Introduction: In 1834 Murray issued a selected edition of the Fairy Legends [... &c.] in one volume - containing 40 of the original 50 tales on Irish fairy lore. The third part, devoted to Wales, was entirely omitted from this printing. A new edition was published in concert with Thomas Tegg in 1838. This edition is properly called the Second Edition and must not be confused with the second edition of Part I, originally published in 1825 and reissued in 1826.

In 1859, Tegg alone published a new edition - Croker have died the year before. This was substantially the same in content as that of 1838 but was edited by Croker’s Blackwood’s confrère Thomas Wright and contained a biographical Memoir of Croker by his son, Thomas Francis Dillon Croker, and illustrations by Daniel Maclise. This edition was subsequently reprinted up to 1912 (by George Allen) and afterwards reprinted in facsimile by several publishers (e.g., Lemma 1971, and Collins 1998.) [BS]

Bibliographical Remarks: According to J. F. D. Croker, in his “Memoir” prefixed to the 1859 “new edition”, the first volume of the work appeared anonymously in 1825 and produced the complimentary letter from Sir Walter Scott afterwards attached to subsequent editions. A second edition in the following year [1826] occasioned by the success of the first, appeared with additional engravings after sketches by Daniel Maclise. This was followed by a 2nd and 3rd series (i.e., Parts 2 & 3) in 1827 [sic JFDC, but recte 1828]. Of the third part, he says: ‘though it appeared under the same title, namely “Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland” [it] may be considered as forming a separate work, inasmuch as it comprised the fairy superstitions of Wales and other countries, in addition to those current in Ireland.’ [1]

In so saying, he merely reiterates the author’s own remarks in a first edition of the full series (Pts. I, 2 & 3) which was also issued in 1828. In the Preface to Part II of this two-volume publication - of which Parts II & III occupy the second volume - Croker speaks of Part III as a being ‘separate work’ which concerned itself not with Irish fairy lore but with the ‘fairy superstitions [...] of Wales and other countries’, which he hoped would be considered ‘illustrative’ of the species found in Ireland. In the preface of the 1826 reprint edition, he had already heralded the third series with remark to the effect that the Welsh material would be included under the same title (i.e., Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland) as ‘affording additional proof that the fairy creed must have been a completed and connected system’.

In 1834 John Murray issued a new edition of Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland in one volume, abbreviating the 3-part series by reducing the number of Irish stories from fifty stories to forty - as Croker explains in a 2-page preface - and by eliminating the contents of the third series entirely, a self-evident fact that Croker does not mention in his preface. Therein he also tells us that he has shortened the original by eliminating ‘all superfluous annotations’ while substituted ‘a brief summary [...] explanatory of the classification adopted’ at the end of each section. In all of this, he asserts, ‘nothing which illustrates in the slightest degree the popular Fairy Creed of Ireland has been sacrificed.’ (Preface, p.2.) [On Croker’s annotations, see note, infra.]

It follows that the national integrity of the Irish stories proved to be their selling point with Murray, leaving the more ambitious scope of the third volume as a testimony to Croker’s belief in a wider folklore ‘system’ and his relations with such international folklore scholars as, most notably, the Brothers Grimm with whom he corresponded (and whose “Essay” affixed to their 1826 translation of his first series as Irische Elfenmärchen (1826). The volume contains a letter from Sir Walter to the author in response to the first volume (i.e., 1825) which was earlier prefixed to the 2nd edition of 1826 and here printed as an appendix. In it Scott confirms the similarity of Irish and Scottish folklore though owning the Banshee to be uniquely Irish.

1] T. F. D. Croker, “Memoir”, in Fairy Legends and Traditions ... &c., by T. C. Croker, 1859 Edn., p.vii; available online; accessed 22.12.2011) Note also that T. F. D. Croker expressly states that “Barney Mahoney” and “Our Village” are not by T. C. Croker but by Mrs. [Marianne] Croker, contrary to the prevalent idea - then and afterwards. See, for instance, Henry Morley’s introduction to Popular Songs of Ireland (1886 Edn.) where he writes: ‘In 1832 followed “Barney Mahoney” and “Our Village” [...]’ (p.6.) In view of its special interest as an example of Anglo-Irish literary transactions, the full text of Barney Mahoney (2nd edn. 1832) has been copied on this website. (See RICORSO Library, “Irish Classics” > Croker > Barney Mahoney - via index or direct.

