First published 135 years ago under its original title of Lough Corrib: Its Shores and Islands, Sir William Wilde's classic work is still highly regarded and much sought-after. Local historian Richard Roche reviews Wilde's Lough Corrib, Echoes of a Savage Land, by Joe McGowan; Compact History of Birr, by Oisin Deery; Towelsail Yawls: The Lobsterboats of Heir Island and Roaringwater Bay, by Cormac Levis and Buildings of North County Down, by C.C.B. Brett
Wilde's Lough Corrib. Reprint by Kevin Duffy. Published by Kevin Duffy, Headford. €30
With the appetiser provided by Colm O Lochlainn's edited reprint of 1949, this new, facsimile edition is bound to further whet the appetite of book-lovers everywhere. It is a splendid production, with all its original 74 woodcuts illustrating a learned and entrancing guide to Corrib and its many islands.
Wilde, a native of Cong (as is Kevin Duffy), was a keen archaeologist as well as a skilled writer and historian and many of his historical and archaeological observations, ground-breaking at the time, have stood the test of the intervening years. One of those observations, forecasting the demise of the Irish language ("In 20 years more. . . it will have ceased to be used") may, however, have been a little pessimistic and more than a little premature. This attractive reprint carries a foreword by Dr Peter Harbison, RHA, and will undoubtedly become a collector's item before long.
Echoes of a Savage Land. By Joe McGowan. Mercier, €18.95
However sophisticated we may think we are in 21st-century Ireland, we are never far from our peasant past - and Joe McGowan, in this chronological memoir, reminds us of that oft-concealed continuity. It is a work that aspires, more than adequately, to the sentiment expressed in Shakespeare's lines: "Praising what is lost/Makes the remembrance dear". Yet this is not just another collection of reminiscences viewed through rose-coloured spectacles - it is a skilfully written work of retrospection, describing the old ways and the old myths which seem to have survived in the author's native Sligo longer than in other parts of Ireland.
In addition, the author reaches out to include historical references in Ireland's story, to make this a colourful treasure-chest of lore and learning.
Some monochrome photographs, notes and a short bibliography add further to the appeal the book will have for anyone interested in north-west Ireland.
Compact History of Birr. By Oisin Deery. Tama Books. €11.75
'Compact' is the operative word in the title of this 118-page dash through the history of the Co Offaly town, from its origins as a sixth-century monastery to the present. The author manages to mention all of Birr's important events and personalities, with much reliance on Cooke's exhaustive Early History of the place and on the files of the Midland Tribune. The result is a well-written, readable survey of Birr's history - a neat retelling of the town's long story.
Towelsail Yawls: The Lobsterboats of Heir Island and Roaringwater Bay. By Cormac Levis. Galley Head Press. €19.75
Landlubbers - and even some seafarers - find it difficult at times to distinguish one type of sailing craft from another. One should have no such problem after reading Cormac Levis's detailed book on the particular type of yawl used for almost a century by the lobster-fishermen of Roaringwater Bay in Co Cork.
The term "yawl" was a general description of boats between 18 and 33 feet in length, irrespective of rig. The provenance of "towelsail" is more intriguing. In such open boats and far from land, the only shelter which the lobstermen had was a tent-like covering draped over an oar. This, however, had a secondary function and could be used, jury-rigged, as a crude foresail. The local name given to this tent-cum-sail was the Irish "teabhal" (shelter), pronounced "towel". Such yawls were in use from the 1870s to the 1950s, fishing for lobster (and mackerel at times) along the south coast.
As the author points out, the untold story of these boats has been a "missing chapter" in Ireland's maritime history. Cormac Levis, himself a son of the sea, has now written that chapter, in stylish and informative fashion. The book is a trawl-full of detail and facts, illustrated with many photographs and drawings and nicely produced in hardback.
Buildings of North County Down. By C.C.B. Brett, with photographs by C.W. Merrick. Ulster Architectural Heritage Society. £28 sterling.
A companion volume to the same author's Buildings of County Antrim and Buildings of County Armagh, this work follows the same lines in listing, describing and illustrating the castles and churches, mansions and cottages, some follies and at least one windmill situated in north Co Down. Not unexpectedly for this part of Ireland, which was heavily colonised, there is a predominance of "big houses" but "middling-sized houses", "small houses" and cottages (these often as large as "middling-sized houses") are included in Sir Charles Brett's meticulous inventory, and all finely illustrated by Anthony Merrick's photographs.
Most of the buildings are viewed from the outside only, as the author was refused admission to about one third of the structures described. Obviously many home-owners in this part of Co Down regard their houses as castles, theirs to have and to hold. The histories of the buildings listed are varied and fascinating and the whole is a work of record worthy of an honoured place on the coffee-tables of North Down.
Richard Roche is an author and local historian