The Ingoldsby legends
Subtitle: or Mirth and Marvels
Publisher: Richard Bentley & Son
Published: 1882
Place of publication: London, UK
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 468
Description: The Jackdaw of Rheims and The Hand of Glory are two of the best-known of the Ingoldsby Legends. This collection of humorous and macabre stories in prose and verse was published in three series between 1840 and 1847 with splendid illustrations by Cruikshank and other artists. The best of them are very superior light verse, marked by verbal cleverness, wit, elaborate rhymes and bi-lingual puns. They were very popular in the 19th Century and remained so until relatively recently, but are now out of print. Almost all the popular writers of the time were influenced by it and many refer to it explicitly or quote from it. Even Walt Disney used "The Lay of St. Dunstan." However, it is now difficult to obtain and deserves to be better known.