Preface to Ghost Stories of An Antiquary

Preface to Ghost Stories of An Antiquary

In the preface to James' first collection of ghost stories, he expresses his unmet desire to have had a greater amount of illustrations alongside his novel. The four that did make it to publication, none of which accompanied "The Mezzotint, "were produced by James McBryde. Whether it was James' or McBryde's intention to produce illustrations that would accompany "The Mezzotint," will remain unknown. However, the absence of illustration from a story whose central focus is a print, may add to its allure rather than detract from it. If James' desire in writing these stories was truly to cause "their readers to feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours," then this intention is perhaps more effectually met by leaving readers to their own devices in conjuring up the various images which James described. By granting audiences the opportunity to construct mental images free from the influence of an accompanying illustration, it adds potential for a more potent sense of reality in so far as allowing personal fears to manifest in the form of individual visualizations of supernatural beings.

James, M.R.

HathiTrust

London: Edward Arnold

1905

The Late James McBryde contributed four illustrations to the collection in which this story is found.

Public Domain. Google-Digitized

Two-page preface, found in a book, containing four illustrations, 275 pages long.

Preface