The Jackdaw of Rheims

London: Gay & Hancock, 12 & 13 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 1913. Three-quarter leather bound. Very good. Charles FOLKARD. [JUVENILE] [ILLUSTRATION]. Charles FOLKARD, illustrations. Folio; [16]pp + [12] color plates tipped onto thick gray stock; three-quarters bound in orange calf with marbled boards, 5 raised bands and gilt-stamped spine; half-title and title-page printed in black and orange; relief illustrations in text; color plates with titled tissue-guards; to edge gilt, untrimmed bottom and fore-edge; light shelf-wear to board edges, shelf-soiling of untrimmed edges, first tipped plate has corner creasing from catching on tissue-guard when closing, scattered foxing on printed pages; very good. The Jackdaw of Rheims is one of the myths in the collection of the Ingoldsby Legends penned by Clergyman Richard Harris Barham. Told in rhyming verse, the bird steals the turquoise ring of the Cardinal Lord Archbishop of Rheims while he is dining with fellow clergy. When he misses the ring, the Cardinal calls down a curse on the thief. After the sickly jackdaw returns the ring the curse is reversed and the bird faithfully serves the Cardinal until his death, whereupon the Cardinal makes him a saint. Lively art by Charles Folkard, an English cartoonist and children's book illustrator.