Sacred Texts  Legends/Sagas  Celtic  Index  Previous  Next 

p. 419

APPENDIX

A FEW BOOKS UPON CELTIC MYTHOLOGY AND LITERATURE

The object of this short list is merely to supplement the marginal notes by pointing out to a reader desirous of going deeper into the subject the most recent and accessible works upon it. That they should be accessible is, in its intention, the most important thing; and therefore only books easily and cheaply obtainable will be mentioned.

INTRODUCTORY

Matthew Arnold.--THE STUDY OF CELTIC LITERATURE. Popular Edition. London, 1891.

Ernest Renan.--THE POETRY OF THE CELTIC RACES (and other studies). Translated by William G. Hutchinson. London, 1896.

Two eloquent appreciations of Celtic literature.

Magnus Maclean, M.A., D.C.L.--THE LITERATURE OF THE CELTS. Its History and Romance. London, 1902.

A handy exposition of all the branches of Celtic literature.

Elizabeth A. Sharp (editor).--LYRA CELTICA. An Anthology of Representative Celtic Poetry. Ancient Irish, Alban, Gaelic, Breton, Cymric, and Modern Scottish and Irish Celtic Poetry. With introduction and notes by William Sharp. Edinburgh, 1896.

Alfred Nutt.--CELTIC AND MEDIÆVAL ROMANCE. No. 1 of Mr. Nutt's "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folk-lore". London, 1899.

A pamphlet briefly tracing the indebtedness of mediæval European literature to pre-mediæval Celtic sources.

p. 420

HISTORICAL

H. d’Arbois de Jubainville.--LA CIVILISATION DES CELTES ET CELLE DE L’ÉPOPÉE HOMÉRIQUE. Paris, 1899.

Vol. VI of the author's monumental "Cours de Littérature celtique."

Patrick Weston Joyce.--A SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRELAND, treating of the Government, Military System, and Law; Religion, Learning, and Art; Trades, Industries, and Commerce; Manners, Customs, and Domestic Life of the Ancient Irish People. 2 vols. London, 1903.

Charles I. Elton, F.S.A.--ORIGINS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. Second edition, revised. London, 1890.

John Rhys.--CELTIC BRITAIN. "Early Britain" Series. London, 1882.

H. d’Arbois de Jubainville.--INTRODUCTION A L’ÉTUDE DE LA LITTÉRATURE CELTIQUE. Vol. I of the "Cours de Littérature celtique". Paris, 1883.

Contains, among other information, the fullest and most authentic account of the druids and druidism.

GAELIC MYTHOLOGY

H. d’Arbois de Jubainville.--LE CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS ET LA MYTHOLOGIE CELTIQUE. Vol. II of the "Cours de Littérature celtique". Paris, 1884. Translated into English as

THE IRISH MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE AND CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. With notes by R. I. Best. Dublin, 1903.

An account of Irish mythical history and of some of the greater Gaelic gods. With chapters on some of the more striking phases of Celtic belief.

Alfred Nutt.--THE VOYAGE OF BRAN, SON OF FERAL. An Irish Historic Legend of the eighth century. Edited by Kuno Meyer. With essays upon the Happy Otherworld in Irish Myth and upon the Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth. Vol. I--The Happy Otherworld. Vol. II--The Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth. Grimm Library, Vols. IV and VI. London, 1895-1897.

p. 421

Contains, among other notable contributions to the study of Celtic mythology, an enquiry into the nature of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a subject briefly treated in the same author's

THE FAIRY MYTHOLOGY OF SHAKESPEARE. No. 6 of "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore". London, 1900.

Patrick Weston Joyce.--OLD CELTIC ROMANCES Translated from the Gaelic. London, 1894.

A retelling in popular modern style of some of the more important mythological and Fenian stories.

Lady Gregory.--GODS AND FIGHTING MEN. The story of the Tuatha Dé Danaan and of the Fianna of Erin. Arranged and put into English by Lady Gregory. With a Preface by W. B. Yeats. London, 1904.

Covers much the same ground as Mr. Joyce's book, but in more literary manner.

Alfred Nutt.--OSSIAN AND THE OSSIANIC LITERATURE. No. 3 of "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folk-lore". London, 1899.

A short survey of the literature connected with the Fenians.

John Gregorson Campbell, Minister of Tiree.--THE FIANS. Stories, poems, and traditions of Fionn and his Warrior Band, collected entirely from oral sources. With introduction and bibliographical notes by Alfred Nutt. Vol. IV of "Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition". London, 1891.

An account of the Fenians from the Scottish-Gaelic side.

Alfred Nutt.--CUCHULAINN THE IRISH ACHILLES. No. 8 of "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore". London, 1900.

A brief but excellent introduction to the Cuchulainn cycle.

Lady Gregory.--CUCHULAIN OF MUIRTHEMNE. The story of the Men of the Red Branch of Ulster. Arranged and put into English by Lady Gregory. With a Preface by W. B. Yeats. London, 1902.

