Explore books about fairy folklore from the UK and Ireland, covering local beliefs, encounters, legends and supernatural landscapes. The collection follows traditions surrounding fairies and the otherworld through regional folklore and historical accounts.
29 books found
Cover unavailableA Field Guide To Irish Fairies
Bob Curran’s guide organises Irish fairy lore around individual beings and traditions, including the grogoch, Grey Man, sheerie, pooka, merrow, banshee, leprechaun and dullahan. It also considers changelings and lesser-known figures, presenting their reported characteristics…
View book details →
Cover unavailableAt the Bottom of the Garden: A Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins and Other Troublesome Things
Diane Purkiss traces the darker history of fairies and related beings from ancient and medieval traditions to modern claims. The book considers how stories of goblins, hobgoblins and other troublesome figures expressed fears surrounding birth,…
View book details →
Cover unavailableBritish Fairy Origins
British Fairy Origins examines how fairy legends developed within British tradition, asking where ideas about these beings came from and how they changed over time. Lewis Spence considers the origins of fairy belief alongside the…
View book details →
Cover unavailableBritish Goblins: The Realm of Faerie
British Goblins: The Realm of Faerie presents Wirt Sikes’s account of Welsh fairy lore, beginning with the Tylwyth Teg and related supernatural beings. Its classifications include the Ellyllon, Pooka, Coblynau or mine fairies, and the…
View book details →
Cover unavailableBritish Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions
British Goblins gathers Welsh accounts of fairies, ghosts, legends and customary beliefs, arranging them across several themed sections. Sikes discusses the Tylwyth Teg and related beings, including the Ellyllon, mine-dwelling Coblynau and household Bwbach, alongside…
View book details →
Explore Fairy Traditions
Explore Fairy Traditions examines fairy belief through legends, ballads and testimony from Britain and Ireland. Jeremy Harte considers changelings, brownies, household familiars, demon lovers, the fairy host and abduction into the Otherworld, tracing how these…
View book details →
Cover unavailableFairies and Fairy Stories
Fairies and Fairy Stories traces the changing history of fairy belief, from dangerous beings in ancient myth and medieval folklore to the smaller, gentler figures familiar from later literature. Diane Purkiss examines how stories of…
View book details →
Cover unavailableFairies and Fairy Stories: A History
Fairies and Fairy Stories: A History traces changing ideas about fairies from ancient myths and medieval folklore through early modern belief, literature and modern popular culture. Diane Purkiss presents fairy traditions as reports and cultural…
View book details →
Cover unavailableFairies: A History
Fairies: A History traces belief in fairy-like beings across more than 2,000 years, challenging the familiar image of tiny winged creatures. Francis Young examines a much broader category of supernatural human-like beings, including Scandinavia’s elves,…
View book details →
Cover unavailableFairies: Real Encounters with the Little People
Janet Bord gathers reported encounters with fairies and other ‘little people’, asking where such meetings are said to happen, how they begin and what witnesses claim to have seen or heard. The accounts range from…
View book details →
Fairy Encounters in Medieval England: Landscape, Folklore and the Supernatural
Fairy Encounters in Medieval England examines accounts of encounters with fairies and other supernatural beings across eight centuries of medieval English testimony. Jeremy Harte draws on miracle collections, chronicles, saints’ lives and sermons, tracing reports…
View book details →
Cover unavailableIrish Gothic Fairy Stories
Irish Gothic Fairy Stories gathers fairy tales and traditions from all 32 counties of Ireland, presenting the Sidhe through the distinct beliefs and folklore of different communities. Steve Lally and Paula Flynn Lally draw on…
View book details →
Cover unavailableIrish Tales from the Otherworld: Ghosts, Fairies & Evil Spirits
Irish Tales from the Otherworld brings together stories of ghosts, fairies and hostile spirits rooted in Irish oral tradition. Bob Curran presents accounts passed through generations in rural communities, where encounters with the otherworld can…
View book details →
Cover unavailableMeeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland
Meeting the Other Crowd gathers Irish accounts of fairy belief as collected and presented by storyteller Eddie Lenihan, with Carolyn Eve Green. The stories treat the fairies as the Other Crowd, the Good People, the…
View book details →
Cover unavailableNorth Cornwall Fairies and Legends
North Cornwall Fairies and Legends gathers 13 folklore-based tales centred on Cornish piskeys, fairy folk and local legends. Enys Tregarthen places these accounts in recognisable landscapes, including Tintagel, Padstow, Rough Tor and Dozmare Pool, where…
