Sunday 26 April 2015

The Kiltartan poetry book [by Lady Gregory] (1919)

The Kiltartan Poetry Book by Lady Gregory contains prose translations from the Irish into English. In translating these poems Lady Gregory stated in the introduction to the volume "I have chosen to do so in the speech of the thatched houses where I have heard and gathered them".

Thursday 23 April 2015

The four winds of Eirinn [by Ethna Carbery] (1902)

Ethna Carbery (born Anna Johnston) was an Irish journalist, writer and poet. She is best known for the ballad Roddy McCorley.  In 1901 she married poet and folklorist Séamus MacManus and moved with him to Revlin House in County Donegal. It was then that she began writing under the pen name of Ethna Carbery because once she took the last name of MacManus she didn't want to be confused with her husband (also a writer). She died in Revlin House of gastritis the following year, aged 35. Her husband, who was three years her junior, outlived her by 58 years Although MacManus and Johnston were only married for one year her impact on his life ran deep. Her poetry was published by her husband after her death in the The Four Winds of Erin, which was phenomenally successful over the next few years.

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The four winds of Eirinn [by Ethna Carbery] (1902)

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Tuesday 21 April 2015

The Children of Odin [by Padraic Colum]

Master storyteller Padraic Colum's rich, musical voice captures all the magic and majesty of the Norse sagas in his retellings of the adventures of the gods and goddesses who lived in the Northern paradise of Asgard before the dawn of history. Here are the matchless tales of All-Father Odin, who crosses the Rainbow Bridge to walk among men in Midgard and sacrifices his right eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom; of Thor, whose mighty hammer defends Asgard; of Loki, whose mischievous cunning leads him to treachery against the gods; of giants, dragons, dwarfs and Valkyries; and of the terrible last battle that destroyed their world.

Read by Elizabeth Klett.

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The Children of Odin [by Padraic Colum]

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Sunday 19 April 2015

Kensington rhymes [by Compton Mackenzie] (1912)

Compton Mackenzie was a prolific writer of fiction, biography, histories and memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of the co-founders in 1928 of the Scottish National Party along with Hugh MacDiarmid, RB Cunninghame Graham and John MacCormick. He only produced one book of poetry, which was aimed at children and was delightfully illustrated by J.R Monsell.





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Kensington rhymes [by Compton Mackenzie] (1912)

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The Irish Fairy Book [by Alfred Perceval Graves] [1909]

Welcome to a world of wild banshees, leprechauns, mermaids, battle-tested kings, churchyard demons, and treasure-guarding cats. This is the world of the Irish fairy tale, a magical realm kept alive by generations of storytellers and their avid listeners. As Alfred Perceval Graves, author of the ballad „Father O'Flynn” and a former president of the Irish Literary Society, wrote in the introduction, The truth is that the Gaelic peasant, Scotch and Irish, is a mystic, and believes not only in this world, and the world to come, but in that other world which is the world of Faery, and which exercises an extraordinary influence upon many actions of his life.” This volume comes beautifully illustrated by George Denham,

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The Irish Fairy Book [by Alfred Perceval Graves] [1909]

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A story of Carn Brea, essays, and poems [by John Harris] (1863)

John Harris at age twelve, was sent to work at Dolcoath mine where he combined a life of painful labour with the production of poetry celebrating his native landscape around Carn Brea and the scenic splendours of Land's End and the Lizard. He could not afford pen and paper, so he improvised and used blackberry juice for ink and grocery bags for paper. During this period he produced his most important work, the loco-descriptive poem A Story of Carn Brea (1863).

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A story of Carn Brea, essays, and poems [by John Harris] (1863)

Thursday 16 April 2015

The Soul's Destroyer [by W.H Davies]

W.H Davies self-published his first book of poetry, The Soul's Destroyer, in 1905, by means of his own savings. It proved to be the beginning of success and a growing reputation. In order to even get the slim volume published, Davies had to forgo his allowance and live the life of a tramp for six months (with the first draft of the book hidden in his pocket). This is a fine 1910 reprint of The Soul's Destroyer.


Irish fairy tales [by Edmund Leamy] (1890)

Irish Fairy Tales was published in 1890. The introduction for the volume emphasizes that Leamy wrote for children to entertain them, and not with a literary critic in mind. It’s with this spirit that Leamy endows all of his tales with a magic anyone can appreciate.

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Irish fairy tales [by Edmund Leamy] (1890)

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Sunday 12 April 2015

The triumphs of Eugène Valmont [by Robert Barr] (1906)

Robert Barr’s most enduring work was The triumphs of Eugène Valmont (London, 1906), a parody of Conan Doyle’s Holmes and other gentlemanly sleuths in the person of a comically patronizing, self-inflating, and obtuse Gallic detective; several historians of the genre have identified Valmont as a possible model for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.

