I offer a selection of new and secondhand books.
Recommended: Sylvia Crawford, An Introduction to Old Irish Harp Playing Techniques
Please get in touch if you want more information, or recommendations for reading.
How to order:

Send an email to shop@simonchadwick.net, or phone or text me, telling me what you would like.
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If you are not sure what you need, still get in touch and ask me. There is no commitment to place an order; just call or email and see if the price and description is really what you are after. I am happy to recommend other sellers who might have what you need.
The following titles are currently in stock; others may also be available.
Author | Title | Price | |
Ann Heymann | A Gaelic Harper’s First Tunes | £50 | Secondhand paperback |
Barry Cunliffe | The Celts – a very short introduction | £8 | 2003 paperback |
Breandán Ó Madagáin | Caointe agus seancheolte eile / keening and other old Irish musics | £19 | Paperback with CD |
Charlotte Milligan Fox | Annals of the Irish Harpers | £150 | 1917 John Murray hardback reprint of 1911 original. Includes Arthur O’Neill’s Memoirs, extracts from Edward Bunting’s correspondence, and illustrations. |
Colm Ó Baoill | Bàrdachd Shìlis na Ceapaich, poems and songs by Sìleas McDonald | £23 | 1972 hardback |
Daniel Tokar and Ann Heymann | Dialogue on historical wire for Gaelic harps | £13 | 2011 paperback |
David Johnson | Scottish fiddle music in the eighteenth century | £25 | 2005 edition. Includes historical commentary and editions of music |
Denis Rixson | The West Highland Galley | £5 | paperback, history of boats |
Donal O’Sullivan with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin | Bunting’s Ancient Music of Ireland edited from the original manuscripts | £120 | 1983 hardback. Editions of tunes with commentary |
Edward Bunting | The Ancient Music of Ireland | £350 | 1840 first edition |
Edward Bunting | General Collection of The Ancient Music of Ireland | £70 | 2012 hardback reprint of 1811 reprint of 1809 edition, published by the Linen hall Library |
Edward Bunting | A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music… | £70 | 1996 Linen Hall Library limited edition paperback facsimile of 1797 original |
Edward Bunting | General Collection of The Ancient Music of Ireland | £350 | 1809 first edition in original printed boards |
Gerald of Wales | The History and Topography of Ireland | £10 | Penguin paperback translation of Giraldus Cambrensis |
Gerald of Wales | The Journey through Wales and the Description of Wales | £11 | Penguin paperback translation of Giraldus Cambrensis |
Helen Lawlor | Irish harping 1900-2010 | £35 | 2012 hardback. |
Hélène Witcher | Madame Scotia, Madam Scrap. The story of Héloïse Russell-Fergusson 1896-1970 | £12 | 2017 paperback |
Hugh Cheape | Bagpipes – a national collection of a national instrument | £16 | includes CD-ROM |
Huw Roberts & Llio Rhydderch | Telynorion Llannerch-y-Medd / The harpers of Llannerch-y-Medd | £35 | 2000 paperback edition, bilingual in English and Welsh. 19th and early 20th century Welsh harp traditions. |
Joan Rimmer | The Irish Harp – Cláirseach na hÉireann | £35 | I usually have various editions available |
John Purser | Scotland’s Music | £100 | 1992 hardback first edition, also 2007 hardback second edition |
Johnson & Boswell | A tour to the Hebrides | £15 | Old Oxford University Press blue hardback of R.W. Chapman’s editions of both texts. Includes map |
Linda Gowans | Am Bròn Binn | £15 | Scholarly analysis of Scottish Gaelic ballad song |
Mark Everist | The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Music | £22 | 2011 paperback |
Martha Goodway & Jay Scott Odell | The Historical Harpsichord volume two: The metallurgy of 17th and 18th century music wire | £33 | Technical study of old strings |
Mike Parker | Child of Pure Harmony – a source book for the single-action harp | £14 | 2005 paperback. A digest of early 19th century harp methods |
Nancy Hurrell | The Egan Irish harps | £43 | 2019 hardback |
