Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. Edited and Selected by W.B. Yeats. London: Walter Scott, 1888. First Edition. Pp cviii, 326, + adverts. Publisher’s red cloth boards decorated in black, gilt titles to spine. Light shelf-wear to cloth with stain to top margin of upper board, contents pages in nice bright condition.

Number 32 of Camelot Series.

In this delightful gathering of legend and song, the familiar characters of Irish myth come to life: the mercurial trooping fairies, as ready to make mischief as to do good; the solitary and industrious Lepracaun and his dissipated cousin, the Cluricaun; the fearsome Pooka, who lives among ruins and has “grown monstrous with much solitude”; and the Banshee, whose eerie wailing warns of death. More than an ambitious and successful effort to preserve the rich heritage of his native land, this volume confirms Yeats’s conviction that imagination is the source of both life and art. 

In addition to editing, Yeats’ contributions include “The Stolen Child” and “The Priest of Coloony.”

[Wade 212]