The Fairy Mythology, illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries ( 2 Volume Set ).
London: Whittaker, Treacher, and Co., 1833. (Second Issue, with New Preface). Hardcovers. 2 Volumes. Small Octavos. xvi + 334pp; viii + 358pp (+ 2pp. advertisements). Original quarter leather, patterned brown leather over patterned black cloth boards. Gilt title and decorations to spines. Frontispieces, woodcut and steel engraved plates and vignettes. Thomas Keightley (1789–1872 ) was an historian who was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and who wrote works on mythology and folklore in Europe and Great Britain. He is generally regarded as a pioneer in the study of folk and fairy lore and has been cited as one of the "early and important comparativist collectors" of folklore. This is a reissue, with a new Preface with corrections, of the work first published five years earlier in 1828. Apparently the printing of the first edition was quite small, necessitating this new printing. It subsequently sold very well and went through numerous editions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sometimes under its own title, and sometimes under the title "The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People." A little canted. Vol. I has been professionally rebacked with the original backstrip laid down, boards and spine rubbed but solid, internally some occasional darkening, and a little shaken with one or two gatherings starting and a little separation at the title page of Vol. II. Obviously read and showing some of its 185 years, but still a solid, unmarked VG copy. Item #62394
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