Texts

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Macalister, R. A. S., Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the taking of Ireland, 5 vols, Irish Texts Society, 34, 35, 39, 41, 44, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1932–1942.
Internet Archive – Vol. 1 (1938 ed.): <link> Internet Archive – Vol. 2 (1939 ed.): <link> Internet Archive – Vol. 3 (1940 ed.): <link> Internet Archive – Vol. 4 (1941 ed.): <link> Internet Archive – Vol. 5 (1956 ed.): <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Macalister, R. A. Stewart [ed.], Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the taking of Ireland, 5 vols, vol. 1, Irish Texts Society, 34, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1932.
Internet Archive: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Macalister, R. A. Stewart [ed.], Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the taking of Ireland, 5 vols, vol. 2, Irish Texts Society, 35, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1933.  

Concerning this section in the recensions which he calls R1, Min, R2 and R3, Macalister writes that it “has suffered modification in translation from the original Latin and in subsequent transmission [...] and in consequence two versions R1 and R2, differing widely, have come into being. [...] The version [of this section] in Min need not detain us: it does not differ essentially from R1. We turn now to R3, which in this section is very clumsy and awkward patchwork, based upon the two earlier versions, with the addition of some extraneous matter. [...] The close relationship of his [the compiler's] MS of R1 (*Q), to F, observed in the preceding section is here maintained.”

Internet Archive: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Macalister, R. A. Stewart [ed.], Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the taking of Ireland, 5 vols, vol. 3, Irish Texts Society, 39, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1937.
Internet Archive: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Macalister, R. A. Stewart [ed.], Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the taking of Ireland, 5 vols, vol. 4, Irish Texts Society, 41, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1939.
Internet Archive: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Macalister, R. A. Stewart [ed.], Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the taking of Ireland, 5 vols, vol. 5, Irish Texts Society, 44, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1942.
Internet Archive: <link>
[tr.] Carey, John [tr.], “[Various contributions]”, in: John T. Koch, and John Carey (eds), The Celtic Heroic Age. Literary sources for ancient Celtic Europe and early Ireland & Wales, 4th ed., 1, Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2003. [Various].
§ 108. Translation of the first recension (A).

Secondary sources (select)

Carey, John (ed.), Lebor gabála Érenn: textual history and pseudohistory, Irish Texts Society, Subsidiary Series, 20, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 2009.
Scowcroft, R. Mark, “Leabhar Gabhála. Part I: the growth of the text”, Ériu 38 (1987): 79–140.  
Scowcroft, R. Mark, “Leabhar Gabhála. Part II: the growth of the tradition”, Ériu 39 (1988): 1–66.  
Hamel, A. G. van, “On Lebor Gabála”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 10 (1915): 97–197.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, Online: University College Cork, 1997–present. URL: <http://www.ucc.ie/celt>.
“Online index to the Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions) based on R. A. S. Macalister's translations and notes”, compiled by Michael Murphy. direct link