47 handcoloured plates
—– A picture-book of merry tales. London; Bosworth & Harrison. [1860]

Large square 8vo. Original dark blue pebble-grained cloth gilt, all edges gilt; pp. [viii] + 272;  illustrated with engraved and handcoloured frontispiece, title-page and  45 additional fine engraved illustrations signed H[orace] Harrel, all with original fresh handcolouring; a very bright, sharp copy with slight external wear including rubbing to joints, a slither of loss of cloth along spine head, a short (1cm) split to cloth on upper joint and tiny wear to tail, blank front free endpaper trimmed to the fore-edge and neatly reinforced along the vertical edge on the reverse with archival tape and alongside inner upper hinge with clear tape.

First edition, here in the scarce handcoloured version. From the library of the then Duke of Bedford at Woburn, with his early inscription.  Finely printed at The Chiswick Press.

An anonymous collection of European folk tales involving trickery, clever deceptions and whimsical adventures drawn from various literary traditions including German, English and Irish.  The famous German trickster Owlglass (Till Eulenspiegel) is featured in a long section at the beginning of the book. Several have Irish or fantastical elements deriding human folly and featuring clever animals.  Stories include The Countryman and the Jew; The Cannibal Cow; The Shoemaker and the Dwarfs; Teeny-Tiny and The Irish Highwayman.