The Ingoldsby Legends by Thomas Ingoldsby 1907

The Ingoldsby Legends by Thomas Ingoldsby

The Ingoldsby Legends – Definitive Rackham Fantasy Masterpiece

At the very peak of his powers around 1907 following high acclaim for Rip Van Winkle and Alice In Wonderland, Arthur Rackham produced his career masterpiece – a deluxe edition of The Ingoldsby Legends by poet Richard Barham under pseudonym Thomas Ingoldsby. Originally released in 1898 with fewer illustrations, this massive volume contains over 100 pieces spanning mounted color plates to abundant spot scenes showcasing Rackham’s brilliant unity of humor, horror, and lyricism as the finest fantasy interpreter since 19th century titans like Gustave Doré.

Awaken the myths behind Britain’s past before this apex dreamscape slumbers away!

Buy The Ingoldsby Legends (1907)

The updated 1907 Ingoldsby Legends starring fantasy visionary Arthur Rackham.

  • Definitive 102 piece Rackham collection including mounted color plates
  • His career masterpiece showing humor, horror, and imagination mastery
  • The holy grail for Rackham collectors and Golden Age fantasy devotees
  • Peak Rackham completely encapsulating his meteoric rise to legend

Strictly limited to 560 signed copies, Rackham supervised sumptuous production details like large formats impossible with mass market binding. As his visions redefined the realm of imagination, this pinnacle work cemented his icon status through intricately dark splendor and enduring resonance. Like the legends themselves passed whimsically through generations, Rackham’s scenes immortalized the myths and monsters behind England’s heritage. For collectors, no illustrated book surpasses its fertile atmosphere or complete encapsulation of his distinct gifts.

Prefatory Note by the Illustrator

In 1898 Messrs. Dent and Co. first published the ” Ingoldsby Legends,” with about one hundred illustrations of mine. This book has met with a very satisfactory reception, but the publishers have felt with me that, with the addition of some new drawings, a careful overhauling would make it worthy of publication in a more important form, in which greater prominence could be given to the illustrations by better and larger reproductions, including a greater number of illustrations in colour.

To this end the following has been done : The frontispiece and the coloured illustration facing page 508 have been specially drawn, and all the other illustrations in colour have been worked on to a considerable extent, and specially coloured for this edition. A few illustrations in the earlier edition have been omitted, and in their place have been added those facing page 254 and on pages vi, 25, 37, 316, 320 and 333.

Many of the pen drawings have been reconsidered and worked on again—those which have been worked on to any great extent being now signed with both dates, 1898 and 1907. Of the rest, reproductions on a larger scale have been made in all but a few cases, and the text has been revised and entirely reset for this edition.

ARTHUR RACKHAM. Hampstead, 1907

Limited Edition (1907):

  • Cream vellum binding with gilt decorative stamping, silk ties (549 pages + 102 Rackham illustrations);
  • Limited to 560 copies, 500 for UK and 60 for US, signed by Rackham

Trade Editions:

  • UK: Olive green cloth binding, unmounted illustrations (549 pages)
  • US: Blue or green cloth bindings (same as UK)

Size:

  • Limited Edition: 8 1⁄2 x 11 inches
  • Trade Edition: 7 1⁄4 x 10 inches

Text: The Ingoldsby Legends by Thomas Ingoldsby, Esquire [Richard Barham]

Illustrations by Arthur Rackham: 24 mounted color plates, 12 tinted plates, 66 black and white drawings, pictorial endpapers

Publishers:

  • UK: J.M. Dent & Co.
  • US: E.P. Dutton & Co.

As a collection of myths, poems, and pseudo-folk tales released in volumes during the late 1830s, The Ingoldsby Legends by writer Richard Barham under pen name Thomas Ingoldsby injected new interest into British literary circles through its vivid lyrics and dark humor. Barham crafted original verses and stories blending existing local legends, nursery rhymes, medieval lore, and theatrical caricatures into a pioneering hodgepodge prefiguring modern mashups.

The book’s enduring popularity saw it run through numerous 19th century editions illustrated by artists like John Tenniel of Alice in Wonderland fame. But Arthur Rackham’s elaborate scenes from the 1907 deluxe edition remain the foremost visual accompaniment. As with the tales themselves weaving cultural remnants into dramatic pastiche, Rackham’s Baroque fantasy style perfectly captured their quintessential English whimsy and horror.

Through the decades, the collection continuously inspires theatrical and musical adaptations, including a recent indie folk concept album retelling stories like villain “Bloudie Jacke” in expansive progressive rock suites. Much as the legends mutate across generations, each creative resurrection unearths new facets from texts still surprising audiences through gleeful anachronism and absurdity.

Publishers’ Note

It has been the desire of the Publishers to here present the “Ingoldsby Legends” in something like an “Edition Definitive de Luxe,”. It has been carefully read with the edition finally corrected by the Author, and has been re-set in a fine type, while Mr. Arthur Rackham, in his hundred illustrations, has entered heartily into the wild humour and phantasy of this favourite old classic. The coloured pictures, which owe so much to their delicacy of tint and fine line drawing, have all been reproduced by the Graphic Photo Engraving Co. in the latest and highest development of the three-colour work, and the Publishers owe them thanks for their great care in copying these originals and for their adequate and admirable results. The colour printing has been done by Messrs. McFarlane and Erskine of Edinburgh, and the text by the Ballantyne Press of London, to whom also the Publishers wish to acknowledge their obligations.

Richard Harris Barham

Beyond his pseudonymous fame penning The Ingoldsby Legends, Richard Harris Barham led an accomplished clerical career, holding positions like minor canon at St. Paul’s Cathedral and royal chaplain. Born in Kent in 1788, Barham turned to poetry and prose after a childhood accident hindered physical activity.

While studying at Oxford, he switched academic focus from law to divinity before being ordained in 1813. His early rural curacy preceded prestigious appointments in London serving under the Crown. Barham’s personal politics aligned with Tory values, but he enjoyed lifelong friendships with prominent liberals like Sydney Smith.

After trying fiction, Barham proved most resonant applying his antiquarian knowledge toward humorous poems and pastoral tales. Pieces written as fictional manorial lord Thomas Ingoldsby gained acclaim when first published in the 1830s. Characteristic black humor and regional legends spawned endless edited volumes over the 19th century, cementing Barham’s niche.

Beyond inspiration for later composers and authors, Barham’s legacy persists through establishments like the Thomas Ingoldsby pub in his Canterbury hometown. As both successful cleric and creator of enduring myths matching fantasy predecessors, Barham bridged solemn duties and whimsical creativity, using Ingoldsby as conduit for imagination beyond institutional walls.

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