From Gill & Macmillan there is The Book of Irish Golf, by sports writer and keen golfer John Redmond (October, £19.99), in which he gives a history of the game from when it was being played by an elite few to its present proliferation; The Ireland An- thology, edited by the late Sean Dunne and with an introduction and notes by George O'Brien (October, £17.99), which includes a lively cross-section of Irish bits and pieces; Sean Lemass: The Enigmatic Patriot, by John Horgan (October, £18.99), a fully rounded biography of Ireland's apostle of free trade; Slanguage: A Dictionary of Irish Slang, by Bernard Share (October, £35/£10.99) - "whether you are a decent skin or a crawthumper, this is the book for you !; and A History of North- ern Ireland: 1920-1996, by Thomas Hennessy (October,ober, £30/£9.99), which brings a contemporary perspective to historical events and is the first comprehensive history of the region for over fifteen years.
From Mercier Press we have The Barracks: A History of Victoria/Collins Barracks, by Dan Harvey and Gerry White (October, £25), an account of Collins Barracks, Cork, from 1801 to the present day as seen through the eyes of those stationed there; Wit, by the indefatigable Des MacHale (October, £9.99), a compendium of quotes from the great wits of the world; Favourite Hymns WeLearned at School, compiled by Thomas F. Walsh (November, £6.99), to build on the popularity of the Faith of Our Fathers - or Foof - concert and tape; and John B. Keane's Christmas (November, £6.99), a collection of Christmas stories by the irrepressible Kerryman. For children from this imprint we have The Slave Coast, by Bill Wall (October, £4.99), set in l798 and telling the story of a boy sailor, and Grue- some Irish Tales for Children, by Eddie Lenihan (October, £4.99).
From Marino look for Three Storeys Up:Tales of Dublin Tene- ment Life, by Fred Kennedy (October, £5.99); An Irish Roadside Camera, by Bob Montgomery (November, £20), the story of early Irish motoring told in words and pictures; The Mighty Healy- Rae, by Donal Hickey (November, £7.99), an account of how the charismatic Kerry politician came into the Dail on a wave of sound and fury; and a cartoon history of the life of CJH by Aongus Collins called The Legend of Charlie Haughey (November, £7.99).
From Blackstaff Press we have Michael Collins: The Secret File, edited by A.T.Q. Stewart (October, £10.99), which presents in facsimile form all the important material in the RUC's secret file on Michael Collins from December l916 to April 1920; The Sites of the l798 Rising in Antrim and Down, by Bill Wilsden (October, £7.99), a handy pocket guide complete with maps and Ordnance Survey references; Stuff It All! - A Survivor's Guide to Christmas, by Paul Farrell and Graeme Keyes (November, £5.99), a Yuletide book of cartoons, jokes and anecdotes; and a historical novel by Robert Welch called Groundwork (October, £8.99), set in Munster and dealing with the lives of two families, the Condons and the O'Dwyers.
From Town House and Country House: Lifelines 3, edited by Niall MacMonagle (October, £16.99/£10.99), which is the third and final collection of letters from famous people about their favourite poems compiled by the students of Wesley College, Dublin; Kindred, a collection of portraits of well-known Irish people by Fergus Bourke (October, £27.95) which first featured in a series called Kindred in the Sunday Tri- bune in the late Eighties; My Edu- cation, edited by John Quinn (October, £20.00/£12.99), wherein more people in the news talk to John Quinn about their early education; Deeds Not Words, by Geraldine Mitchell (October, £16.99/£9.99), which tells the life story of Muriel Gahan, champion of rural women and craftworkers; and Guide to the National Museum of Ireland, by Patrick F. Wallace, with photographs by Valerie Dowling (October, £12.99/£8.99).
From Four Courts Press: The Blueshirts and Irish Politics, by Mike Cronin (October, £19.95), a new re-working using material drawn from Government archives, private papers and interviews with former members; They Shall Not Grow Old: Irish Soldiers Remember the Great War, edited by Myles Dungan (November, £17.95) - letters, diaries, memoirs, personal interviews; The Irish RMs, by Penny Bonsall (November, £30), a history of resident magistracy from the early 1800s to 1922; Troubled Pleasures: The Fic- tion of J.G. Farrell, by Ralph Crane and Jennifer Livett (October, £35), the first full-length study; and A Word in Your Ear, by Diarmaid O Muirithe (October, £6.95), a collection of unusual words, phrases and definitions.
From Wolfhound Press: Out of Sight, the autobiography of blind musician and broadcaster Joe Bollard (October, £7.99); Legends of the Ash, by Brendan Fullam (October, £16.99), more memories of great hurlers;e and Father Browne's Titanic Album, compiled by E.E. O'Donnell, (October, £19.99), which has 110 photographs telling the story of the great ship's voyage up to the time disaster struck. For children we have The Emperor's Birthday Suit, by Aislinn O'Loughlin (October, £3.99) and new editions of Tom McCaughren's wildlife novels, Run to Earth, Run Swift, Run Free and Run to the Ark, at £4.50 each.
