Books in Myths and Legends from Around the World series

It is a widely held belief, especially amongst the peoples of English-speaking nations, that the Irish have the gift of the gab. Samuel Lover's Irish Stories and Legends shows the utter truthfulness of this conviction. After a recitation by Samuel Lover of a few tales at a dinner party, he was subsequently convinced to publish two of them in the Dublin Literary Gazette. The favourable reception of these tales resulted in Irish Stories and Legends, an exquisite and exceptional volume of Irish folklore. Prepared and collated with very few changes, Samuel Lover wanted to stay true to the original stories, so that the written story would enchant readers as though it were being presented in the vernacular. So curl up with this unique piece of Irish folklore, not seen in print for over one hundred and seventy years, and let the Gift of the Irish enchant and captivate you. Samuel Lover (1797-1868) was an Irish novelist, a songwriter, and a painter of portraits. So famous was this son of Ireland that a memorial to him stands in St Patrick's Cathedral, in Dublin. Less well-known is the fact that he was the also the grandfather of Victor Herbert, a famous Broadway composer. Renowned for his clever twist of phrase, Samuel Lover once said, "When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen". We're grateful that he never stopped "itching"! Later in life, Samuel moved to London and joined with Dickens in founding Bentley's Magazine. Dickens was the magazine's first editor, and Oliver Twist its first serial. Lover certainly kept illustrious company. The memorial in St Patrick's Cathedral summarises Lover's achievements thusly: Poet, painter, novelist and composer, who, in the exercise of a genius as distinguished in its versatility as in its power, by his pen and pencil illustrated so happily the characteristics of the peasantry of his country that his name will ever be honourably identified with Ireland. A percentage of the sale of this book will be donated towards the education of underprivileged youth in Ireland.

This book has especially been republished to raise funds for the treatment of Felix White who suffers from Neuroblastoma, the second most common solid tumour in childhood which makes up 2 in 25 (8%) of the total number of children's cancers - and what better way to raise funds than to use a book which was prepared for youthful readers in particular. £1.05 of the net profit from the sale of this book will be donated to The Appeal for Felix. When schoolmastering in South Wales in the early 20th C., W. Jenkyn Thomas found that all the fairy books in the school library were in such constant demand that they rapidly wore out. He inquired whether the readers were familiar with the fairy mythology of their own country. With few exceptions, he found that they were ignorant of the Fair Family and other legends of Wales. After waiting in vain for an editor to produce a book of Welsh Fairy stories, he prepared this book, hoping that the Welsh variants of the universal folk-tales will also interest a wider circle of readers. In this volume you will read of "Elidyr's Sojourn in Fairy-Land", "Einion and the Lady of the Greenwood" and "The Drowning of the Bottom Hundred" plus ninety more. Here it may be remarked that the style of the originals has been left largely untouched. So be assured that in buying this book you have given hope. Hope that a little boy will receive the treatment he deserves. Then, feeling good with yourself, take some time out and put the 21st C. away for a while, settle down in a comfy chair and enjoy these Welsh tales of yesteryear.

Originally published in 1895 and again in 1907, American Indian Fairytales is a collection compiled for children and young adults. Originally published under the title Snow Bird and the Water Tiger and other American Indian Tales, this volume includes 17 stories of magical feathers, fighting hares, an island of skeletons, great wizards, and bended rocks. A description of the Iagoo, the teller of the stories contained in this book, also waits within. The author, Margaret Compton, drew on authentic lore and anthropological research from a wide variety of sources, including the Smithsonian Institute and US government reports. Markedly, she retains some of the most colourful story elements, such as grotesque monsters and cross-dressing characters, which some other authors and publishers of her day (and possibly ours) might have omitted. She further maintained the authenticity of the works by sprinkling throughout stereotypical language references of the time, including "squaw","papoose" and "wigwam". American Indian Fairytales also provides an interesting window into the attitudes of the past; we encourage readers to think upon how attitudes have changed in the century since this book was originally published. So join with us and journey back to a time when these stories were told around campfires, to the delight of young and old alike. A percentage of the net sale will be donated to the American Indian Education Fund.

In 19th C. Europe it was not unusual to speak of the Americas as "continents without a history." The folly of this statement was extreme. For centuries prior to European occupation Central America was the seat of civilisations boasting a history and mythology second to none in richness and interest. The real interest of American mediaeval history must ever circle around Mexico and Peru - her Golden Empires, her sole exemplars of civilisation; and it is to the books upon the character of these two nations that we must turn for a romantic interest as curious and as absorbing as that bound up in the histories of Egypt or Assyria. The question of the alphabets of ancient America has perhaps been the most acute in modern-day pre-Columbian archaeology. But progress has being made in this branch of the subject, with major steps in decipherment occurring during the 1970s and 1980s. Today most texts can be read, though there are still some unknown glyphs. Despite the recent breakthroughs in translation, as far back as 1912 Lewis Spence was able collate a wealth of information and publish this volume. Here you will find almost four hundred pages of Aztec, Nahuan, Mexican, Mayan, Toltec and Peruvian myths and legends accompanied by explanatory notes. You will also find stories and myths of the Temple of Viracocha, Lake Titicaca, Torquemada, the Pyramid of Skulls, the Mexican Valhalla, the Mayan Creation Story, the House of Ordeals, the Coming of the Incas, the Huaris, the Lost Island, the Thunder God of Peru and many more. Yesterday's Books for Today's Charities

This is a book of Russian folklore retold for young people and the young at heart. The tales are a good sampling of Slavic marchen. The stories in this book are those that Russian peasants tell their children and each other. This is a book written far away in Russia, for English children who play in deep lanes with wild roses above them in the high hedges, or by the small singing becks that dance down the gray fells at home. Russian fairyland is quite different. Under the windows of the author's house, the wavelets of the Volkhov River are beating quietly in the dusk. A gold light burns on a timber raft floating down the river. Beyond the river in the blue midsummer twilight are the broad Russian plain and the distant forests of Novgorod. Somewhere in that forest of great trees--a forest so big that the forests of England are little woods beside it--is the hut where old Peter sits at night and tells these stories to his grandchildren. In Russia hardly anybody is too old for fairy stories, and the author even heard soldiers on their way to the WWI talking of very wise and very beautiful princesses as they drank their tea by the side of the road. He believed there must be more fairy stories told in Russia than anywhere else in the world. In this book are a few of those he liked best. The author spent time in Russia during World War I as a journalist for a radical British newspaper, the Daily News, meeting among others, Lenin and Trotsky and was also known in the London bohemian artistic scene.

Zeus, Hera, Venus, and Mars are just a few of the gods and goddesses from ancient Greek and Roman myths that remain part of cultural consciousness. This volume recounts enthralling ancient stories that made a lasting mark and explains how these myths shaped Greece and Rome. The book captures the imagination while giving readers the tools to understand common allusions in literature.