I have lost count of the number of times I've sat down with the book since the day I found it. Rarely do I have a goal in mind; instead, I simply open the book to a random page and start reading. Always, I find something interesting waiting for me on whatever page I select; often, I learn something new.

Briggs' scholarship is amazing, her research is exhaustive. Even the most fanatical of folklore enthusiasts would be hard pressed to find a character from British folklore missing from this work. (Briggs wrote in her preface that she originally planned to compile an encyclopedia of global folklore, "but to treat the fairies of the whole of Europe alone, even cursorily, would have been to produce a book ten times the size of this and founded on years of further research."

Certainly, Briggs treated British folklore with a thoroughness rarely seen in a milieu regarded by some as a children's fancy.

This book is nigh impossible to find, and an absolute necessity for anyone interested in Ireland, faeries, or folklore. Every page is bursting with myth and tradition, poetry and lore, much of it drawn from pre 19th century texts that give one a whole new perceptive on the Fair Folk (or the Gentry, or Themselves, or the Good Neighbours, and if you don't understand what I'm talking about get the book!) as seen from the point of view of those who have no doubt that they share their lands with a strange people. At the time of this review, I see that the current price of the book is $.... Please believe me: THIS IS WELL WORTH IT. I sought for ten years to find this book, paid fifty dollars from a used bookseller, and it has survived water-damage, three moves, and near constant perusal while losing none of its value or charm. This review is a plea: go to every bookseller, write to every publisher, and DEMAND this book be brought back into print.

I bought this book somewhere years ago and didn't look at it too hard. Every once in a while I'd pick it up and read about "Fairies" or "Hobgoblins" or "Brownies." I looked up "Tam Lin" after I read Pamela Dean's "Tam Lin." But it was only when I read "The Scarlet Letter" in my English class that I took a good look at this book. Some of the descriptions of Pearl--her elfish behavior, her red dress--and some other details reminded me of my Encyclopedia. So I started reading. It was hard going: there is no index. However, it was while browsing through the book that I found the most intriguing little tidbits of fairy lore.

When I informed my mother that I was using it as a major source for my English paper, she was skeptical--until she looked at the information at the front of the book. It's not a frivolous work. That is sometimes a problem--many quotations are in the original dialect or idiom, which can obscure the meaning.

This book is both interesting and useful.

Katharine Briggs is the queen of fairy folklore, and I can highly recommend all of her books. This one is due to be republished in 2003, and it's long been out of print. With scholarship and grace, Briggs captures the stories of the fairies, treating them somewhat differently than WY Evans-Wentz, another great folklorist. Briggs' literary view is far-reaching, writing that over time fairy beliefs have remained fairly constant. She writes "...the tradition is still there and lingers on from generation to generation substantially unchanged Every now and then poets and writers draw on the tradition and make out of it something suitable to the spirit of their age."

In this book, Briggs combines folk beliefs across the British Isles, covering topics such as fairy music, their interest in human affairs, tutelary fairies (hereditary fairies connected through generations to a particular family), changelings, fairy rings and other key fairytale themes. Briggs differs from other writers in the flow of her books and the way she connects ideas and concepts to one another. Her chapters read like the lectures of a favored college professor. Her work is that of a gifted storyteller, engaging and entertaining, while meticulously researched.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in folklore or the stories of English fairies.

This was a great book! I loved it! I recomend it to anyone!