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Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, & Other Supernatural Creatures
A "Who's Who" of fairyland, with entries by fairy name and additional legends, songs, and anecdotes within each entry.
453 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
34 people are currently reading
5983 people want to read
About the author
Katharine M. Briggs
44 books112 followersEarly Life Katharine Briggs was born in Hampstead, London in 1898, and was the eldest of three sisters. The Briggs family, originally from Yorkshire, had built up a fortune in the 18th and 19th centuries through coal mining and owned a large colliery in Normanton, West Yorkshire. With such enormous wealth, Katharine and her family were able to live in luxury with little need to work. Briggs's father Ernest was often unwell and divided his time between leafy Hampstead and the clear air of Scotland. He was a watercolourist and would often take his children with him when he went to paint the landscape. An imaginative storyteller, he loved to tell his children tales and legends; these would have a great impact on the young Katharine, becoming her passion in later life. When Briggs was 12 her father had Dalbeathie House built in Perthshire and the family moved permanently to Scotland; however, tragedy struck when he died two years later. Briggs and her two sisters, Winifred and Elspeth, developed a close bond with their mother, Mary, after this - all living together for almost fifty years. As Briggs and her sisters grew older their main passion was for amateur dramatics. They wrote and performed their own plays at their home and Briggs would pursue her interest in theatre throughout her education. After leaving school she attended Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, graduating with a BA in 1918 and an MA in 1926. She specialised in the study of traditional folk tales and 17th-century English history.
The Folklorist Briggs continued her studies largely as a hobby, while living with her sisters and mother in Burford, Oxfordshire. She collected together traditional stories from across the country and the wider world, but did not publish them yet. Together she and her sisters performed in plays with local amateur dramatics groups and Briggs wrote historical novels set during the Civil War (also unpublished). When the Second World War started Briggs joined the WAAF and later taught at a school for the children of Polish refugees. After the war Briggs threw herself into her folklore studies, completing her PhD on the use of folklore in 17th-century literature. In 1954, the first Katharine Briggs book was published, titled The Personnel of Fairyland, a guide to the folklore of Great Britain. This was followed by Hobberdy Dick (1955), a children's story about a hobgoblin in Puritan England. Though these books brought a small amount of interest, it was not until the 1960s and 1970s, following the deaths of her sisters and mother, that Briggs became a renowned folklorist. In 1963 she published another children's book, Kate Crackernuts, and became involved with the Folklore Society of the UK, later being elected as its president in 1967. Now a preeminent expert on fairy stories and folklore, she began to lecture across the country and by the 1970s she had been invited to give lectures in the United States and was regularly interviewed on television. In 1971 she published her masterpiece, the four-volume A Dictionary of Folk-Tales in the English Language. This work remains the definitive collection of British folk stories, becoming a vital resource for writers, academics and storytellers. Katharine Briggs died suddenly at the age of 82 on 15th October 1980. At the time of her death she had been working on a memoir of her childhood days in Scotland and Hampstead, where her love of folklore began.
Information taken from http://www.foliosociety.com/author/ka...
The Folklorist Briggs continued her studies largely as a hobby, while living with her sisters and mother in Burford, Oxfordshire. She collected together traditional stories from across the country and the wider world, but did not publish them yet. Together she and her sisters performed in plays with local amateur dramatics groups and Briggs wrote historical novels set during the Civil War (also unpublished). When the Second World War started Briggs joined the WAAF and later taught at a school for the children of Polish refugees. After the war Briggs threw herself into her folklore studies, completing her PhD on the use of folklore in 17th-century literature. In 1954, the first Katharine Briggs book was published, titled The Personnel of Fairyland, a guide to the folklore of Great Britain. This was followed by Hobberdy Dick (1955), a children's story about a hobgoblin in Puritan England. Though these books brought a small amount of interest, it was not until the 1960s and 1970s, following the deaths of her sisters and mother, that Briggs became a renowned folklorist. In 1963 she published another children's book, Kate Crackernuts, and became involved with the Folklore Society of the UK, later being elected as its president in 1967. Now a preeminent expert on fairy stories and folklore, she began to lecture across the country and by the 1970s she had been invited to give lectures in the United States and was regularly interviewed on television. In 1971 she published her masterpiece, the four-volume A Dictionary of Folk-Tales in the English Language. This work remains the definitive collection of British folk stories, becoming a vital resource for writers, academics and storytellers. Katharine Briggs died suddenly at the age of 82 on 15th October 1980. At the time of her death she had been working on a memoir of her childhood days in Scotland and Hampstead, where her love of folklore began.