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The triumphs of Eugène Valmont [by Robert Barr] (1906)

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Belinda, a novel [by Rhoda Broughton] (1899)

Dresden in the 1880s is the perfect place to enjoy the spring, driving in open carriages in the Grosse Garten, visiting delightful Schlosses nearby. In just such a manner Belinda and Sarah Churchill while away the month of May, their happiness marred only by Sarah's (seventh) fiance, the dried-up academic, Professor Forth. Belinda has fallen in love with a young student, David Rivers, who loves her too. But in this age of reticence and propriety, when women are idealized yet cannot speak their mind, the course of true love can easily be diverted. Suddenly David is recalled to England and Belinda, finding herself alone, resigns herself to a life of loveless duty amongst the dreaming spires of Oxbridge. Here her trials and tribulations, with gay young students and crusty old professors alike, provide a wonderfully witty satire on the arid joys of the Groves of masculine Academe [source goodreads]

Thursday 9 April 2015

Doom Castle [by Neil Munro]

Doom Castle by Neil Munro is the story of young Count Victor's journey to Scotland after the Jacobite Rebellion, searching for a traitor to the Jacobite cause as well as a mysterious man under the name of "Drimdarroch", whom he swore revenge. After a perilious journey, Count Victor arrives at Doom Castle as a guest of the enigmatic Baron of Doom, his two strange servitors and his beautiful daughter.


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Doom Castle [by Neil Munro]

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William Butler Yeats Free Audiobooks


The Wild Swans at Coole [Version 2] [by William Butler Yeats]

A collection of poems from the mid-career of this renowned Irish poet, the title poem referring to the estate of his friend and mentor, Lady Gregory. The poems display Yeats' use of symbols (cat, hare, moon, etc), his attachment to the supernatural and Irish folklore, and his recourse to alter egos (Aherne and Robartes). They also exemplify his distinctive style of expression.


Read in English by Peter Tucker

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The Wild Swans at Coole [Version 2] [by William Butler Yeats]





John Sherman and Dhoya [by W.B. Yeats]

In 1891, Yeats published "John Sherman", a novella, and "Dhoya", a Celtic mythologic story. Ganconagh, Yeats’s nom de plume for this work, is the name of a male faerie in Irish mythology that is known for seducing human women. This is a LibriVox recording of John Sherman and Dhoya, by William Butler Yeats. Read by David Wales.

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John Sherman and Dhoya [by W.B. Yeats]





Celtic Twilight [by WB Yeats]

The Celtic Twilight consists of 42 Irish and Celtic folklore tales. Read by Shakira Searle; Arie; Russell Hughes; Jordan Heron; John O'Riordan; Luna Pierson; KHand; Tim Rainey; Anusha Iyer; Robert Dixon; John Van Stan; Simon Smoke; Kathy Wright; JamesMcAndrew; Glenn O'Brien; MaryAnne; ImkeStevens; Max Wainer; MaryAnn; and Erin B. Lillis.

Yeats makes no secret of his fascination and even belief in the world of the occult and the existence of faeries. His passion in these tales comes forth through the pages and adds a new dimension to these age-old tales.


"Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet". W. B. Yeats

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Crossways [by W. B. Yeats]

Crossways [1889] was the first collection of poetry by Irish-born poet William Butler Yeats. Many decades before his mysterious and austere Modernist verse earned him a nobel prize, Yeats achieved renown as one of the last major poets in the High Romantic tradition. These poems showcase his Celtic imagination, his love for Irish folk-tales, and his commitment to the Romantic ideal of love.

01 - The Song of the Happy Shepherd
02 - The Sad Shepherd
03 - The Cloak, The Boat and The Shoes
04 - Anashuya and Vijaya
05 - The Indian Upon God
06 - The Indian To His Love
07 - The Falling of the Leaves
08 - Ephemera
09 - The Madness of King Goll
10 - The Stolen Child
11 - To an Isle in the Water
12 - Down by the Salley Gardens
13 - The Meditation of the Old Fisherman
14 - The Ballad of John O'Hart
15 - The Ballad of Moll Magee
16 - The Ballad of the Foxhunter

link to the free audiobook
Crossways [by W. B. Yeats]




In The Seven Woods [by William Butler Yeats]

In the Seven Woods (1904) is Yeats's first twentieth-century poetry collection. Its fourteen poems show him moving steadily away from the decisively Romantic diction of his earlier work. Here we hear a poetic voice that is at once more individual, colloquial and dramatic than previously. In addition, several poems sound a note of bitter lamentation over the marriage in 1903 of Maud Gonne, Yeats's great love and muse, to John MacBride. 

