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Book of the
Month -- February 2026
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 Charlotte Brooke’s Reliques of Irish Poetry was first published in 1789, and republished in 1816, but has since fallen into obscurity. It was one of the first translations into English of classical Irish Literature and includes both heroic tales of Cuchulainn and the Fianna, and more intimate songs and shorter poems. In contrast to Macpherson’s Poems of Ossian, which were largely the work of Macpherson himself, these were unquestionably genuine: she gives the exact provenance of each poem, and prints the Irish originals. Additional material includes a biography of Miss Brooke, and learned disquisitions on the various poetical forms. In common with the scholars Sylvester O’Halloran and Charles O’Connor she repeats as historical fact the entirely fictitious history and society of Ireland elaborated by the mediaeval scribes. Also of great interest are the words of two songs by Turlough O’Carolan, which are nowadays usually performed as instrumentals. |
AboutUs
The Ex-Classics project was founded in 2000 to fill an unmet need. When reading the blurb etc. to a book by Charles Dickens or Charlotte Bronte, say, we would often come across sentences like "Favourite reading included . . ." If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us. So off we go to the library or bookshop, to be met first with blank stares and then with the information that the book has been out of print for decades. Our first two books were Gil Blas and Hudibras, which are prime examples of this. This web site is dedicated to rescuing these works from obscurity and making them available online, both for reading directly, and for downloading.
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