Haunted England. - 1940

London: B. T. Batsford Ltd,, 1940. First edition, first impression, with the scarce jacket designed by the wood-engraver John Farleigh (1900-1965). Christina Hole (1896-1985) published extensively on folklore, starting with Wonder Tales of the British Empire in 1934 and establishing her academic reputation in 1937 in Traditions and Customs of Cheshire. She joined the Folklore Society in 1941, and in 1956 she became a member of the council, taking on the office of Honorary Editor of the society's journal Folklore. In this work Hole collects ghost-lore from across England and divides them into categories including "Traditional Tales", "Quiet Ghosts", and "Poltergeists". Hole gives significance to the tales not based on any claims of veracity, but due to the fact that "all have been told or believed by the people or England" and therefore "reveal something of the English mind" (Hole, p. vii). Octavo. Original pink cloth, spine lettered in black, top edge pink. With dust jacket. With black and white line drawings by Farleigh in the text. Spine gently cocked, minor bumps to ends, scattered spots of foxing; price-clipped jacket lightly toned, chips to fold ends, tape repair to verso of head of front flap fold, a couple of short closed tears to rear panel edges: a very good copy in like jacket. Katharine M. Briggs, "Christina Hole: An Appreciation", Folklore, 1979.