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Bibliographical details
Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, Part II (London: John Murray MDCCCXXVIII [1828]), v-x [Preface], 327pp.; ded.: “To Sir Walter Scott, Bart., This Volume is Inscribed, in Admiration of his Genius, and Gratitude for his Kindness, by T. Crofton Croker.” Printed in London by Thomas Davison, Whitefrairs [t.p. verso]. The Etchings by, and Wood engravings after the drawings of W. H. Brooke, F.S.A. [ded. verso.] CONTENTS:

[Sections:] The Merrow; The Dullahan; The Fir Darrig; Treasure Legends; Rocks and Stones [i.e., Pt. II, continuing on from Pt. I - with constituent stories in each thus-named section]. Full-page plates incl. facing t.p.: ‘What’s your name, my darling,” says Dick.’ (Note: the sprig on t.p. of this edn. appears at the end of “The Brewery of the Egg-Shells” in Fairy Legends, ... &c., Murray 1834 Edn., p.32.) ;Notes: Each title-section, signifying a class of narrative, has its own t.p. with blank verso and corresponding page-count - i.e., “The Merrow” [Pt. II, Sect 1; Fairy Legends, 1828, p.1], of which the first story is “The Lady of Gollerus” (pp.3-20) - as given in Table of Contents, infra. The text includes verse passages in Gaelic fonts, especially for songs, and Greek fonts occasional used in the annotations at the end of stories where comparable narratives or motifs in other literatures are cited. See also full-page plate facing the title-page and and another between pp.206-07 [facing p.207], &c.

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Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland [3 vols. in 1 - i.e., Vols. 1 & 2 of orig. 3-vol. ser.] (London: John Murray MDCCCXXXIV [1834]), [iii]-iv [Preface], 344pp.; Epigraph [t.p.]: ‘Come l’araba Fenice / Che si cia, ognun lo dice; / Dove sia, nessun lo-sa.’ - Metastasio [see note, infra]. The wood engravings after Designs by Mr. Brooke, R.H.A., Mr. M’Clise, and the AUTHOR. Ded. verses to Dowager Lady Chatterton [of] Castle Mahon [as infra], signed in engraved autograph-style: T. Crofton Croker; printed by A[ndrew] Spottiswoode, London.] Given on printed cover as The Family Library, No. XLVII/47 Price Five Shillings. (See Contents and extracts, attached.)

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Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland / Second Edition (London: John Murray, Albemerle Street; and Thomas Tegg & Son, Cheapside. MDCCCXXXVIII [1838]), [iii]-iv [Preface], 344pp.; ‘Come l’araba Fenice / Che si cia, ognun lo dice; / Dove sia, nessun lo-sa.’ - Metastasio, and with ded. verses to Dowager Lady Chatterton [of] Castle Mahon. signed in autograph-style: T. Crofton Croker; concluding verses [p.341], with a letter from Sir Walter Scott as Appendix, pp.342-44; printed by Bradbury & Evans, Whiteside; final page.] (Contents identical to those of 1834 edition as supra.)

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Metastasio?: - The epigraph of Fairy Legends and Traditions [1835-28] (1834 Edn.) - “Come l’araba Fenice / Che si cia, ognun lo dice; / Dove sia, nessun lo-sa” - is therein attributed to Metastasio. However, his verses, here quoted, were also taken up by Lorenzo Da Ponte in his libretto for Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as follows: ‘E’ la fede degli amanti / Come l’araba fenice: / che vi sia, ciascun lo dice; / dove sia, nessun lo sa. // Se tu sai dov’ha ricetto, / dove muore e torna in vita, / me l’addita, e ti prometto / di serbar la fedeltà’. (See Commentary at L’autore: Da ‘Ponte rubò a Metastasio la prima quartina di un’arietta che il Così fan tutte renderà universale’ [online: - acccessed 21.12.2011.]

Superfluous?: Croker tells us, in his Preface to Fairy Legends ... &c.] (1834 Edn.): ‘all superfluous annotations’ in the earlier series (1825-28) have been eliminated, and that ‘a brief summary ... explanatory of the classification adopted’ has been substituted at the end of each section; but see the lengthy note on the first page of the second ‘legend’ which takes the form of the 14-line quotation explaining the naming of Knock Doinne Firinne [i.e., mountains of Donn of the Truth], here attributed to Edward O’Reilly.

Besides attesting to the authenticity of Irish-place names - just as a one-line note appended to the first story - i.e., “The Legend of Knocksheogowna”) similarly explains the meaning of that place name [“The Hill of the Fairy Calf”, p.8, n.) - there are traces here of the beginnings of a latter-day reverence for the Gaelic dinnsenchas which served Seamus Heaney as a point of departure for his theory of ‘Sense of Place’ in Irish writing in his 1977 lecture of that name. Similarily, many of the subsequent stories are attended by a short note at some point or other - e.g., “The Legend of Knockgrafton” where the sobriquet of the central character, Lushmore, is explained in a footnote that simply notifies us simply that Gl. lushmore [lus mor] is a ‘the great herb - digitalis purpurea’. In large part, the function of the footnote is to convey the idea that the botanical lore of the poor man of Aherlow at the centre of the story is a folkloric counterpart of a form of knowledge classified by science in the Linnean taxonomic system - thus conferring on it the prestige of an intuitive, yet essentially accurate, system of natural science. [BS]

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