Transactions of the Ossianic Society. Six Volumes. Dublin: John O’Daly, (1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858). Publisher’s original cloth boards, title lettere in gilt to spines, covers decorated in blind. Volune 1, scuffed and worn along spine, otherwise a very good set.

The Transactions of the Ossianic Society is a six-volume collection of Irish Fenian Cycle (Ossianic) ballads and prose tales, published in Dublin between 1853 and 1858 under the direction of the Ossianic Society.

The Society was founded in 1853, before the Dublin Celtic Society, and played a leading role in the mid-nineteenth-century Irish Celtic Revival. The volumes were printed under the direction of the Council, with various editors, and the series ceased publication after volume six.

The Society’s stated object was “The publication of Irish Manuscripts relating to the Fenian period of our history, and other historical documents, with literal translations and notes” The volumes cover tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill, the Fianna, and related heroes such as Diarmuid and Grainne.