The Ingoldsby Legends or Mirth and Marvels Thomas Ingoldsby

TITLE: The Ingoldsby Legends or Mirth and Marvels by Thomas Ingoldsby (pseudonym of Richard Harris Barham), J. M. Dent & Co., 1907, 549 pages._____DESCRIPTION: No. 104 of 560 copies (large paper edition) in a signed limited edition. Quarto (4to) 11 1/4H x 9W inches. Fine binding: bound in 3/4 deep blue morocco by the fine English binder Bayntun of Bath. Spine has raised bands and bright gilt title and illustrator letters, with gilt emblems from the legends in the spine panels and gilt lines flanking the raised bands. Fine aqua blue cloth over boards. Top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers. Illustrated with 24 full page color plates tipped-in on dark green paper with captioned tissue guards and numerous black & white text drawings. Included with a clear archival Grafix Dura Lar dust wrapper. Protected in a fine, dark blue cloth slipcase with only a hint of wear at the corners._____CONDITION: Binding in fine condition, interior text pages in NF condition. No writings or ex-libris. Text block firm and square, all hinges intact. A few very tiny faint spots on the preliminary pages. Final page 549 with faint foxing. Internal pages with faint, even toning around the periphery, normal for the book's age and paper used. All Rackham illustrations and captioned tissue guard in fine condition. Overall, a fine copy with trivial defects. Dark blue slipcase with tiny bumps at two corners, other corners and all seams intact._____DISCUSSION: The Ingoldsby Legends by the English cleric Richard Harris Barham are 19th century classics, a combination of legends, yths and whimsical poems. This volume contains some of Arthur Rackham's finest work with illustrations that are compatible and sympathetic, Rackham states that the frontispiece and plate facing page 508 were "specially drawn" for this deluxe edition. This edition is a charter member of the Golden Age of Illustration in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Overall, a beautiful copy of a beautiful book._____NOTE: International shipping cost to the United Kingdom and Europe is $55 U.S. dollars.