Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616 [Hardcover]

John O'Donovan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1966 | ISBN-10: 040404820X | ISBN-13: 978-0404048204

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ams Pr Inc (June 1966)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 040404820X
• ISBN-13: 978-0404048204
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,357,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for students of Gaelic History, August 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616 (Hardcover)

'The Annals of the Four Masters' is one of the most important documents for students of Irish, British, European and ancient history. You will not find much of this history in your high school or even college text books. John O'Donovan, a 19th century antiquarian undertook the enormous task of interpreting this account of Irish history as written in gaelic by the Four Masters, legendary scribes from a Donegal monastery. On the left hand page you get the original gaelic text, on the right the english translation, some anecdotes are in Latin. The anecdotes are as rich in reading as the text and include some by the late 19th century historian Charles O'Conor of Belengare, Ireland. REPRINT THESE VOLUMES....for here lie the dormant pages of Irish, British, Norman, Saxon, Scotish, Iberian, Hiberian, Milesian, Pictish and Gaelic history and perhaps the key to unraveling are current problems.

Stephen Vincent O`Rourke

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent source of genealogical history of Ireland., February 3, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616 (Hardcover)

This text is a crucial element in the genealogical history of many old Irish and Scotish families (who can trace their roots to Ireland). This text includes the Latin, Gaelic and English translations of the original books. Although the beginning volumes were written about 500 to 1000 years after the events occurred, the stories that one finds included there are fascinating, and add to any family history (provided you can trace back that far!) a depth that is difficult to find elsewhere. I post a web site that traces the roots of the Buchanan clan, and have used a copy of the text available from the NY Public Library as one of my sources. Numerous individuals have e-mailed me asking for sources to purchase this text, and it would be helpful if it would be reprinted. For now, ask your local library to get the book for you on interlibrary loan from the NY Public Library (or others). Needless to say, I highly recommend this text and would be the first to purchase it if it were reprinted.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind, April 28, 2005

By 

M. O'Laughlin "[e-mail]" (The Irish Roots Cafe) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616 (Hardcover)

The Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters is a treasured find for any researcher. O'Donovans translation was excellent for the day. He was actually the second to publish the annals for the 12th to the 17th centuries. A few years before O'Donovan, in 1846, Owen Connellan published the first ever translation of the annals into English, plus the family name location map. There had been quite a competition between the two to come out with the first edition of the annals. I have both translations in hardbound editions. They sit side by side on our shelves. It is quite interesting to compare the two.