Information taken from http://www.foliosociety.com/author/ka...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
June 18, 2008
THE definitive place to start on British fairy folklore. Is there anything else to say? I think not. An amazing read.
***wondering why all my reviews are five stars? Because I'm only reviewing my favorite books -- not every book I read. Consider a novel's presence on my Goodreads bookshelf as a hearty endorsement. I can't believe I just said "hearty." It sounds like a stew.****
***wondering why all my reviews are five stars? Because I'm only reviewing my favorite books -- not every book I read. Consider a novel's presence on my Goodreads bookshelf as a hearty endorsement. I can't believe I just said "hearty." It sounds like a stew.****
July 9, 2015
This is a wonderful book and if you have any use for a reference book on fairies, folklore etc. then again...wonderful. If you write (as a lot of us here do) this is a treasure trove of information. If I could I'd buy a copy.
Unfortunately it's out of print and the least expensive copy I've been able to find is $100 (plus shipping and handling of course). I'll just have to keep my eyes open.
An interesting side note. In the edition I got out the library the illustration pages in the center of the book were inserted upside-down.
Unfortunately it's out of print and the least expensive copy I've been able to find is $100 (plus shipping and handling of course). I'll just have to keep my eyes open.
An interesting side note. In the edition I got out the library the illustration pages in the center of the book were inserted upside-down.
June 18, 2008
This is the only reference book I ever read cover to cover. I'm just saying: THIS IS THE ONLY REFERENCE BOOK I'VE READ COVER TO COVER!!!
March 26, 2016
An exhaustive treatment of the -- ehem -- Good Folk of the British Isles.
A lot of redundancies because all sorts of creatures reappeared, slightly different, under different names, sometimes in very limited locales, or even the proper name of a single being. (Sometimes very slightly different names -- not necessarily related to how similar they are in other respects.)
Covers a lot of folklore about the devils and death, as well, because of the strong connection between them and the fairies. (Grafted trees were connected with fairies because they were called "ymp trees.") Includes a lot of legends and some pure fairy tales, and some entries on fairy themes, such as thefts and protection.
A lot of redundancies because all sorts of creatures reappeared, slightly different, under different names, sometimes in very limited locales, or even the proper name of a single being. (Sometimes very slightly different names -- not necessarily related to how similar they are in other respects.)
Covers a lot of folklore about the devils and death, as well, because of the strong connection between them and the fairies. (Grafted trees were connected with fairies because they were called "ymp trees.") Includes a lot of legends and some pure fairy tales, and some entries on fairy themes, such as thefts and protection.
April 20, 2015
A wonderful compendium of the folkloric inhabitants of the British Isles.
In addition to entries about the Little People, there are also entries on certain folkloric motifs, such as Shapeshifting and Captives in Fairyland, and on prominent collectors of tales and writers upon the subject.
As well as the usual index and bibliography, the book also has an Index of Types and Motifs, by which folklore tales have been categorised, thus making it easy to compare similarities between stories which sometimes span the length of the land. This is also facilitated by the entries being cross-referenced within the text (rather like a hyper-text webpage).
Although not a book that I would read from cover-to-cover, it's fun to dip into: often, having gone to look up a particular entry, I find that I've lost half an hour or so flitting from one topic to another.
There are also line illustrations throughout, and a set of monochrome plates showing classic depictions of fairies, elves, goblins, et al.
In summary, an excellent and engaging reference work.
