Thomas Ingoldsby [Richard Harris Barham] — The Ingoldsby Legends or Mirth and Marvels

London, J. M. Dent & Co. 1898. First edition. Cloth. The first Arthur Rackham illustrated edition of these popular myths, legends and ghost stories from Richard Harris Barham. The first Arthur Rackham illustrated edition of this popular anthology.In the publisher's decorative cloth binding. Illustrated with a coloured frontispiece, eleven coloured plates and numerous vignettes by a leading figure of the Golden Age of British book illustration, Arthur Rackham. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, which were combined with the use of watercolour, a technique he developed due to his background as a journalistic illustrator.The Ingoldsby Legends were written supposedly by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, actually a pen-name of English clergyman Richard Harris Barham. The legends (which were first printed throughout 1837 in Bentley's Miscellany and later in The New Monthly Magazine) proved immensely popular throughout the 19th century, and were subsequently published in many compiled editions.  In the original cloth binding, with decorative gilt. Externally, smart, with rubbing and minor bumping to the extremities. Hinges are tender. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are age toned, but generally clean, with scattered spotting to the first couple pages, including title and contents. Good . Ill.: Arthur Rackham. Good .