Gypsy Folk-Tales by Francis Hindes Groome, first published in 1899, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

Deborah Epstein Nord traces the nearly ubiquitous British preoccupation with Gypsies in imaginative works by John Clare, Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, George Eliot, Arthur Conan Doyle, and D. H. Lawrence. She also exhumes lesser-known literary, ethnographic, and historical texts, exploring the fascinating histories of the nomadic writer George Borrow, the Gypsy Lore Society, Dora Yates, and other rarely examined figures and institutions. These textual representations are characterized by a tension between Gypsies as an alien, often despised "race" and the psychic or aesthetic desire to dissolve the boundary between English and Gypsy worlds. Nord suggests that, by the beginning of the twentieth century, romantic identification with Gypsies hardened into caricature and served to obscure the realities of Gypsy life and history. This phenomenon is reflected most famously in The Virgin and the Gipsy, in which D. H. Lawrence both exploits and criticizes the myth of Gypsies' unfettered sensuality, closeness to nature, and opposition to the oppressive strictures of modern life.

Weaving together lore, legend, and belief Buckland’s Book of Gypsy Magic revives the beliefs, spell-craft, and healing wisdom of the Romany people. From hexes and healings to tea leaves and tarot, the circle of the family and the rituals of death, this enchanted volume will delight witches, folklorists, and history lovers alike. Learn the shuvani’s secrets for love, craft a talisman for vitality, and cast the Gypsy Start tarot spread. Join Buckland around the campfire, to hear stories of werewolves and vampires, mistaken identity, persecution, and perseverance. Learn how the gypsy people have for centuries used wisdom and enchantments to ensure good health, happy families, and heart’s desire. Includes a glossary of Romany words.

Romany culture is perhaps the most Indo-European of all. The ancestors of the Gypsies left India around 1000 years ago and mixed with every culture on the way to produce a variety of Romany dialects and well-known cultural achievements from Hungarian Gypsy music to the English Gypsy caravan. Such images somehow co-exist, however, with continuous persecution.