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| Author | Wirt Sikes |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | T. H. Thomas |
| Publisher |
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| Pages | 412 |
| OCLC | 4721171 |
| Text | British Goblins atInternet Archive |
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions is an 1880 book on Welsh folklore and mythology by American journalistWirt Sikes.
William Wirt Sikes was an American journalist and author who served as the United States Consul inCardiff from 1876 until his death in 1883. In his early career, Sikes wrote various short-stories and poems for American magazines and newspapers, some of which were compiled into theBook for the Winter-Evening Fireside in 1858. He published two novels in the late 1860s, partially drawn from his experiences as a reporter for theChicago Evening Journal.[1]
Before taking his post as Consul, Sikes unsuccessfully searched for coverage of southern Wales in various bookstores, noting that he was only able to find an obsolete 18th century account of the region in theLibrary of Congress. Seeing American knowledge of Wales as insufficient, he published a number of articles on the country in American periodicals such asHarper's Magazine,Appletons' Journal, andScribner's Monthly. These articles were later compiled intoRambles and Studies in Old South Wales, released in 1881.[2] Frustrated by poor pay fromScribner's, Sikes began to compile folklore studies forBritish Goblins. It was illustrated byT. H. Thomas and published by London booksellerSampson Low in 1880. The following year, an American edition was published byJames R. Osgood in Boston; this edition featured no alterations beyond publication details, and included British spellings and punctuation.[3]
British Goblins is divided into four sections; "The Realm of the Faerie", "The Spirit-World", "Quaint Old Customs", and "Bells, Wells, Stones and Dragons".[4] Each section has a varying number of chapters, with a total of 32 chapters in the book.
Sikes basedBritish Goblins heavily on earlier collections of Welsh folklore.Edmund Jones's 1780Apparitions of Spirits in the Principality of Wales was the most utilized source. Jones's writing is used throughout the book, and Sikes provides a brief biography of him; however, he notes that Jones's accounts differ markedly from other sources, and Sikes frequently makes footnotes and alterations to correct or reconcile Jones's accounts.[5]British Goblins also borrows fromPeter Roberts's 1815Cambrian Popular Antiquities of Wales, the 1831Cambrian Superstitions by W. Howell, and Charles Redwood's 1839The Vale Of Glamorgan. Sikes also used medieval sources, such as the works ofGerald of Wales andLady Charlotte Guest's translation of theMabinogion.[1]
Unlike many contemporary publications on Welsh folklore, portions ofBritish Goblins were drawn from oral accounts and traditions collected in the field. Sikes noted one instance of gathering folk stories on fairies from men at an inn outside Cardiff.[4]
American folkloristRichard Dorson describedBritish Goblins as the "most substantial book of Welsh legendry in English" in comparison to contemporaries such asJohn Rhŷs's 1901Celtic Folk-Lore, Welsh and Manx; however, he criticized the book for its over-reliance on previous compilations of Welsh folklore in favor of Sikes's novel collection of oral folklore.[6] Dorson wrote thatBritish Goblins was disliked by folklorists such as Rhŷs andEdwin Sidney Hartland due to insufficient or unclear citations, leading Rhŷs to cite it "necessarily but with a certain reluctance".[4]