A retelling in poetic prose of the tales connected with Cuchulainn.

Eleanor Hull.--THE CUCHULLIN SAGA IN IRISH LITERATURE. Being a collection of stories relating to the Hero Cuchullin, translated from the Irish by various scholars. Compiled and

p. 422

edited with introduction and notes by Eleanor Hull. With Map of Ancient Ireland. Grimm Library, Vol. VIII. London, 1898.

A series of Cuchulainn stories from the ancient Irish manuscripts. More literal than Lady Gregory's adaptation.

H. d’Arbois de Jubainville.--L’ÉPOPÉE CELTIQUE EN IRLANDE. Vol. V of the "Cours de Littérature celtique". Paris, 1892.

A collection, translated into French, of some of the principal stories of the Cuchulainn cycle, with various appendices upon Gaelic mythological subjects.

L. Winifred Faraday, M.A.--THE CATTLE RAID OF CUALGNE (Táin Bo Cuailgne). An old Irish prose-epic translated for the first time from the Leabhar na h-Uidhri and the Yellow Book of Lecan. Grimm Library, Vol. XVI. London, 1904.

A strictly literal rendering of the central episode of the Cuchulainn cycle.

BRITISH MYTHOLOGY

Ivor B. John.--THE MABINOGION. No. 11 of "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore". London, 1901.

A pamphlet introduction to the Mabinogion literature.

Lady Charlotte Guest--THE MABINOGION. From the Welsh of the LLYFR COCH O HERGEST (the Red Book of Hergest) in the library of Jesus College, Oxford. Translated, with notes, by Lady Charlotte Guest.

First edition. Text, translation, and notes, 3 vols., 1849.
Translation and notes only, 1 vol., 1877.
The Boys' Mabinogion, 1881.

Cheap editions of this classic have been lately issued. One may obtain it in Mr. Nutt's handsome little volume; as one of Dent's "Temple Classics"; or in the "Welsh Library".

J. Loth.--LES MABINOGION, traduits en entier pour la première fois en français avec un commentaire explicatif et des notes critiques. 2 vols. Vols. III and IV of De Jubainville's "Cours de Littérature celtique". Paris, 1889.

A more exact translation than that of Lady Guest, with notes embodying more recent scholarship.

p. 423

J. A. Giles, D.C.L.--OLD ENGLISH CHRONICLES, including . . . Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, Gildas, Nennius .. . Edited, with illustrative notes, by J. A. Giles, D.C.L. "Bohn's Antiquarian Library". London, 1901.

The most accessible edition of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Sir Thomas Malory.--THE MORTE DARTHUR. Edited by Dr. H. Oskar Sommer. Vol. I--the Text. Vol. II--Glossary, Index, &c. Vol. III--Study on the Sources. London, 1889-1891.

Vol. I of this, the best text of the Morte Darthur, can be obtained separately.

Jessie L. Weston.--KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS. A survey of Arthurian romance. No. 4 of "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore". London, 1899.

Alfred Nutt.--THE LEGENDS OF THE HOLY GRAIL. No. 14 of "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore" London, 1902.

Useful introductions to a more special study of Arthurian literature.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CELTIC MYTHOLOGY

John Rhys.--LECTURES ON THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF RELIGION AS ILLUSTRATED BY CELTIC HEATHENDOM. "The Hibbert Lectures for 1886." London, 1898.

John Rhys.--STUDIES IN THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND. Oxford, 1901.

These two volumes are the most important attempts yet made towards a scientific and comprehensive study of the Celtic mythology.

CELTIC FAIRY AND FOLK LORE

GAELIC

T. Crofton Croker.--FAIRY LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS OF THE SOUTH OF IRELAND.

This book is one of the earliest, and, if not the most scientific, perhaps the most attractive of the many collections of Irish fairy-lore. Later compilations are Mr. William Laminie's

p. 424

[paragraph continues] "West Irish Folktales and Romances", and Mr. Jeremiah Curtin's "Hero Tales of Ireland", "Myths and Folklore of Ireland", and "Tales of the Fairies, collected in South Munster". On the Scotch side, notice should be particularly taken of Campbell's "Popular Tales of the West Highlands" and the volumes entitled "Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition". All these books are either recent or recently republished, and are merely selected out of a large list of works, valuable and other wise, upon this lighter side of Celtic mythology.

BRITISH

John Rhys.--CELTIC FOLKLORE, WELSH AND MANX. 2 vols Oxford, 1901.

Wirt Sikes.--BRITISH GOBLINS: Welsh Folklore, Fairy Mythology, Legends, and Traditions. By Wirt Sikes, United States Consul for Wales. London, 1880.

FOLKLORE COMPARATIVELY TREATED

George Laurence Gomme.--ETHNOLOGY IN FOLKLORE, "Modern Science" Series. London, 1892.

An attempt to assign apparently non-Aryan beliefs and customs in the British islands to pre-Aryan inhabitants.

 

Next: Index