In addition to entries about the Little People, there are also entries on certain folkloric motifs, such as Shapeshifting and Captives in Fairyland, and on prominent collectors of tales and writers upon the subject.
As well as the usual index and bibliography, the book also has an Index of Types and Motifs, by which folklore tales have been categorised, thus making it easy to compare similarities between stories which sometimes span the length of the land. This is also facilitated by the entries being cross-referenced within the text (rather like a hyper-text webpage).
Although not a book that I would read from cover-to-cover, it's fun to dip into: often, having gone to look up a particular entry, I find that I've lost half an hour or so flitting from one topic to another.
There are also line illustrations throughout, and a set of monochrome plates showing classic depictions of fairies, elves, goblins, et al.
In summary, an excellent and engaging reference work.
October 10, 2010
The best source for fairies and strange creatures in literature and popular stories. Incredibly readable and bottomless inspiration.
December 13, 2017
I bought this as a 'one-click' second hand purchase, with no notion I was buying something with a soul. The pages are yellowed, and well-thumbed, and I noticed this edition was printed in the same year I was born. That evocative smell of 'old books' hits me when I flick from front to back. How many hands have held this book? How many stories were born from its pages? This book has its own story to tell, and it's not inside, but in the tangible, the weight, the smell. Like its contents, this book is magical.
I can see 'A Dictionary of Fairies' becoming my companion, and I wonder how many other authors my copy has guided along the way...?
I can see 'A Dictionary of Fairies' becoming my companion, and I wonder how many other authors my copy has guided along the way...?
December 2, 2011
If you have ever wanted to know anything about fairy folklore, this is the book to read. Briggs leaves no stone unturned, categorising even the most minor fairy, as well as tackling large concepts, other related folklore and literature too. The encyclopedic nature means you can return to it again and again, but if you have any interest in fairies at all I'd be willing to bet you'll read it cover to cover. I did! This book has been absolutely indispensable and one of my best purchases.
February 3, 2025
Some notes/excerpts:
- I had an great time poring over this book which is truly a remarkable resource and answered many of the questions I had about the historical context of fairies as well as the different origins of fairies across different cultural traditions.
- Interesting that this was published in 1971 when Tolkien would have been the last great writer of elves (which is understating his influence, noting he remains a giant in fantasy), and indeed never saw the rise of present day faerie romances.
- Tolkien's beautiful elves following the Scandinavian tradition of elle-people, in comparison to the "dimininutive fairies" of Shakespeare and the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods
- "The term "fairy" now covers a large area, the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian elves, the daoine sidhe of the Highlands, the tuatha de danann of Ireland, the tylwyth teg of Wales, the seelie court and the unseelie court, the wee folk, and good neighbours and many others. The trooping fairies and the solitary fairies are included in it, the fairies of human or more than human size, the three-loot fairies and the tiny fairies; the domestic fairies and those that are wild and alien to man; the subterranean fairies and the water fairies that haunt lochs, streams or the sea. The supernatural hags, monsters and bogies might be considered to belong to a different category, and there are, of course, fairy animals to be considered."
- "Elves. Already in Scandinavian mythology the fairy people were elves and were divided into two classes, the light elves and the dark elves, like the Scottish seelie court and unseelie court. The name came over into Britain, and in the Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms we find remedies against elf-shot and other sinister elvish activities. The mythological light elves were not unlike the small trooping fairies of England as we find them in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night’s Dream and many common traditions. In Christian times the Scandinavians continued to believe in the elves, or huldre folk, who showed many of the same characteristics as the Scottish fairies, both Highland and low-land. They stole humans away, destroyed their cattle and avenged any injuries done to them. The huldre girls were beautiful and alluring, wearing grey dresses and white veils, but the defect of the fairies by which they could be recognized was their long cows’ tails."
- "Fashions in fairy-lore. Fashions in fairy-lore. Even the most flaccid and degenerate of the literary FAIRIES have some point in common with the fairies in folk tradition, but, as a rule, the poets and story-tellers pick out one aspect from the varied and intricate world of fairy tradition, and the aspect chosen differs not only from poet to poet but from one period to another.
