Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Or mirth and marvels. by thomas ingoldsby, esq. eleventh edition. first-third series.

Item Description

THREE VOLUMES. 8vo. 8.25 x 5.5 inches. First Series, xii + 338 +[2] pp.; Second Series, vii + 288 pp. ; Third Series, Vol.III. vi + [ii] + 364 pp. Bound in contemporary dark green cloth, gilt. Boards decorated with blind stamping, recased preserving original spines with gilt blocks. Rough cut edges. Some wear to extremities, including corners. A little worming in lower margins of a few pages in Second and Third Series, where it touches on a few plate margins; otherwise a very good set. Illustrated by 21 plates including portrait frontispiece and 3 engraved titles, and by numerous engravings in text. Illustrations by Leech, Cruikshank, etc. Decorated by chapter headings. Richard Harris Barham (1788-1845), Church of England clergyman, was born in Canterbury, his father living in Tappington Everard House, the location of the first story. His knowledge of Kentish legends was developed during his residences as a curate in Ashford and Westwell, and subsequently in the livings of Snargate and Warehorne, until he moved to London in 1821: 'And he would be not long in discovering that, dull and dreary as Romney Marsh may have been in times when railways were not and Folkestone was an insignificant fishing village, it was not without matter of interest and amusement' (Memoir to later editions). Published by Richard Bentley, the author's old school friend; the First, Second and Third Series, first appeared in book form in in 1840, 1842 and 1846 respectively.