Basic Celtic Studies Reading List

Thanks to John Gibson for compiling this list. (* indicates books to start with.)

Chadwick, Nora, The Celts (Penguin, Middlesex 1985)

*Cross, Tom Peete and Clark Harris Slover, Ancient Irish Tales (Barnes & Noble, Totowa NJ 1988 reprint of 1936 edition)

*Cunliffe, Barry, The Celtic World : An Illustrated History of the Celtic Race, Their Culture, Customs and Legends (Greenwich House, NY 1986)

*Davidson, HR Ellis, Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe : Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions (Syracuse University Press, Syracuse 1988)

de Santillana, Giorgio and Hertha von Dechend, Hamlet's Mill : An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and its Transmission Through Myth 2ed (David R. Godine, Boston 1983)

Dillon, Myles, Early Irish Literature (University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1948)

Evans-Wentz, WY, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries (Citadel Press, NY 1990)

*Ford, Patrick K, The Mabonogi and Other Welsh Medieval Tales (University of California Press, Berkeley 1977)

*Gantz, Jeffrey, Early Irish Myths and Sagas (Penguin, London 1988)

*Green, Miranda, The Gods of the Celts (Barnes & Noble, Totowa NJ 1986)

Hutton, Ronald, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles : Their Nature and Legacy (Blackwell, Oxford 1991)

Kinsella, Thomas, The Tain (University of Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia 1985)

Littleton, C. Scott, The New Comparative Mythology : An Anthropological Assessment of the Theories of Georges DumEzil, 3ed (University of California Press, Berkeley 1982)

*MacCana, Proinsias, Celtic Mythology (Hamlyn, London 1970)

*McNeill, F. Marian, The Silver Bough (Cannongate, Edinburgh 1989)

Merrifield, Ralph, The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic (New Amsterdam Books, NY 1988)

*Nagy, Joseph Falaky, The Wisdom of the Outlaw : The Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition (University of California Press, Berkeley 1985)

O'Driscoll, Robert ed. The Celtic Consciousness (George Braziller, NY 1987)

*Piggot, Stuart, The Druids (Thames & Hudson, NY 1986)

*Rees, Alwyn and Brinley, Celtic Heritage : Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales (Thames & Hudson, NY 1989)

*Rolleston, TW, Celtic Myths and Legends (Avenel Books, NY 1986)

Ross, Anne, Pagan Celtic Britain : Studies in Iconography and Tradition (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1967)

Ross, Anne, The Pagan Celts (Barnes & Noble, Totowa NJ 1986) formerly Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts

Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise, Gods and Heroes of the Celts (Turtle Island Foundation, Berkeley 1982)

*Skelton, Robin and Margaret Blackwood, Earth, Air, Fire, Water : Pre-Christian and Pagan Elements in British Songs, Rhymes and Ballads (Arkana, London 1990)

Wood-Martin, W. G., Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland : A Folklore Sketch : A Handbook of Irish Pre-Christian Traditions (Longmans, Green & Co, London 1902) 2 vols

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