Legendary Fictions of The Irish Celts. Collected and Narrated by Patrick Kennedy. London: Macmillan, 1866. First Edition. Pp xiv, 352. Publisher’s smooth green buckram boards, title lettered in gilt to spine, shamrock device within ruled boarder to center of upper cover. Small raised ridge to cloth on upper board, neat ownership name to second endpaper; otherwise a fine bright copy.

Frontispiece plate & title page illustration by W. Small.

Among the first important collections of Irish Fairy, Ghost and Witch tales, with dedication to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

Patrick Kennedy (1801-1873) was one of the pioneers in uncovering Irish folkloric material, with a lasting impact on William Butler Yeats and the Celtic Revival movement. A native of Wexford, his stories, some of which he sent to Sheridan Le Fanu, appeared as ‘Leinster Folk Lore’ in the Dublin University Magazine from 1861 to 1869. Later, at Le Fanu’s encouragement, a full collection was published in this work as ‘Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts’ (1866).