'My Dear Jane, You remember that you were puzzled when I told you I had heard something from the owls—or if not puzzled (for I know you have some experience of these things), you were at any rate anxious to know exactly how it happened. Perhaps the time has now come for you to be told. . . .'

In this way, M.R. James began the letter which was to become The Five Jars, a beautifully told tale for children and adults alike.

The Five Jars was first published by Edward Arnold in 1922 and has become a much sought-after rarity. This new edition of the story from Ash-Tree Press, the first printing of the story for many years, brought M.R. James's classic tale to a new generation of readers.

As the story of The Five Jars unfolds, the reader joins M (or N)—for thus it is that James describes himself—as he discovers the magical jars. We read how he learns to make use of their contents and how he encounters 'The Right People'. We read, too, of the battles he has to fight to keep possession of his precious discovery—a discovery which opens the gateway to a mystical world of which we can only dream.