A Handbook of Irish Folklore. With Introductory Note by Seamus O’Duilearga. Frontispiece portrait of Padraig Mac Maghnuis. Dublin: Educational Co., 1942. First Edition. Pp xxxi, 699. Publisher’s dark navy cloth boards, title lettered in gilt to spine. a fine bright copy.

In 1935, the creation of The Irish Folklore Commission set in motion the first organised efforts of collecting and studying a multitude of folktales, both written as well as those of the Irish oral tradition. Sean O’Sullivan, one of the foremost scholars of Irish folklore of the 20th century, was chief archivist until his retirement in 1974.

“O’Sullivan writes out of an intimacy with his subject and an instinctive grasp of the language of the originals. He tells us that his archives contain more than a million and a half pages of manuscript. If Mr. O’Sullivan translates them, I’ll read them.”–Seamus Heaney, New Statesman

A brief description of chapters: Chapter 1. Settlement and Dwelling. Chapter 2. Livelihood and Household Support. Chapter 3. Communications and Trade. Chapter 4. Community. Chapter 5. Human Life. Chapter 6. Nature. Chapter 7. Folk-Medicine. Chapter 8. Time. Chapter 9. Principles and rules of popular belief and practice. Chapter 10. Mythological Tradition. Chapter 11. Historical Tradition. Chapter 12. Religious Tradition. Chapter 13. Popular Oral Literature. Chapter 14. Sports and Pastimes.