From a sample of 97 very bright M-giant stars in the Solar neighbourhood, high-quality `intrinsic' spectra in the spectral range [380-900]nm for all M-spectral subclasses of the Case and MK classification systems are obtained. The results are fitted to photospheric synthetic spectra in the range [99-12500]nm in order to infer the corresponding continua. The synthetic spectra are also compared to the intrinsic spectra. The effective temperatures are derived and mathematical spectral classification criteria are found. The (UB)j(VRI)c(JHKLM)eso photometric data of the sample are also given.