antiquary

One of Scott's novels is called The Antiquary.

James, the English antiquary and ghost-story writer, to whose work I am devoted.

Throughout this unusual biography, Scurr — hitherto best known for a delightful, quotation-rich account of the 17th-century antiquary and gossip John Aubrey — elegantly explores Napoleon’s inner Rousseau, the 18th-century philosopher who extolled nature and the simple life.

James’s most chilling “ghost stories of an antiquary”: “The Ash-Tree” and “ ‘Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.’

John Aubrey is another, an eccentric antiquary whose “Brief Lives” mixes deliciously scandalous gossip about 16th-century courtiers with accounts of fairies and philosophers and one memorable ghost who, when addressed, disappeared “with a curious Perfume and a most melodious Twang.”