Seanchas Annie Bhán
If you only read one book from this list make it this one.
Annie Bhán (Annie the White, so called because she was albino) was an incredibly talented Seanchaí with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of humour. This volume collects a number of her folktales, several of which are relatively obscure, not appearing in the popular Irish Folk Tale anthologies, accounts of her daily life and observations of the cultural context of her time.
The book is invaluable for learners of Ulster Irish as it is bilingual; giving both Annie's words as Gaeilge and the English translation, it also contains an examination of terms Annie used that were unique to her dialect and are often left out of dictionaries.
Taking things even further the book examines Annie's use of digressions in her storytelling and talks about the history of the folklore collector and scholar Gordon W. MacLennan.
Summary:
This book will introduce you to stories you've never heard, can help you develop your understanding of the Irish language (especially the Ulster dialect), teach you to be a better storyteller and teach you about the work that goes into collecting and studying folklore.
The Enchanted Bay
These stories were collected by Ernie O'Malley.
Ernie was an Irish revolutionary who fought in the 1916 rising and went on to be an IRA training officer in the War of Independence and IRA chief of staff in the Civil War. He was also a revolutionary Historian.
O'Malley was heavily invested in Irish Folklore and new many of the people who would go on to form the Irish Folklore Commission, therefore his work collecting Irish Folklore was done to quite a high standard. In this book you'll find communities coming together to overcome their landlord, a trans man avenging his family, a trickster outsmarting Cromwell and dozens of other folk tales ripe for the picking.
Summary:
This is the Rabble Rouser
An Irish Folklore Treasury
Stories and entries from the School's Collection of Ireland's National Folklore Collection selected by John Creedon alongside his own commentary. This book is a really great introduction to the kind of material you will find in the NFC or on Dúchas.ie and give you a solid idea of what kind of thing to expect to find.
Aside from giving a few stories that will help familiarise you with different characters and figures in Irish Folklore it also provides vital cultural context for those figures and beautiful insights into people's daily lives.
Summary:
If exploring dúchas.ie seems intimidating this is a good way to prepare.
Why The Moon Travels
An anthology of Mincéirí (Irish Traveller) Folk Tales collected and edited by Oein deBhardúin, himself a Mincéir. The first anthology of its kind, these stories present a beautiful and unique perspective on aspects of Irish Folk Lore while also introducing aspects that previously seemed to be absent, but may have simply been forgotten by the settled peoples of Ireland, kept alive amongst the Mincéirí. No understanding of Irish Folklore can ever be complete without the Mincéirí perspective.
Summary:
Mincéirí (Irish Traveller) folk tales, important for building a complete perspective of Irish Folklore.
Over Nine Waves
Marie Heaney's retellings of stories from the Mythological, Ulster and Finn Cycles of Irish Mythology along with Lives of three Christian Saints. This is an excellent introduction to the older mythological material of Ireland, giving a good grounding in the different Cycles of Irish Mythology