Fairy Tales: Their Origin and Meaning With Some Account of Dwellers in Fairyland was written by John Thackray Bunce (1828 - 1899). Bunce was the senior vice president of the Birmingham and Midland Institute in 1877 when a course of Christmas Holiday lectures was offered. Bunce's goal was to take the lectures and expand on them producing a book for young people with the aim of: "an inducement rather than a formal introduction to the study of Folk Lore; a study which, when once begun, the reader will pursue, with unflagging interest, in such works as the various writings of Mr. Max-Muller; the "Mythology of the Aryan Nations," by Mr. Cox; Mr. Ralston's "Russian Folk Tales;" Mr. Kelly's "Curiosities of Indo-European Folk Lore;" the Introduction to Mr. Campbell's "Popular Tales of the West Highlands," and other publications, both English and German, bearing upon the same subject." Chapters include Origin of Fairy tales, Kindred Tales from Divers Lands, Dwellers in Fairyland: Stories from the east, Dwellers in Fairyland: Teutonic Scandinavian Etc., Dwellers in Fairyland: Celtic, The West Highlands, and Conclusion: Some Popular Tales Explained.
