Tales of the West of Ireland. Edited with a Foreword by Gertrude M. Horgan. Dublin; Dolmen Press, 1975. Third Edition. Pp, 186. A nice bright copy in pictorial dust jacket.

Dust jacket illustration by Jack B. Yeats.

James Berry, a native of County Mayo, came from peasant stock. He spent his whole life in the West until his death at the age of seventy-two in 1914. The material of his tales comes from the people of Mayo and Galway, mainly handed down to him by word of mouth. They tell of poor communities living in a bleak and beautiful countryside against a background of secret societies, man-hunts, smuggling, murders, wakes, rebellion and starvation.