Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Illustrated edition. drawings by wilfred jones.

Item Description

8vo. 8.5 x 5.5 inches. [vi] + 298 pp. Bound in quarter black cloth, gilt. Extremities worn, including right hand corner of front board and head and tail of spine. Right hand of first two thirds of text pages bumped and creases front board; otherwise a very good clean copy. 1923 signature on verso of first free endpaper. Illustrated by 6 colour plates, numbered in text. Decorated by half title, title page, chapter heading, margin and tailpiece vignettes. Patterned endpapers with pictorial colour vignettes, The Crock of Gold is a comic novel a mixture of philosophy, Irish folklore and the 'battle of the sexes. It contains six books, Book 1 ? The Coming of Pan, Book 2 ? The Philosopher's Journey, Book 3 ? The Two Gods, Book 4 ? The Philosopher's Return, Book 5 ? The Policemen, and Book 6 ? The Thin Woman's Journey. All rotate around the astonishing story of what happens when Pan shows up in Ireland, what Angus Og does about it, and what becomes of the Daughter of Murrachu who gets caught in between them. A mad-cap quest ensues as fairies, leprechauns and a philosopher are being hunted by the police; all become involved in the antics of the two gods. James Stephens (1882-1950), Irish nationalist, novelist and poet was best known for The Crock of Gold, which was first published 1912, and for Irish Fairy Tales (1920). Illustrated by Wilfred J. Jones (1888-1968, US artist and illustrator.