The Ingoldsby Legends: Arthur Rackham Envisions Rev. Barham’s Humorous Verses

The Ingoldsby Legends, or Mirth and Marvels is a collection of myths, legends, ghost stories, fairy tales, and narrative poetry first collected into a book by Rev. Richard Harris Barham, writing under the pseudonym Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor. Offering over 40 stories in total composed in lighthearted, rollicking rhythms, the often macabre yet humorous tales offer a unique blend of folk legends, medieval lore, Catholic superstition, and Barham’s own exuberant inventions weaving together a miscellany of fantastical or frightful episodes.

First published in periodicals throughout the 1830s and 1840s, the legends include Barham’s most celebrated poems “The Jackdaw of Rheims” – concerning the theft of a Cardinal’s jeweled ring – and “The Hand of Glory” – featuring thieves deploying the pickled hand of a hanged man to freeze victims while robbing them. Since its original serialization, the collection has been continually in and out of print for over 175 years. Of the many illustrated editions emerge over that timespan, Arthur Rackham’s 1898 interpretations remain the definitive adornment capturing the blends of wholesome morbidity, drunken revelry, and supernatural whimsy pervading Barham’s verses.

Format: Green cloth binding with gilt top (638 pages)

Size: 5 1⁄4 x 7 7⁄8 inches

Text: The Ingoldsby Legends, or Mirth & Marvels by Rev. Richard Harris Barham (as Thomas Ingoldsby, Esquire)

Illustrations: 12 color plates, 90 black and white drawings, decorative endpapers by Arthur Rackham

Publisher: J.M. Dent & Co. (London)

First Edition Publication Date: 1898.  This book was reprinted in 1907 in a larger edition with added illustrations.

1907 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.

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 illustra- tions, 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 repro- duced 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 admir- able 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.

Summary: At the peak of his powers in 1897, Arthur Rackham demonstrated the full range of his imaginative mastery when he released an illustrated edition of Rev. Richard Harris Barham’s beloved poetic tales, The Ingoldsby Legends.

Writing as fictional Thomas Ingoldsby, Barham crafted stories blending humor, horror, and medieval lore across rolling rhyming verses. As Rackham had gained fame visualizing legends himself, he proves the ideal match for Barham’s vibrant vignettes ranging from tipsy monks to hellish devils. His 12 color plates and 90 energetic black and white drawings capture the lyrical whimsy and chilling drama while cementing his reputation interpreting canonical works of fantasy flavored folklore. While later expanded editions emerged, this initial 1898 release stands as the definitive pairing of Barham’s words and Rackham’s images.