The Verses Formerly Inscribed on Twelve Windows in the Choir of Canterbury Cathedral

Abstract

M. R. James (1862–1936) is probably best remembered as a writer of chilling ghost stories, but he was an outstanding scholar of medieval literature and palaeography, who served both as Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and as Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum. His short book from 1901 on the texts inscribed in the famous stained-glass windows of Canterbury Cathedral is paired here with an anonymous guide to the windows published in 1897. Its author is believed to have been Emily Williams, whose aim was 'to give some account of the changes which have taken place in the arrangement of the old painted glass' during the major restoration which was taking place throughout the nineteenth century. The preface is by Dean Farrar, the author of the popular morality tale for children, Eric, or Little by Little, and all proceeds were to go to the Cathedral Restoration Fund.