The fairies of medieval romances are among the heroic fairies in type, of human size and often amorous of mortals, expert in enchantment and glamour, generally beautiful but occasionally hideous hags. Many of them are half-forgot ten gods and goddesses, euhemerized into mortals with magical powers. The goddesses are more frequent than the gods. It was literary fashion which chose out this type because the romances derived from Celtic hero tales founded on the Celtic Pantheon; scattered references in the medieval chronicles show that very different types of fairies were available to the medieval poets if they had chosen to use them.
A different type of spirit, though no less true to tradition, appears among the Elizabethan and Jacobean fairies. It is true that Spenser uses the fairies, enchanters and w itches of the Arthurian legends in the machinery of his FAERIE QUEENE, but on the whole the spotlight is turned upon the diminutive fairies. They appear in John Lyly’s Endimion, in the anonymous The Maides Metamorphosis and the Wisdome of Dr Dodypol, and above all in a Midsummer Night's Dream. (Queen Mab in Romeo and Juliet is even more minute than the elves who waited on Titania. The Jacobean poets followed hard on the fashion. The diminutive fairies in Drayton, HERRICK, et al., made an extravaganza of Shakespeare's little fairies until, with the Duchess of Newcastle, they became miracles of littleness. Even Milton in Paradise Lost used the elves to illustrate diminution and small size. The exception to these dainty and miniature fairies is the rougher, homely hobgoblin, by whatever name he is called - robin, good fellow, puck or the lubbard fiend. Since that period, the tiny fairies have constantly haunted literature.
The 18th century was the first period in which books were written expressly for the edification of children. Educational text books had been written before - one of the first books printed was Caxton’s Babees Book to train pages in etiquette, and there were Latin and French conversation books, but works of fiction were first written expressly for children in the 18th century. At the end of the 17th century the sophisticated French fairy-stories of Perrault and Madame d’aulnoy were translated into English. They began as real traditional tales, polished to meet the taste of the French court, and they were equally popular in England. Half the court seem to have tried their hands at them, and as time went on they moved farther away from their original. The fairy godmothers, already at one remove from folk fairies, became relentless moralists, driving their proteges along the path to virtue. The trend persisted into the 19th century, and it was not until a quarter of it had passed that the researches of the folklorists began to have some effect on children’s literature. The Romantic Revival, however, had begun before this to a feet the writings of the poets. Collins, Scott, Hogg and Keats wrote in the folk-fairy tradition, and as the century went on writers of children’s stories followed them; Jean Ingelow and J. H. Ewing are among the best. At the beginning of the 20th century, an extreme tenderness and sensibility about children almost overwhelmed the folk fairies and turned them into airy, tenuous, pretty creatures without meat or muscles, made up of froth and whimsy, Rudyard Kipling fought against this tendency in Puck of Pook's Hill, and now, in Tolkien, his predecessors and successors, we enjoy a world in which imagination has superseded fancy; but whimsy is still with us in the works of the weaker writers."
- I had an great time poring over this book which is truly a remarkable resource and answered many of the questions I had about the historical context of fairies as well as the different origins of fairies across different cultural traditions.
- Interesting that this was published in 1971 when Tolkien would have been the last great writer of elves (which is understating his influence, noting he remains a giant in fantasy), and indeed never saw the rise of present day faerie romances.
- Tolkien's beautiful elves following the Scandinavian tradition of elle-people, in comparison to the "dimininutive fairies" of Shakespeare and the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods
- "The term "fairy" now covers a large area, the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian elves, the daoine sidhe of the Highlands, the tuatha de danann of Ireland, the tylwyth teg of Wales, the seelie court and the unseelie court, the wee folk, and good neighbours and many others. The trooping fairies and the solitary fairies are included in it, the fairies of human or more than human size, the three-loot fairies and the tiny fairies; the domestic fairies and those that are wild and alien to man; the subterranean fairies and the water fairies that haunt lochs, streams or the sea. The supernatural hags, monsters and bogies might be considered to belong to a different category, and there are, of course, fairy animals to be considered."
