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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 3, 2016 13:57:04 GMT
While the new cover of James's Complete Ghost Stories is more appropriate than the previous one (below), the new one is too impressionistic (or expressionistic) for me. I like the Dracula cover better. While it is a clichéd image, it is very striking. And I've just noticed Dracula's finger. What was he doing?
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Post by bobby on Dec 3, 2016 16:11:15 GMT
This is the edition I have, which I ordered from the Edward R. Hamilton "Bargain Books" catalog in 1994. The artwork is printed on the boards, with a matching dust jacket.
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 3, 2016 16:22:37 GMT
Pan Macmillan has acquired the independent publisher Collector’s Library and re-launched as Macmillan Collector’s Library. These very nice and well-produced pocket-size hardbacks include a new edition of Stoker's Dracula (14 July 2016) and M.R. James's C omplete Ghost Stories (26 January 2017). I think the MRJ cover is for "The Ash-Tree". I prefer the Stoker cover. I suppose it's "The Ash-Tree" but it's hard to tell, isn't it? Still, I like the overall redesign of the series under new management - quite stylish.
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 3, 2016 16:24:10 GMT
This is the edition I have, which I ordered from the Edward R. Hamilton "Bargain Books" catalog in 1994. The artwork is printed on the boards, with a matching dust jacket. The Collected Ghost Stories isn't the same as the Complete! The Complete isn't quite complete but it's more so than the Collected (by three stories)!
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 3, 2016 16:58:57 GMT
This is the edition I have, which I ordered from the Edward R. Hamilton "Bargain Books" catalog in 1994. The artwork is printed on the boards, with a matching dust jacket. The Collected Ghost Stories isn't the same as the Complete! The Complete isn't quite complete but it's more so than the Collected (by three stories)! For what it's worth, this is my edition. Bought it in the mid-1990s, while living overseas where English reading matter was scarce. I'd never heard of M. R. James, back in those pre-internet days. I still hang on to it, despite having Kindle versions of the stories...
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 5, 2016 13:43:35 GMT
I see now why I thought the cover of the new edition of the Complete Ghost Stories was familiar. The original 1931 Edward Arnold edition of The Collected Ghost Stories also has a spider motif:
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 6, 2016 13:41:23 GMT
This is the original illustration used for the Collector’s Library edition of M.R. James's Complete Ghost Stories. It is "The Apparition" (1885), a mezzotint (appropriately enough) by James Tissot, a French painter and illustrator. He created the image after an oil painting inspired by a seance held by an English medium William Eglinton. It depicts the ghost of Kathleen Newton with her spirit guide "Ernest" as they appeared to Tissot and four others on 20th May 1885. I now rename the mezzotint as "Dead Ernest".
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 7, 2016 12:14:18 GMT
For what it's worth, this is my edition. Bought it in the mid-1990s, while living overseas where English reading matter was scarce. I'd never heard of M. R. James, back in those pre-internet days. I still hang on to it, despite having Kindle versions of the stories... View AttachmentMy copy of that Penguin edition, bought for a pound in the 90s, is still a favourite, not just as my first copy of the collected ghost stories, but also my most travelled. It has accompanied me on numerous bus and train journeys over the decades, and slips easily into a pocket. There are better and more complete editions available, of course, and I've bought my share of them, but I maintain a lot of affection for this particular edition.
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Post by ropardoe on Jan 1, 2017 11:55:06 GMT
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Post by ropardoe on Mar 20, 2017 12:36:49 GMT
Anyone else noticed that the info strip on M.R. James, which appears on the right-hand-side of the Google page when you search for MRJ, is currently saying that he was buried in Eton Cemetery, Queensland, Australia? I don't know how long it's been there (the error, not the grave) - just noticed it out of the corner of my eye today. James Doig - what have you been up to?
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 20, 2017 21:59:24 GMT
Anyone else noticed that the info strip on M.R. James, which appears on the right-hand-side of the Google page when you search for MRJ, is currently saying that he was buried in Eton Cemetery, Queensland, Australia? I don't know how long it's been there (the error, not the grave) - just noticed it out of the corner of my eye today. James Doig - what have you been up to? Sadly, my grave robbing days are long behind me. I'd say Google has mashed some data it's trawled on the Internet and inadvertently produced the error - there's an Eton cemetery in Mackay in Qld with a few Jameses buried there, though no relation to M.R.
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Post by ropardoe on Mar 21, 2017 9:26:41 GMT
Anyone else noticed that the info strip on M.R. James, which appears on the right-hand-side of the Google page when you search for MRJ, is currently saying that he was buried in Eton Cemetery, Queensland, Australia? I don't know how long it's been there (the error, not the grave) - just noticed it out of the corner of my eye today. James Doig - what have you been up to? Sadly, my grave robbing days are long behind me. You would say that, wouldn't you?
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Post by mcannon on Mar 21, 2017 10:30:21 GMT
Sadly, my grave robbing days are long behind me. You would say that, wouldn't you? You must remember, Rosemary, that Australia is a nation proud of its criminal heritage. As such all of us - even those not of convict descent - adhere to the basic principle of "never admit to anything"........ Mark
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Post by ropardoe on Mar 21, 2017 12:21:26 GMT
You would say that, wouldn't you? You must remember, Rosemary, that Australia is a nation proud of its criminal heritage. As such all of us - even those not of convict descent - adhere to the basic principle of "never admit to anything"........ Mark I didn't realise we had other Aussies in the Vault. That being the case, we clearly have multiple suspects. I may have been doing James an injustice. (Come to think of it, my sister also lives in Australia and she's an MRJ fan too, so I shall have to question her severely next time I phone.)
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Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 21, 2017 13:13:02 GMT
You must remember, Rosemary, that Australia is a nation proud of its criminal heritage. As such all of us - even those not of convict descent - adhere to the basic principle of "never admit to anything"........ Mark I didn't realise we had other Aussies in the Vault. That being the case, we clearly have multiple suspects. I may have been doing James an injustice. (Come to think of it, my sister also lives in Australia and she's an MRJ fan too, so I shall have to question her severely next time I phone.) No matter about anything else, M.R. James is dead! Had he been ill? Anyway, I've warmed to the cover of the recent MacMillan Collector's Library reprint of his Complete Ghost Stories. At 592 pages it seems to be a straightforward reprint of the earlier 2007 edition. Even so, I might buy a copy of the new one for the cover. Sad, really.
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