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Croker, T. Crofton & Wright, T., (editor).
Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland.
Publisher: William Tegg, London;
Date of Publication: 1860
Stock Code: 12451
New Edition, undated but 1870. Octavo, pp. xxxiv, [2], 486, [2], [4] catalogue. Pictorial title-page; numerous illustrations throughout including head- and tail-pieces and decorative initial letters. Original publishers’ red cloth with titles and decoration in gilt, blocked in black to upper board with decoration in blind to lower; primrose yellow endpapers. A well used copy with covers soiled and creased with wear to spine tips and corners. Inner hinges weak; lacking free endpapers and half-title, with adhesive tape residue to paste-down endpapers. Title-page stained to edge, with ownership inscription and address to verso in pencil, and date in pencil to p. 486. Scattered foxing & finger-marking. A fair copy. With a “Memoir of the Author” by his son T. F. Dillon Croker and Editor’s Preface. Croker (1798-1854) collected legends and folk tales from a variety of sources which he controversially failed to credit after reconstructing his manuscript following his loss of original notes. He mixed folklore and literature in this his most successful work which is believed to have inspired William Butler Yeats amongst others. The stories are grouped by theme including “The Banshee”, “The Phooka” and “Treasure Legends”. The final leaf in the book is a publisher’s advertisement for ‘The Dictionary of Chronology’ and is described as ‘Just Out’, it being first published in 1870. £95.00