Montague Rhodes James: An Annotated Bibliography of Writings About Him

203 MONTAGUE RHODES JAMES: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WRITINGS ABOUT HIM By J. Randolph Cox (Library, St. Olaf College) "The Apocryphal New Testament," TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (Lond), 1 May 1924, ϕ 262. J's translation of the New Testament Apocrypha is "entirely new, not a revision of an older rendering ." "The Archaeological Societies," ATHENAEUM, 5 Oct 1895. P ^60. On the Abbey of Saint Edmund "collects in the smallest possible compass^he results arrived at by previous writers on the history of this famous abbey and lays before us large additions to their discoveries." J is ideally suited for his task since he has lived in the neighborhood for years; "his monograph he puts forth as but an earnest of what we may expect from him in the near future." Austen-Leigh, R. A. AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO ETON COLLEGE. Eton: Alden & Blackwell, 1964. Pp 33, 38, 46; index. Tangible evidences of J as Provost at Eton are window designed by him, and inscriptions on buildings. Benson, Arthur. See "Books of the Day: Two Heads of Houses; Arthur Benson and Dr. James." •'Biblical Antiquities," TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (Lond), 8 Feb 1918, ϕ 68. J's BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO is "terse and plain as a popular handbook should be [yet] eminently scholarly." "The Birthday Honours," TIMES (Lond), 3 June 1930, ϕ 17. J'e appointment to the Order of Merit is noted. He is "a great scholar and medieval historian; perhaps he is best known to the general public for his 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary· and 'More Ghost Stories.'" "Book Notices," BIBLICAL WORLD, XLIII (Feb 191*0. 1^0. OLD TESTAMENT LEGENDS, a collection of eight stories taken from the Apocryphal books of the Old Testament, some of which have been translated by J, has "a cleverly conceived preface [which] furnishes the necessary viewpoint for the understanding of the stories." "A Book of Ghost Stories and Other Works of Fiction," NEW YOHK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 3 Jan 1926, ϕ 8. The fuallty of J's work makes a new book "a literary event." A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS has "the authentic James touch of actuality . . . [his] skillful ooÉñlatlon of detail [and] adeptlon in the exquisite gradations of tactual horror." "Books of the Day: Two Heads of Houses; Arthur Benson and Dr. James," TIMES (Lond), 12 Nov 1926, ϕ 20. Benson's DIARY refers to J when he was Provost of King's. J's memoirs, Eton and King's, of J are not trivial "but they are mostly humorous, with the humour of a personality which, on hi« own evidence, was torn by no Inner discords"; however, J "Ie not the man to make the unpleasantness public." Browning, D. C. (ed). EVERYMAN'S DICTIONARY OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHY» ENGLISH AND AMERICAN. Lond: J. M. Dent. NY: Dutton, 1958 204 [rev ed i960], ϕ 36θ. This biographical sketch praises J's work as a paleographer and mentions "his two collections of GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY." Butte, Mary. "The Art of Montagu James," LONDON MERCURY, XXIX (Feb I934), 306-17. That J might have been "considered the greatest classic short story writer of our time" had he chosen other subject matter Is an unfair criticism of his work. The reader delights in following J's characters as they go about their business and then, "as a man might turn a corner or the page of a book, they meet the Unspeakable." "Christian Myth and Legend," NEW STATESMAN, XXIII (7 June 1924), 259-60. APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT is a "work of extraordinary fascination." J has done the best he can with the texts available to him, but "his habit of printing variants and comments In the body of the book and in the same type as the text [is] rather a confusing one." "Current Literature: Ghost Stories," SPECTATOR, XCIV (24 June I905), 925. GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY has unauestionable literary merit, and "ingenuity ... in their construction." The "constructed ghost stories" are less terrifying than stories of real-life hauntings. There is more merit In Thistleton-Dyer's "Ghost World," Mrs. Crowe's "Night Side of Nature," and the Transactions of the Psychical Society, but younger readers enjoy J. Davenport, Basil, "The Devil is Not Dead," SATURDAY...