August 1, 1862

M. R. James, (August 1, 1862 to June 12, 1936), was an English scholar who specialized in medieval studies. He was a don at Cambridge, and many of his publications reflect his antiquarian interests. He was Provost at King's College, and later Eton. Here is a small  sampling of his many titles:

Lists of manuscripts formerly owned by Dr. John Dee, with preface and identifications
by Dee, John, 1527-1608. Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O. 1820-1889. James, M. R. 1862-1936.
(1921).

Henry the Sixth, a reprint of John Blacman's memoir, with translation and notes by M.R. James.  by Blakman, John, 15th cent. James, M. R. 1862-1936. Rogers, Bruce, 1870-1957.
(1919).

The Western manuscripts in the library of Emmanuel College. A descriptive catalogue by Montague Rhodes James. ( 1904).

A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts other than Oriental in the library of King's college, Cambridge.  James, M. R. (1895).

The life and miracles of St William of Norwich, by Thomas, of Monmouth, 12th cent. James, M. R., Jessopp, Augustus, 1823-1914. (1896).

Tolkien, one is sure, consulted some of these publications. But we remember M. R. James as the author of ghost stories, stories which often reflect his scholarly milieu. 

Ghost-stories of an antiquary (1920, a reprint of a 1904 book) is one of his collections of such tales.

From "The Ash Tree,"a story in this book,  we quote what happened after a house party finds

....Sir Richard, —dead and black in his bed! A pale and silent party of guests and servants gathered under the window when the news was known. Italian poisoners, Popish emissaries, infected air—all these and more guesses were hazarded, and the Bishop of Kilmore looked at the tree, in the fork of whose lower boughs a white tom-cat was crouching, looking down the hollow which years had gnawed in the trunk. It was watching something inside the tree with great interest. Suddenly it got up and craned over the hole. Then a bit of the edge on which it stood gave way, and it went slithering in. Everyone looked up at the noise of the fall.

It is known to most of us that a cat can cry; but few of us have heard, I hope, such a yell as came out of the trunk of the great ash. ....Lady Mary Hervey fainted outright, and the housekeeper stopped her ears and fled till she fell on the terrace.

Well, that is enough to demonstrate the prose skills of M. R. James. You can read the whole story, and others, free, at Hathitrust.