{"product_id":"the-nail-in-the-skull-simon-young-9781496839466","title":"The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2023 \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrian McConnell Book Award from the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the last fifty years, folklorists have amassed an extraordinary corpus of contemporary legends including the \"Choking Doberman,\" the \"Eaten Ticket,\" and the \"Vanishing Hitchhiker.\" But what about the urban legends of the past? These legends and tales have rarely been collected, and when they occasionally appear, they do so as ancestors or precursors of the urban legends of today, rather than as stories in their own right. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends\u003c\/i\u003e, Simon Young fills this gap for British folklore (and for the wider English-speaking world) of the 1800s. Young introduces seventy Victorian urban legends ranging from \"Beetle Eyes\" to the \"Shoplifter's Dilemma\" and from \"Hands in the Muff\" to the \"Suicide Club.\" While a handful of these stories are already known, the vast majority have never been identified, and they have certainly never received scholarly treatment. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Young begins the volume with a lengthy introduction assessing nineteenth-century media, emphasizing the importance of the written word to the perpetuation and preservation of these myths. He draws on numerous nineteenth-century books, periodicals, and ephemera, including digitized newspaper archives--particularly the British Newspaper Archive, an exciting new hunting ground for folklorists. \u003ci\u003eThe Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends \u003c\/i\u003ewill appeal to an academic audience as well as to anyone who is interested in urban legends.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon Young\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1496839463\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781496839466\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Mississippi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/27\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 270\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.88lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.61d","brand":"Simon Young","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44056856232191,"sku":"9781496839466","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_5c3ff176-3eb9-4b02-913e-20d4b061031f.jpg?v=1685043636","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-nail-in-the-skull-simon-young-9781496839466","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}