Author: Niall Mac Coitir
Watercolours: Grania Langrishe
Publisher: The Collins Press
Copyright: 2003, Reprinted 2006, 2008, 2012
ISBN: 9781903464335
Pages: 231 including watercolours, references, and bibliography.
Synopsis: In ancient Ireland, mythology and folklore were part of the general knowledge about each tree. This book gathers the myths, legends and folklore associated with the native trees.
Review: Where to start? I liked the watercolors and the black and white pictures in the book. They helped me visualise the trees that were being talked about and associate them with what is being written. There were some good footnotes, and great books in the bibliography, and it was obvious to me that the author had done his research and had read A LOT of great sources. I also liked that it was very much pagan friendly. There was some great folklore and mythology associations shown for each tree. But…
In some places I kept thinking…WHAT? You read McManus on Ogams and you still think THAT? Or dear Gods you thought Robert Graves was right about THAT? (Just to be clear the author knows that Robert Graves took a lot of poetic licence in his book White Goddess but he still thought he was not wrong in some aspects). In some other places there were good and interesting tidbits but I kept thinking citation!! (Again there were footnotes in this book but in some places they didn’t materialise).
I would recommend the book just for the information about the trees and the myths, legends and folklore associated with them….the rest though? I’d take that with a sign that says…caution, and please cross-reference with other books, as well as please discard in some cases. So basically, a mixed bag of good, sort of good, and UH?
Celtic Scholar's Reviews and Opinions 