain left Cambridge in 1905, when he accepted the benefice of Stanground, near Peterborough. As Stoneground, Swain's own church of St. John the Baptist became the setting for this volume of ghostly stories. Mr. Batchel, rector of Stoneground (a fictionalized version of the author, whose adventures the tales relate) is "one of the most endearing creations of English ghost fiction." (Wilson) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).