Songs & Tales Books

An English Medieval and Renaissance Song Book - $18.00
Noah Greenberg. 47 vocal works from the 12th to the 17th centuries, including songs by Henry IV and Henry VIII as well as Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Thomas Ravenscroft, Thomas Morley, John Dowland, and Thomas Weelkes. 224pp. Pb.

Ancient Irish Airs and Dances: 201 Classic Tunes Arranged for the Piano - $24.00
George Petrie. From the hopeful anticipation of "Mary, do you fancy me?" to the bitterness of "Hag, you've killed me," this extraordinary compilation of Irish melodies runs the emotional gamut, with melancholy airs and sprightly reels aplenty. Its source material, The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland, ranks among the most important 19th-century collections of traditional Irish music, with its song texts in both Irish and English, plus George Petrie's detailed notes about the music's origins. Out of print for many years, the Petrie Collection became an extremely rare and much sought-after collector's item; this new edition will bring the cherished old songs into the repertoire of any student or performer of traditional Irish music. Unabridged republication of the edition originally published by Pigott & Co., Dublin, 1877. 144pp. Pb.

Big Book of Dragons, Monsters and Other Mythical Creatures - $30.00
Ernst & Johanna Lehner. Intriguing pictorial archive of werewolves, serpents, mermaids, and other fabulous creatures, accompanied by an engrossing text with tales from around the world. Dramatic images of the sphinx, centaur, and the plumed serpent-bird of the Aztecs, as well as pictures of the whale, octopus, armadillo, and other real animals once associated with supernatural powers. Invaluable source of royalty-free art. 317 illustrations. 192pp. Pb.

Celtic Gods and Heros: Coloring Book - $7.00
John Green. These illustrations depict the major gods, goddesses, and heroes of Celtic lore. Fourteen full-page portraits appear alongside captions that briefly recount legends of love, war, passion, treachery, and revenge. The seer known as Cathbad the Druid appears here; Cuchulainn, the champion of Ireland; and Brigit, the beloved goddess who is still honored in Ireland today. A memorable introduction to the principal characters of Celtic myth. 32pp. Pb.

Eight Mummers' Plays - $39.00
Alex Helm. Written in 1971, this booklet describes the origins of the Mummers Play, and some of the variations seen across England and the continent; the traditional costumes and plots, and timing and purpose of the performances. Rarely seen since the beginning of the 20th century, these plays are a dying tradition which deserves to be saved before all memory of them are gone. 72pp. Pb.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol 1 - $39.00
Francis James Child. Published between 1882 and 1898, this definitive collection compiles all the extant ballads with all known variants and features Child's commentary for each work. Volume 1 includes Parts I and II of the original set — ballads 1-53: "Edward," "Lord Randal," "Tam Lin," "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight," more. Unabridged republication of the works originally published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, between 1882 and 1898. 544pp. Pb.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol 2 - $39.00
Francis James Child. Published between 1882 and 1898, this definitive collection compiles all the extant ballads with all known variants and features Child's commentary for each work. Volume II includes Parts III & IV of the original set — ballads 54–113: "Sir Patrick Spens," "Johnie Scot," "Child Maurice," "Fair Margaret and Sweet William," more. Unabridged republication of the works originally published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, between 1882 and 1898. 544pp. Pb.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol 3 - $39.00
Francis James Child. Published between 1882 and 1898, this definitive collection compiles all the extant ballads with all known variants and features Child's commentary for each work. Volume III includes Parts V and VI of the original set — ballads 114–188: "Mary Hamilton," "Flodden Field," "Sir Andrew Barton," and more than 30 ballads about Robin Hood. Unabridged republication of the works originally published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, between 1882 and 1898. 544pp. Pb.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol 4 - $39.00
Francis James Child. Published between 1882 and 1898, this definitive collection compiles all the extant ballads with all known variants and features Child's commentary for each work. Volume IV includes Parts VII and VIII of the original set — ballads 189-265: including "Rob Roy," "Sir James the Rose," "Geordie," "The Gypsy Laddie," "The New-Slain Knight," more. Unabridged republication of the works originally published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, between 1882 and 1898. 544pp. Pb.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol 5 - $39.00
Francis James Child. Published between 1882 and 1898, this definitive collection compiles all the extant ballads with all known variants and features Child's commentary for each work. Volume 5 includes Parts IX and X of the original set — ballads 266-305 — plus a 3000-item bibliography, indexes, glossary, musical selections and an essay by Walter Morris Hart. Unabridged republication of the works originally published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, between 1882 and 1898. 640pp. Pb.

