AVALON
Center for Druidic Studies

AMOR • VERITAS • NATURA

ACDS

THE JOHN DEE LIBRARY

Literature Section

This section of the library includes resources on literary studies including mythology, legends, storytelling, and creative writing. Comparative mythology is included under the Comparative Studies section.

Primary Sources: Celtic Literature Generally

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland — http://www.ucc.ie/celt. This is a major project to make texts available online. Links to some of the particular sections are included below.

CELT (Corpus of Electronic Texts) Index of Captured Texts. This is the general index to texts which have been "captured" (i.e., scanned electronically). Includes links to lists of Hiberno-Irish texts, French Texts, Irish Texts, Latin Texts, and Translated Texts.

CELT (Corpus of Electronic Texts) Translated Texts. There are scores of primary sources translated into English and available online here in html and plain text formats.

CELT (Corpus of Electronic Texts) published documents. This page links to previously published texts that have been made available online. Some are in Latin, Irish, and other languages than English. Some have been translated into English. Including the Annals of Ulster, The Annals of the Four Masters, The Second Battle of Moytura, and many others.

CELT Bibliography of Bibliographies compiled by Donnchadh Ó Corráin (November 2003). A listing of 123 bibliographies and library catalogs in Celtic Studies.

Celtic Literature Collective. Maintained by Celticist Mary Jones of Philadelphia. This is an attempt to collect as many possible early and medieval texts produced in the "Celtic" countries, or on Celtic themes (hence the inclusion of Continental Arthurian works).

Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Maintained by the Fordham university medieval studies department. Primary texts in medieval areas mostly other than Celtic (e.g., the full text of Chaucer's Canturbury Tales); excerpts for use in teaching European medieval history, philosophy, and literature.

MS-OMIT (Manuscript Sources to Old and Middle Irish Tales). A list of Early Medieval (until ca. 1100) narrative texts in Irish language with (a) standardized references to their medieval and early modern (not modern) manuscript sources and (b) information about their availability in print.


Primary Sources: Irish Literature

The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge). This HTML edition pairs an adaptation of the English translation of Joseph Dunn (1914) with the Irish transcription of Ernst Windisch (1905.)


Primary Sources: Welsh Literature

The Mabinogion. Translated by Lady Charlotte Guest. Online text from Project Gutenberg transcribed from the 1849 edition.

Taliesin Pages. Introduction to the poet Taliesin and complete translated texts of the Hanes Taliesin, the Llyfr Taliesin, Black Book of Carmarthen, and the Red Book of Hergest.


Primary Sources: Literature Generally

Project Gutenberg. The premier online collection of electronic texts of works in the public domain. Texts are offered in plain text format. Click here for the Gutenberg Search Page to search their database.


Essays

Arnold, Matthew. Celtic Literature. Online text from Project Gutenberg. This is a classic series of lectures given by the Victorian poet Matthew Arnold on the subject of Celtic Literature and its relation to British culture. The four lectures were given when Arnold was in the chair of poetry at Oxford University. Transcribed from the 1891 Smith, Elder and Co. edition.

Facts About The Ogham Alphabet by Iain MacAnTsaoir


Links to Other Resources Online

MythNet. Retellings and resources on ancient Greek myths.

National Archives of Ireland. The National Archives holds the records of the modern Irish state which document its historical evolution and the creation of its national identity.

National Archives UK. The National Archives of England, Wales and the United Kingdom has one of the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1000 years of British history, from Domesday Book of 1086 to government papers recently released to the public.

National Library of Ireland. The National Library of Ireland is a cultural institution under the aegis of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. Its mission is to collect, preserve and make available books, manuscripts and illustrative material of Irish interest.

Storytelling Links from Librarian's Internet Index. Links to web resources on storytelling.

Timeless Myths Website. This site offers an extensive encyclopedic series of articles and summaries of the myths and legends of four traditions: Classical, Norse, Celtic, and Arthurian. Well worth exploring.

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