Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book

"Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" is a horror story by British writer M. R. James, was written in 1894 and published the following year in the National Review. It was included in his first collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary of 1904.

"Canon Alberic's Scrap-book"
Illustration by James McBryde
AuthorM.R. James
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Horror short story
Publication date1895

Plot summary

The story has a detailed and realistic setting in the tiny decaying cathedral city of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, at the foot of the Pyrenees in southern France. An English tourist spends a day photographing the interior of the eponymous cathedral and is encouraged by the sacristan to buy an unusual manuscript. This, he concludes, had been created long ago, by canon Albéric de Mauléon (an invented character, said to be a collateral descendant of the real 16th century bishop Jean de Mauléon), who had cut up volumes in the old cathedral library. A disturbing illustration of King Solomon and a demon in the back of the book is a key to the story's suspenseful arc.

Adaptations

The story has inspired a musical composition by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, St. Bertrand de Comminges: "He was laughing in the tower", first performed in 1985 by Yonty Solomon.[1]

References
  1. "Un troisième disque Sorabji par Michael Habermann" (PDF).
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