NEW YORK CITY FOLKLORE

The subtitle runs ""Legends, Tall Tales, Anecdotes, Stories, Sagas, Heroes & Characters, Traditions, Customs, Songs, & Sayings"", which should indicate the generous and genial proportions of this collection. The pieces cover the city elements from its purchase to its present and tap the realms of society, commerce, politics, saloons and streets. Observers and participants include Washington Irving, Meyer Berger, Hy Gardner, the Philosophical Cabbie, historians of then and now... Varied company includes Mrs. Astor and her ball, ""Professor Thomas"", creator of Tom and Jerry, Brillat- Savarin, Indians and Dutchmen, Diamond Jim Brady, Damon Runyon. Another on the editor's shelf -- where A Treasury of American Folklore, A Treasury of Western Folklore, of Mississippi and Railroad, etc. already reside.