Read by Kasper Nijsen.

link to the free audiobook





The Wild Swans at Coole [by William Butler Yeats]

The Wild Swans at Coole is a collection of poems by William Butler Yeats, first published in 1917. It is also the name of a poem in that collection. The Wild Swans at Coole is in the "middle stage" of Yeats' writing and is concerned with, amongst other themes, Irish nationalism and the creation of an Irish aesthetic.

Read by Nicole Lee.

link to the free audiobook

Sunday 5 April 2015

Lays Of The Scottish Cavaliers And Other Poems [by William Edmondstoune Aytoun] [1865]

William Edmondstoune Aytoun's reputation as a poet is based mainly on his volume Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers [1848]. Here is the best quality copy  I could find of this work, it's an 1865 edition.

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The Collegians [Or The Colleen Bawn, A Tale Of Garryowen [by Gerald Griffin] [1900]

One of Gerald Griffin's most famous works is The Collegians, a novel based on a trial he had reported on, that of John Scanlan, a Protestant Anglo-Irish man who murdered Ellen Hanley, a young Catholic Irish girl.The novel was adapted to the stage as The Colleen Bawn, by Dion Boucicault. In 1838

link to the free bookThe Collegians [Or The Colleen Bawn, A Tale Of Garryowen [by Gerald Griffin] [1900]

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Thursday 2 April 2015

Belinda [by Maria Edgeworth] [Audiobook]

When Belinda was published in 1801, it became both controversial and popular. Controversial because of the inter-racial marriage presented in the novel, and popular because it's a very good comedy of manners, like Evelina by Fanny Burney. Belinda, like Evelina, is a soft and loving girl of 17, is coming to London with her aunt who directs her action in order to make sure that she'll find a good match. But what will happen if Belinda will fall in love? Will Clarence Hervey, the man she loves, be able to marry her? It seems almost impossible, as he is secretly bringing up another woman to be a perfect wife to him and now, in all honor, he thinks he must marry her. These social novels about young women trying to find good husbands were admired by Jane Austen who referred to Belinda, among other novels, in her own novel Northanger Abbey: “'And what are you reading, Miss — ?' 'Oh! It is only a novel!' replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. 'It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda'; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best–chosen language."

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Sunday 29 March 2015

The Aran Islands [by J.M Synge] [1907]

Synge's first account of life in the Aran Islands was published in the New Ireland Review in 1898 and his book, The Aran Islands, based largely on journals, was completed in 1901 and published in 1907 with illustrations by Jack Butler Yeats.[brother of W.B Yeats] Synge considered the book "my first serious piece of work". When Lady Gregory read the manuscript she advised Synge to remove any direct naming of places and to add more folk stories, but he refused to do either because he wanted to create something more realistic.





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The Aran Islands [by J.M Synge] [1907]

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Tuesday 24 March 2015

The Luggie [And Other Poems] [by David Gray] [1862]

David Gray [1838-1861]was a Scottish poet, who was born on 29 January 1838 at Duntiblae-on-Banks of Luggie, Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire. He lived a very brief life and died after contracting Consumption at the tender age of twenty three. The Luggie, the principal poem of Gray, is a kind of reverie in which the scenes and events of his childhood and his early aspirations are mingled with the music of the stream which he celebrates.

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The Luggie [And Other Poems] [by David Gray] [1862]

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Saturday 21 March 2015

The Princess And The Goblin [by George Macdonald] [Audiobook]

The Princess and the Goblin is an enthralling fantasy tale written by George MacDonald. Her nurse Lootie raises the princess Irene in a house on a mountain, it is here that she meets her mysterious great-great-grandmother, and her friend the minor boy Curdie. Things are peaceful for Irene until the hideous race of goblins that live beneath the mountain start planning something big…

link to the free audiobook
The Princess And The Goblin [by George Macdonald] [Audiobook]


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The Princess And The Goblin [by George Macdonald] [1911]

George MacDonald's best-known works are Phantastes, The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind, and Lilith, all fantasy novels, and fairy tales such as "The Light Princess", "The Golden Key", and "The Wise Woman". "I write, not for children," he wrote, "but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five." This is the best quality free copy of this book to be foundon line and comes beautifully illustrated.






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The Princess And The Goblin [by George Macdonald] [1911]

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Tuesday 17 March 2015

The Irish Poems Of Alfred Perceval Graves [Songs Of The Gael. A Gaelic Story Telling] [by Alfred Perceval Graves] [1908]

 The Irish Poems of Alfred Perceval Graves were published in two volumes with a preface by Douglas Hyde in 1908. They continued the consistently Irish tone of his work. Here is a very nice copy of one of the volumes The Irish Poems Of Alfred Perceval Graves [Songs Of The Gael. A Gaelic Story Telling] [1908]

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Sunday 15 March 2015

Wind In The Willows [by Kenneth Grahame] [Audiobook With Full Cast]

This much-loved story follows a group of animal friends in the English countryside as they pursue adventure, and as adventure pursues them! The chief characters - Mole, Rat, and Toad - generally lead upbeat and happy lives, but their tales are leavened with moments of terror, homesickness, awe, madcap antics, and derring-do.

