Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland. With Sketches of the Irish Past. To Which is Appended a Chapter on “The Ancient Race of Ireland,” by the Late Sir William Wilde. London: Ward & Downey, 1888. Second Edition (first in one volume). Pp xii, 347. Original buckram, title in gilt to upper cover and spine. Covers lightly faded with light wear to head of spine contents in good condition.

A fine collection of Irish Legends By Lady Jane Wilde “Speranza” of Dublin’s Nation newspaper and the mother of writer Oscar Wilde. Obtained chiefly from oral communications made by the peasantry themselves, either in Irish or in the Irish-English which preserves so much of the expressive idiom of the antique tongue.

Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde was a poet & writer. Under the pen name “Speranza” she published in Dublin’s ‘The Nation’ newspaper , expressing her pro-Irish independence and anti-British views. Married to the surgeon & antiquarian, William Wilde, their son was one of Ireland’s literary greats, Oscar Wilde.

First published in two volumes in 1887.