View book details →
Cover unavailablePixie Folk Tales
Henry Everett retells 50 traditional tales of the pixies and related beings associated with South West England. Cornwall, Devon and Somerset provide the setting for stories featuring Pixies, Piskeys, Knockers, Spriggans and other members of…
View book details →
Cover unavailableScottish Fairy Belief: A History
Scottish Fairy Belief: A History examines how fairies were understood in Scotland from the 15th to the 19th century, drawing on historical records, witch trials, ballads and literature. The authors consider fairy belief as part…
View book details →
Cover unavailableSuffolk Fairylore
Suffolk Fairylore traces belief in fairy-like beings across the county from the Roman period to the present day. Francis Young examines how local traditions developed, changed and survived, placing Suffolk’s material alongside fairylore from elsewhere…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Anatomy of Puck
The Anatomy of Puck examines fairy beliefs surrounding Shakespeare and the writers who followed him, placing Puck and Robin Goodfellow within the wider traditions of early modern folklore. Katharine Briggs considers how fairies, elves, goblins,…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Case of the Cottingley Fairies
Joe Cooper examines the Cottingley fairy photographs, the two Bradford cousins who produced them, and the claims that briefly persuaded prominent believers. The story begins with Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, whose 1917 images attracted…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Faerie Isle: Tales and Traditions of Ireland's Forgotten Folklore
The Faerie Isle presents 15 figures from Irish fairy folklore, bringing together familiar beings and lesser-known spirits, heroes and villains. Síne Quinn’s subjects include selkies that come ashore to dance every ninth day, mermaids whose…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Fairies in Tradition and Literature
The Fairies in Tradition and Literature surveys how fairy belief developed through tradition, folklore and writing. Katharine Briggs considers the different peoples and beings associated with fairy lore, including tutelary spirits, nature spirits, hobgoblins, giants,…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries records reported beliefs about fairy beings across Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. W. Y. Evans-Wentz combines field research with testimony from local witnesses, alongside introductions…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Gaelic Otherworld
The Gaelic Otherworld gathers John Gregorson Campbell’s records of Gaelic belief and storytelling from the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Its first part considers fairies, fairy women, tutelary beings, the urisk, blue men, mermaids and water-horses,…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Personnel of Fairyland
The Personnel of Fairyland presents a classification of the fairy people found in British and Irish tradition, arranged for those who tell stories to children. Katharine Briggs distinguishes groups such as Trooping Fairies and Homely…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies
Robert Kirk’s account presents Scottish traditions about elves, fauns, fairies and other subterranean beings, described through reports linked to Highland communities and second-sight seers. These entities occupy a position between human and angelic nature, with…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Traveller's Guide to Fairy Sites
The Traveller's Guide to Fairy Sites examines reported fairy locations across England, Wales and Scotland, bringing together local landscapes, folklore and accounts of encounters. Janet Bord focuses on places where the traditions are tied to…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Truth About The Leprechaun
The Truth About The Leprechaun considers the leprechaun as a figure within the wider fairy traditions of Ireland and the Celtic world. Bob Curran examines reported origins, physical appearance, habitats, habits, occupations, social organisation and…
View book details →
Cover unavailableThe Weird Tales of Dorothy K. Haynes
Dorothy K. Haynes’ Scottish supernatural fiction brings together cruel childhoods, fairy folklore and witchcraft. Edited by Craig Lamont, with a foreword by Johnny Mains, this British Library collection includes rare and previously unpublished stories, with…
View book details →Explore more books
Explore another part of the Spooky Isles book collection, or return to the full Books directory.
Browse by subject: Ghost Books Paranormal Books Folklore Books Witchcraft Books Myths & Legends Psychical Research Cryptid Books Paranormal Investigation
Browse by place: England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Ireland London Cornwall Liverpool
