"The Uncommon Prayer-book' is a short ghost story by the British author M.R. James. It first appeared in print in the June 1921 issue of the American magazine Atlantic Quarterly. It was published again in 1925 as part of the anthology A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories.
The plot is set in motion when a vacationing antiquary named Davidson finds out that there is a large country house with an interesting chapel that he can visit nearby. Davidson finds out that, although the housekeeper's wife always closes the eight copies of the Book of Common Prayer in the chapel and covers them with a cloth, she always finds all of the books open at the same page the next time she goes into the chapel.