Nicholas Carolan | John & William Neal, A Collection of the most celebrated Irish tunes proper for the violin, German flute or hautboy, Dublin 1724 | £40 | 2010 hardback edition, complete facsimile with detailed introduction, notes and commentary. |
Osian Ellis | Hanes y Delyn yng Nghymru / The Story of the Harp in Wales | £25 | 1980 paperback first edition |
Paddy Tunney | The Stone Fiddle | £30 | s/h paperback |
Paddy Tunney | Where Songs do Thunder | £30 | s/h paperback |
Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin | A Hidden Ulster | £30 | 2021 paperback corrected reprint |
Patrick McDonald | The Patrick McDonald Collection: Highland vocal airs, Country dances or Reels of the north Highlands and Western Isles (first published 1784) | £19 | 2000 paperback edition from Taigh na Teud |
Peter Downey | Edward Bunting and the Ancient Irish Music: The Publication History of A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music… Adapted for Piano-Forte (London, Preston & Son) | £16 | Scholarly study of the publication of Bunting’s 1797 book |
Rauno Nieminen | Jouhikko – The Bowed Lyre | £44 | Includes audio CD. The complete practical guide to this Scandinavian bowed instrument. |
Robert Bruce Armstrong | The Irish and Highland Harps | £150 | 1969 Praeger hardback facsimile of 1904 original. Includes fold-out plates |
Roderick Cannon (ed.) | Joseph MacDonald’s Compleat Theory of the Scots Highland Bagpipe (c.1760) | £35 | Large-format paperback. 1994 edition of the original manuscript (2010 reprint) |
Ronn McFarlane | Highland King | £14 | Transcriptions of Scottish lute music |
Roy Johnston | Bunting’s Messiah | £10 | Musical biography of Edward Bunting detailing his diverse musical activities |
Sally Harper | Music in Welsh Culture before 1650: A study of the principal sources | £110 | 2007 hardback |
Sandra Joyce & Helen Lawlor | Harp Studies | £40 | 2016 hardback. Includes Paul Dooley The Harp in the time of Giraldus, and Ann Heymann three iconic Gaelic harp pieces |
Séamus Ó Brógáin | The Wolfhound guide to the Irish harp emblem | £10 | Slim paperback |
Simon Chadwick | Progressive Lessons | £20 | Sources for learning old Irish harp, includes CD |
Simon Fraser | The Airs and Melodies peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles | £14 | Spiral bound facsimile of 1874 piano collection |
Somhairle Mac Ghill Eathain (Sorley MacLean) | Dain do Eimhir agus Dain Eile | £150 | 1943 hardback first edition, ex-library. Modernist Scottish Gaelic poems with illustrations by William Crosbie |
Sylvia Crawford | An Introduction to Old Irish Harp Playing Technique | £20 | 2021 large format paperback |
Thomas Forest Kelly | Early Music, a very short introduction | £8 | Paperback |
Tomás Ó Canainn | Traditional music in Ireland | £10 | 1993 paperback reprint of very important 1978 overview text. |
William Donaldson | The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society 1750-1950 | £30 | Paperback. Excellent social history of music in Scotland. |
William Matheson | The Blind Harper (an Clarsair Dall). The songs of Roderick Morison and his music | £23 | 1970 hardback |
Early Music 36/4 November 2008 | £10 | Includes Simon Chadwick, The early Irish harp | |
Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 42, Winter 2001 | £5 | Includes Sally Harper, So how many Irishmen went to Glyn Achlach? Early accounts of the formation of Cerdd Dant | |
Singing the Reformation | £4 | Edinburgh University exhibition brochure, 2011, about the Wode Partbooks | |
Irish Musical Studies 10: Music, Ireland and the Seventeenth Century | £50 | 2009 hardback. Includes Adrian Scahill, Irish traditional music in the seventeenth century, and John Cunningham, the Irish harp in non-Irish contexts in the 17th century. | |
Hands – Harp Making DVD | £20 | DVD film by David Shaw-Smith, about harpmaker Peter Kilroy | |
Strangers to Citizens: The Irish in Europe 1600-1800 | £5 | National Library of Ireland exhibition pamphlet |
Last updated Aug 2023