- "Elves. Already in Scandinavian mythology the fairy people were elves and were divided into two classes, the light elves and the dark elves, like the Scottish seelie court and unseelie court. The name came over into Britain, and in the Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms we find remedies against elf-shot and other sinister elvish activities. The mythological light elves were not unlike the small trooping fairies of England as we find them in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night’s Dream and many common traditions. In Christian times the Scandinavians continued to believe in the elves, or huldre folk, who showed many of the same characteristics as the Scottish fairies, both Highland and low-land. They stole humans away, destroyed their cattle and avenged any injuries done to them. The huldre girls were beautiful and alluring, wearing grey dresses and white veils, but the defect of the fairies by which they could be recognized was their long cows’ tails."
- "Fashions in fairy-lore. Fashions in fairy-lore. Even the most flaccid and degenerate of the literary FAIRIES have some point in common with the fairies in folk tradition, but, as a rule, the poets and story-tellers pick out one aspect from the varied and intricate world of fairy tradition, and the aspect chosen differs not only from poet to poet but from one period to another.
The fairies of medieval romances are among the heroic fairies in type, of human size and often amorous of mortals, expert in enchantment and glamour, generally beautiful but occasionally hideous hags. Many of them are half-forgot ten gods and goddesses, euhemerized into mortals with magical powers. The goddesses are more frequent than the gods. It was literary fashion which chose out this type because the romances derived from Celtic hero tales founded on the Celtic Pantheon; scattered references in the medieval chronicles show that very different types of fairies were available to the medieval poets if they had chosen to use them.
A different type of spirit, though no less true to tradition, appears among the Elizabethan and Jacobean fairies. It is true that Spenser uses the fairies, enchanters and w itches of the Arthurian legends in the machinery of his FAERIE QUEENE, but on the whole the spotlight is turned upon the diminutive fairies. They appear in John Lyly’s Endimion, in the anonymous The Maides Metamorphosis and the Wisdome of Dr Dodypol, and above all in a Midsummer Night's Dream. (Queen Mab in Romeo and Juliet is even more minute than the elves who waited on Titania. The Jacobean poets followed hard on the fashion. The diminutive fairies in Drayton, HERRICK, et al., made an extravaganza of Shakespeare's little fairies until, with the Duchess of Newcastle, they became miracles of littleness. Even Milton in Paradise Lost used the elves to illustrate diminution and small size. The exception to these dainty and miniature fairies is the rougher, homely hobgoblin, by whatever name he is called - robin, good fellow, puck or the lubbard fiend. Since that period, the tiny fairies have constantly haunted literature.
The 18th century was the first period in which books were written expressly for the edification of children. Educational text books had been written before - one of the first books printed was Caxton’s Babees Book to train pages in etiquette, and there were Latin and French conversation books, but works of fiction were first written expressly for children in the 18th century. At the end of the 17th century the sophisticated French fairy-stories of Perrault and Madame d’aulnoy were translated into English. They began as real traditional tales, polished to meet the taste of the French court, and they were equally popular in England. Half the court seem to have tried their hands at them, and as time went on they moved farther away from their original. The fairy godmothers, already at one remove from folk fairies, became relentless moralists, driving their proteges along the path to virtue. The trend persisted into the 19th century, and it was not until a quarter of it had passed that the researches of the folklorists began to have some effect on children’s literature. The Romantic Revival, however, had begun before this to a feet the writings of the poets. Collins, Scott, Hogg and Keats wrote in the folk-fairy tradition, and as the century went on writers of children’s stories followed them; Jean Ingelow and J. H. Ewing are among the best. At the beginning of the 20th century, an extreme tenderness and sensibility about children almost overwhelmed the folk fairies and turned them into airy, tenuous, pretty creatures without meat or muscles, made up of froth and whimsy, Rudyard Kipling fought against this tendency in Puck of Pook's Hill, and now, in Tolkien, his predecessors and successors, we enjoy a world in which imagination has superseded fancy; but whimsy is still with us in the works of the weaker writers."