From Collins Press in Cork we have Reach for the Sky, by Pat Falvey (October, £17.99), the autobiography of an Irish mountain climber; The Lost Magic of Christianity, by Michael Poynder (October, £6.99), an introduction to Celtic Christianity in Ireland; and Dublin Diary 1998 (October, £10.95), featuring 26 newly-commissionedited paintings of the city and county.
From O'Brien Press: Everyday Gourmet, which contains eighty of his favourite recipes from Drimcong House chef Gerry Galvin (October, £6.99); Rebel- lion! - Ireland in 1798, by Daniel Gahan (October, £14.99), a history of the time which also incorporates the events listing of Comoradh, the 1798 Bicentenary Commemorative Committee; and a new humorous novel by Brendan O'Carroll, Sparrow's Trap (October, £5.99), about an incompetent boxer. For children look for Katie's War, by Aubrey Flegg (October, £3.99), set during the Civil War in Ireland, and Amy's Wonderful Nest, by Gordan Snell (October, £3.99), about a young bird - of the feathered variety - making her way in the world.
From the Lilliput Press: The Amazon Journal of Roger Case- ment, edited by Angus Mitchell (October, £40), which, among other things, seeks to explode the myth of the infamous Black Diaries; Modern Art in Ireland, by Dorothy Walker, with a foreword by Seamus Heaney (October, £25, lavishly illustrated), including accounts of all the leading figures of the past fifty years; Crisis and De- cline: The Fate of the Southern Unionists, by R.B. McDowell (October, £16.99), in which the bastions of southern unionism come under sympathetic scrutiny from a distinguishedited historian; and The Hist and Edmund Burke's Club, edited by Declan Budd and Ross Hinds (October, £30.00), a history of Trinity College's Historical Society since the first discussions in Edmund Burke's Club in 1747.
From Poolbeg Press: non-fiction with Sheila Rauch Kennedy's Shattered Faith ( £7.99), wherein the wife of Joseph Kennedy details the break-up of her marriage, and Paddy's People, by Paddy O'Gorman (October, £6.99), where broadcaster O'Gorman interviews more of life's down-andouts; fiction, with novels by Patricia Scanlan: Mirror Mirror (October, £16.99), which continues the lives of the four women who featuredited in her last novel, Promises Promises, and by Mary McCarthy: And No Bird Sang (November, £5.99), in which a Dublin career woman retires to a rural retreat, while Mary Maher and Kate Cruise O'Brien edit a collection of short stories by women writers: If Only (October, £7.99). For children, look out for Gordan Snell's The Phantom Horseman (October, £3.99), in which brother and sister Brendan and Molly save a home for old people from demolished.
From Irish Academic Press: Step Together, by Donal MacCarron (October, £19.95), the story of Ireland's Emergency Army as told by its veterans; Dub- lin Slums 1800-1925, by Jacinta Prunty (October, £39.50), a study in urban geography; and a series under the general title of "Maynooth Studies in Local History" featuring titles such as The Talbots of Malahide, 1630-1680, The Story of Religion in 19th Century Celbridge, and Carlow, The Manor and Town, 1674-1721. From New Island Books: Eamonn Sweeney's There's Only One Red Army (October, £7.99), about a family held together by football after a marriage break-up, and Bill Long's Bright Light, White Water: The Story of Irish Lighthouses (October, £14.99).
Appletree Press gives us Ian Prior's A History of Gaelic Games (November, £6.99) and Bob Curran's A Field Guide to Irish Fairies (November, £6.99) - and make what you like of that.
From A & A Farmer: A Part of Ourselves, edited by Siobhan Parkinson (October, £7.99), prose and poetry on the theme of premature death; The Dubbalin Man: Brendan Behan Remembers, with an introduction by Anthony Cronin and notes by Padraig Hanratty (November, £7.99, decorations by Beatrice Behan), which is a selection from Behan's Irish Press pieces of the l950s; and Sandy O'Byrne's Matching Food and Wine: A Handbook with Recipes (October, £7.99).
And finally, from Ashfield Press, an imprint of Blackhall Publishing: An Eye on the Whip- lash & Other Stories, by Henry Murphy (October, £9.99), the adventures of a fledgling barrister, and Collins and the Brotherhood, by Vincent MacDowell (November, £17.50/£9.99), the publicity for which appears to claim that Collins had two children with Moya Llewellyn Davis - not too many people know that.
Vincent Banville is a freelance journalist and writer