English Keyboard Music Before the Nineteenth Century - $19.00
John Caldwell. English keyboard art from Robertsbridge Codex (c. 1325) to John Field. Illuminating coverage of organ, harpsichord, pianoforte, other instruments; works of Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, Tomkins, many others. 352pp. Pb.

The Mediaeval Stage - $36.00
E K Chambers. Comprehensive, groundbreaking work encompasses vast amount of material — from the demise of ancient Roman spectacles (c. 400 AD) to a new class of professional players by the 16th-century. Excellent accounts of wandering minstrels, mimes, mummers, miracle and morality plays, puppet shows, dramatic pageants, liturgical plays and much more. An indispensable reference for historians, students of English theater and anyone interested in medieval life. 960pp. Pb.

Medieval & Renaissance Dances for Recorder, Dancers and Hand Drums - $39.00
Isabel McNeill Carley. Processionals, Carols, Farandoles, Branles, and Pavanes. These lively period pieces will enhance school programs, complement language arts or European history units, and provide music for Renaissance Arts Fairs or Madrigal Dinners. The pieces are set for soprano recorders with optional tenor parts, hand drums, triangles or finger cymbals. Dances are easy to learn line, circle, and partner dances with clear instructions and diagrams. Pieces can be performed without dancers too. There are 4 pages of exercises and “tunes” to help develop the two-tone hand drum technique used in the arrangements. Tunes are from England, France, Hungary, Germany, and Spain. The four carols have Latin, Middle English, and modern English lyrics. A student book containing all recorder parts in large print is included. 48pp. Pb.

Njal's Saga: or The Story of Burnt Njal - $18.00
George Webbe Dasent (translator). An authoritative and authentic edition of the great Norse Medieval epic. This thirteenth-century saga is perhaps the capstone of Icelandic literary achievement. Recounting a long and costly blood feud, these stories are a document on Viking civic and legal institutions, a cogent exposition on Icelandic religious practices, and of course, stirring tales of battle and conquest. 400pp. Pb.

The Kalevala - $35.00
Elias Lonnrot. (Keith Bosley - translator). The Kalevala is the great Finnish epic, which like the Iliad and the Odyssey, grew out of a rich oral tradition with prehistoric roots. During the first millennium of our era, speakers of Uralic languages (those outside the Indo-European group) who had settled in the Baltic region of Karelia, that straddles the border of eastern Finland and north-west Russia, developed an oral poetry that was to last into the nineteenth century. This poetry provided the basis of the Kalevala. It was assembled in the 1840s by the Finnish scholar Elias Lönnrot, who took `dictation' from the performance of a folk singer, in much the same way as our great collections from the past, from Homeric poems to medieval songs and epics, have probably been set down. Published in 1849, it played a central role in the march towards Finnish independence and inspired some of Sibelius's greatest works. This new and exciting translation by poet Keith Bosley, prize-winning translator of the anthology Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic, is the first truly to combine liveliness with accuracy in a way which reflects the richness of the original. 736pp. Pb.

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Modern Historical Fiction

Murder at The War: a Modern Day Mystery with a Medieval Setting - $20.00
Mary Monica Pulver. What happens when someone dies at an SCA event? He or she gets taken to Resurrection Point, and then rejoins the fight. But this time, the death is real...