The Ingoldsby legends. By Thomas Ingoldsby, Esq.
London: Richard Bentley, 1852. Fifth edition, 3 volumes, 8vo, original blue cloth, gilt decorated spines; a fine, bright set, with engraved title pages and 19 engraved plates after George Cruikshank and John Leech. See Cohn 50 for a description of the first edition of each series, issued in 1840, 1842, and 1847 respectively. "Although he was continually throwing off humorous verse with great freedom and spirit, The Ingoldsby Legends would probably never have existed but for [Barham's] desire to aid his old friend and schoolfellow, the publisher Bentley, in Bentley's Miscellany, commenced under the editorship of Charles Dickens in January 1837 ... "The Spectre of Tappington" opened the series, and was speedily succeeded by a number of others, at first derived from the legendary lore of the author's ancestral locality in Kent, but soon enriched by satires on the topics of the day and subjects of pure invention, or borrowed from history ... The success of the Legends was pronounced from the first, and when published collectively ... they at once took a high place in humorous literature which they have ever since retained" (DNB). Item #14406
Price: $450.00
