William Carleton (1794-1869) was a prolific Irish author, social historian and anthropologist who wrote from intimate acquaintance with the scenes he described. His works are unique pictures of Irish rural life and preserve and document the cultural traditions of nineteenth-century Ireland. His first major work, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (1830- 33) is based on his knowledge of the character and folklore of the people he knew and gives an accurate and vivid description of life in rural Ireland. It won him a great reputation. Amongst his other works are: Fardorougha the Miser (1837), Valentine McClutchy, the Irish Agent (1845), The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine (1846), which is based on his own experiences of the famines in Ireland, The Emigrants of Ahadarra (1847), The Tithe Proctor (1849) and Willy Reilly (1850), a sentimental romance.