Ancient Legends of Ireland. Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland with Sketches of the Irish Past. London: Chatto, 1899. New Edition. Pp xii, 347. Publisher’s pictorial cloth boards.Light scattered spotting to contents pages, but overall a nice bright copy.

A collection of Irish legends, superstitions, and ancient charms, 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 Jane Wilde “Speranza” 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