May 14, 2022
This was an excellent guide when I first started my folklore studies. I highly recommend it!
October 19, 2022
If you're interested in folk and fairy tales, this is a must. Physical copies seem to run expensive--it would be a great find in some out-of-the-way used bookstore--but you can read it for free on Open Library, which is what I did, reading five or ten pages at a time as the fancy struck me.
Want to know how to protect yourself against fairies? Care to know the tale of the Lambton worm? Who was Kate Crackernuts, and what might a wulver be? I have a handy reference book for you.
It's funny how often fairy lore butts up against Catholicism and other mythologies we think of as decidedly non-fae, like vampires and ghosts. See the importance of churchyard mold, or repeated references to fairy folk being in league with (or paying tribute to) the devil, or existing as reincarnations of souls who were not good enough to merit heaven but not evil enough to go to hell. I read Hans Christian Andersen's complete collection of fairy tales earlier this year and, while most fairy tales as we think of them are not explicitly Christian, there is a good deal of moralizing on the importance of piety and faith and good works in originals.
Perhaps my favorite entry: Lutey and the Mermaid.
Want to know how to protect yourself against fairies? Care to know the tale of the Lambton worm? Who was Kate Crackernuts, and what might a wulver be? I have a handy reference book for you.
It's funny how often fairy lore butts up against Catholicism and other mythologies we think of as decidedly non-fae, like vampires and ghosts. See the importance of churchyard mold, or repeated references to fairy folk being in league with (or paying tribute to) the devil, or existing as reincarnations of souls who were not good enough to merit heaven but not evil enough to go to hell. I read Hans Christian Andersen's complete collection of fairy tales earlier this year and, while most fairy tales as we think of them are not explicitly Christian, there is a good deal of moralizing on the importance of piety and faith and good works in originals.
Perhaps my favorite entry: Lutey and the Mermaid.
February 20, 2024
Gave this one a shot after being mildly dissapointed by Briggs' other novel, The Vanishing People. My biggest issue with this, is that it does it's job too well. Briggs delved way too deep for my personal tastes (which I honestly should have assumed based on the book's size) and included seemingly incredibly obscure creatures and individuals. I would've preferred a broader and more general overview rather than this rabbit-hole.
July 10, 2019
Folklore expert Briggs converts her research into a handy guide to British fae: spriggans, daione sidhe, kelpies, knockers, nuckelavee and others, all recorded here. This also covers themes (fairy thefts, virtues valued by fairies), a number of classic folk tales and profiles several prominent folklorists. If this is your sort of thing, you can't go wrong with this one.
October 25, 2020
Надзвичайно корисна книга для розуміння передусім британського фольклору, але також взагалі язичницьких вірувань і народного християнства. Дуже багато статей про різноманітних істот з численними вказівками в якому регіоні те чи інше вірування поширене. Якщо є змога отримати цю книгу, не пожалкуєте
January 13, 2023
This book confused the hell out of me. It started one way and then went the other and not in a good way. The tone changed more than a good character arc and that was odd.
But I loved the characters, the setting and the structure.
So there's that.
But I loved the characters, the setting and the structure.
So there's that.
March 23, 2023
Ternyata belum terdata di sini, padahal buku ini sudah dimiliki sejak 2012/2013 hasil nodong Sil.
Menarik!
Tiap hal diurakan dengan panjang lebar. Ilustrasi yang ada makin membuat buku ini terasa berbeda. Sangat direkomendasikan untuk dibaca oleh para penulis dan penikmat kisah fantasi.
Menarik!
Tiap hal diurakan dengan panjang lebar. Ilustrasi yang ada makin membuat buku ini terasa berbeda. Sangat direkomendasikan untuk dibaca oleh para penulis dan penikmat kisah fantasi.
December 13, 2017
The best source for all your otherworldly questions.
February 18, 2018
Comprehensive and well written, but somewhat oddly organized.
October 4, 2018
Really good reference for the fey.