Although classed as children's literature, The Wind in the Willows holds a gentle fascination for adults too. The vocabulary is decidedly not "Dick and Jane", and a reader with a love of words will find new ones to treasure, even if well-equipped for the journey. Parents will appreciate the themes of loyalty, manners, self-restraint, and comradeship which are evident throughout the book. When the characters err, they are prompt to acknowlege it, and so a reading of this book can model good behavior to children, who will otherwise be enchanted with the many ways in which the lives of these bucolic characters differ from modern life.

This book was so successful that it enabled the author to retire from banking and take up a country life somewhat like that of his creations. It has been adapted for screen, stage, and even a ride at the original Disneyland.

Read by
Peter Yearsley
Meredith Hughes
Kara Shallenberg
Betsie Bush
Peter Yearsley
Vinny Bove
Chip
Denny Sayers
Peter Eastman
Kymm Zuckert
Kirsten Ferreri
Catharine Eastman

link to the free audiobook

Friday 13 March 2015

Gulliver's Travels [by Jonathan Swift] [Audiobook]

Gulliver's Travels [1726], officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, is a novel by Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. It is widely considered Swift's magnum opus and is his most celebrated work, as well as one of the indisputable classics of English literature.

LibriVox recording read by Lizzie Driver.

link to the free audiobook

Gulliver's Travels Into Lilliput And Brobdingnag [illustrated by Jean de Bosschere] [by Jonathan Swift] [1920]



Found several copies of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift and this 1920 edition is by far the best available free of charge. The volume comes beautifully illustrated by Jean de Bosschere.







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Gulliver's Travels Into Lilliput And Brobdingnag [illustrated by Jean de Bosschere] [by Jonathan Swift] [1920]

Sunday 8 March 2015

Peter Pan [Dramatic Reading] [by J. M. Barrie] [Audiobook]

All children, except one, grow up, begins J. M. Barrie's most famous novel. Barrie then proceeds to tell the story of that one extraordinary exception, Peter Pan, who lives in the Neverland with pirates and fairies and is always having adventures. One night he appears in the nursery of the Darling children and the most marvelous adventure of all begins. Light-hearted though it seems in premise, Peter Pan is a sweet but melancholy tribute to the fleeting innocence of childhood that has endured as a beloved favorite of children and adults alike ever since its first publication.



link to the free audiobook
Peter Pan [Dramatic Reading] [by J. M. Barrie] [Audio

The Story Of Peter Pan [Retold From The Fairy Play By Sir James Barrie [by Daniel O'Connor][1915]

The Peter Pan Picture Book [sometimes entitled The Story of Peter Pan], retold by Daniel O'Connor, beautifully illustrated by Alice B. Woodward, based on the original stage production of 1904.  This story differs from Barrie's own 1911 novelisation because he had made several changes to his play and story since it was first staged in 1904.

Sunday 1 March 2015

Andrew Lang's Fairy Books




Andrew Lang [1844-1912] was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. Lang’s Blue Fairy Book [1889] was a beautifully produced and illustrated edition of fairy tales that has become a classic. This was followed by eleven other collections of fairy tales, collectively known as Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books.






Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Blue Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1889] [Format] Epub
Blue Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1889] [Format] Kindle

Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Red Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1890] [Format] Epub
Red Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1890] [Format] Kindle
Red Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1890] [Format] Pdf



Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Green Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1892] [Format] Epub
Green Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1892] [Format] Kindle
Green Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1892] [Format] Pdf



Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Yellow Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1894] [Format] Epub
Yellow Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1894] [Format] Kindle
Yellow Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1894] [Format] Pdf





Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]


Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Grey Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1900] [Format] Epub
Grey Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1900] [Format] Kindle
Grey Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1900] [Format] Pdf






Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Violet Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1901] [Format] Epub
Violet Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1901] [Format] Kindle
Violet Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1901] [Format] Pdf






Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Crimson Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1903] [Format] Epub
Crimson Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1903] [Format] Kindle
Crimson Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1903] [Format] Pdf


Links To The Free Boo


[Free to download or read on line]

Brown Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1904] [Format] Epub
Brown Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1904] [Format] Kindle
Brown Fairy Book [by Andrew Lang] [1904] [Format] Pdf





Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]


Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Links To The Free Book

[Free to download or read on line]

Dracula [by Bram Stoker] [1897]


Abraham "Bram" Stoker [8 November 1847–20 April 1912] was an Irish author known today for his 1897 Gothic novel, Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.






The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.


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Dracula [by Bram Stoker][1897]




Performance by Robert Powell; directed by David Hitchinson; adapted by Dickon Reed; produced by the BBC.

link to the free audiobook

Dracula BBC Audio Drama [by Bram Stoker] [Audiobook]