20 h 54 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 20 h 54 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a haunted house makes you laugh, and a wicked baron gets exactly what he deserves?
In The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels, Thomas Ingoldsby gathers comic tales, ballads and poems full of ghosts, saints, witches, monks and rogues. Behind that borrowed name is Richard Harris Barham, a London clergyman who turns old chronicles, English folklore and church legends into stories told with a grin.
Haunted tales, saints' lives and monastic gossip supply the material; quick rhymes, puns and sudden turns supply the fun. Across old England, especially Kent, restless spirits and strange bargains meet human greed, vanity and folly. Canterbury, Dover and the Kentish coast give these curious stories a firm sense of place.
What you’ll discover
- Legends with a wink Discover old stories retold in lively rhyme, where solemn subjects make room for mischief.
- Hauntings with humor Enter haunted houses and meet restless spirits in ghost tales meant to amuse.
- Puns at every turn Enjoy names, Latin tags and everyday phrases twisted into unexpected comic shapes.
- Pride meets its match Watch greedy, vain and foolish figures face the prospect of strange, fitting punishments.
- A journey through Kent Explore the old houses, roads and cathedrals that give these legends their local character.
Who will love it
Readers who love ghost stories told with a wink, comic verse that rattles along, English folklore from Kent, and tall tales with a moral tacked on at the end.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Fear and laughter share a room
- A family gives the tales roots
- Missing trousers make a ghost story
- Horror gives way to a chase
- The baron cannot escape the consequences
- Saints bring miracles into everyday mischief
- Guilt follows people to the door
- The narrator keeps interrupting the action
- The jokes belong inside the fear
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- Large print hardcover
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The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels
A lieutenant's trousers vanish from a locked Kent bedroom, and a ghost gets the blame.
Challenging10–20 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Picture waking in a locked bedroom of an old Kent manor house and finding your trousers gone. Lieutenant Charles Seaforth does exactly that in the first tale of this book.
The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels at a glance
- Reading time
- About 11 h 50 min9 h 25 min fast, 14 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 169,200 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Kent family tells the tales
The book is built around an imaginary family called the Ingoldsbys, who live at Tappington Everard, an old manor house in eastern Kent. The author writes as Thomas Ingoldsby, and his preface jokes about readers who doubt that he exists. He offers a sketch of the house as proof. Later tales appear as papers kept at the Hall, as stories told by relatives, or as accounts sent by friends.
Inside this frame move a crowd of comic figures. The housekeeper Mrs. Botherby passes old legends down in the nursery. Mr. Simpkinson of Bath is an antiquary who cannot see a ruin without giving a lecture. Mr. Peters repeatedly interrupts the conversation, and his wife sharply tells him to be quiet or stop making a fool of himself. Tom Ingoldsby, the young squire, is the cheerful friend who sits up late to test a ghost.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Ingoldsby, Thomas. The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ingoldsby-legends-or-mirth-and-marvels.
Ingoldsby, T. (2026). The Ingoldsby legends; or, mirth and marvels. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ingoldsby-legends-or-mirth-and-marvels
Ingoldsby, Thomas. The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ingoldsby-legends-or-mirth-and-marvels.
@book{ingoldsby2026ingoldsby,
author = {Ingoldsby, Thomas},
title = {The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ingoldsby-legends-or-mirth-and-marvels}
}
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What is The Ingoldsby Legends about?
It is a collection of comic ghost stories, saints' legends and tales of devils, told in lively verse and prose. Many are set in England, often Kent, and many end with a joking moral.
Who is Thomas Ingoldsby?
Thomas Ingoldsby is the pen name of Richard Harris Barham, who died in 1845. He also plays a character, the squire of Tappington Everard, who introduces the stories and answers his critics.
Are the legends true stories?
They are folk legends dressed up in jokes. Many are linked to real places such as Canterbury, Thanet and Sheppey, but the author freely adds invented details, notes and comic asides for fun.
The author
Thomas Ingoldsby
1788–1845 · English humorist and priest
Thomas Ingoldsby was the pen name of Richard Harris Barham, a British writer and Anglican priest. He was born in Canterbury in 1788 and died in London in 1845. He served as a clergyman in Kent and London. His collection, The Ingoldsby Legends, began appearing in print in 1837.
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