March 20, 2019
This was a very excellent thorough book on fairy folklore. I read a few chapters at a time in between novels. It is definitely a great resource for someone wanting to learn more about fairy mythology
August 31, 2019
great resource
March 2, 2021
Great companion for anyone interested in the fae. I just wish it had hardcover.
March 8, 2021
I loved this so much!
March 3, 2024
It's a great book to "reference," but it's not a game changer in reading.
May 6, 2017
This book was a great favorite of mine as a child. The public library had one copy on reserve and I spent hours poring over it when I was there, memorizing the names of the Tuatha de Danann, reading the stories of True Thomas and Tam Lin, studying which virtues were rewarded my fairies and which vices punished. Even through my adult life, this book has enjoyed a sort of clout in my imagination that few do, and so I decided to revisit it.
Briggs offers a detailed look at fairy beliefs, stories and customs from the British Isles. I was surprised that the focus was so insular, because nowhere on the cover or in the description is this mentioned; I felt this was a little misleading or even Eurocentric, as though all “hobgoblins, brownies, bogies, and other supernatural creatures” are the product of a Celtic imagination. However, for its scope, this book cannot be beaten. Briggs is an excellent folklorist and gathers together in this book not only elves, banshees, and grims, but also Perrault, Herrick, Yeats, and dozens of other writers and folklorists whose work she draws from. My complaints are: the aforementioned lack of geographical descriptor in the title; oddly vague pronunciation guides for various Gaelic words. But this book is universally cited by lovers of folklore for good reason, and my imagination was once again captured as I sifted through its pages.
Briggs offers a detailed look at fairy beliefs, stories and customs from the British Isles. I was surprised that the focus was so insular, because nowhere on the cover or in the description is this mentioned; I felt this was a little misleading or even Eurocentric, as though all “hobgoblins, brownies, bogies, and other supernatural creatures” are the product of a Celtic imagination. However, for its scope, this book cannot be beaten. Briggs is an excellent folklorist and gathers together in this book not only elves, banshees, and grims, but also Perrault, Herrick, Yeats, and dozens of other writers and folklorists whose work she draws from. My complaints are: the aforementioned lack of geographical descriptor in the title; oddly vague pronunciation guides for various Gaelic words. But this book is universally cited by lovers of folklore for good reason, and my imagination was once again captured as I sifted through its pages.
August 9, 2009
Probably not a great idea to read straight through, given that it is an encyclopedia, and doing so took me forever and lead to a lot of dull passages, but it seems like a pretty good reference work, particularly since it covers folk fairy beliefs, tales and their tellers and collectors, rather than focusing on only one aspect of (mostly British) fairy tradition.
It's out of print now though, so apparently its publisher and/or the book market doesn't think quite so highly of it.
It's out of print now though, so apparently its publisher and/or the book market doesn't think quite so highly of it.
November 17, 2016
Like Keightley's Fairy mythology, I bought this paperback in the early 1980s and now, sadly, the spine's giving way and all the pages are starting to tumble out. Katharine Briggs is an expert in the field and the book is clear and comprehensive. As an author of fairy fiction myself, and a blogger at britishfairies.wordpress.com, Briggs is an invaluable source of authentic, traditional information and of inspiration.
July 22, 2014
Folklore expert Briggs converts her research into a handy guide to British fae: spriggans, daione sidhe, kelpies, knockers, nuckelavee and others, all recorded here. This also covers themes (fairy thefts, virtues valued by fairies), a number of classic folk tales and profiles several prominent folklorists. If this is your sort of thing, you can't go wrong with this one.
November 23, 2014
It is good, but it focuses almost exclusively on the fairies of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. So while I love how in depth it is, the deepness of the research is focused on a relatively narrow subsection of folklore. A great resource, but only when you use it in a way that plays to the strengths of the book
June 27, 2010
I read this book as a kid and have kept a copy for reference ever since. It's invaluable for anyone interested in folklore, covering a vast range of entities from gentle to malevolent, from beneficial to deadly.
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