One hundred years after the publication of The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems…, Caoimhín Mac Aoidh's book on James O'Neill throws new light on the O'Neill collections.

Caoimhín Mac Aoidh, The Scribe – The Life and Works of James O’Neill
Manorhamilton, Leitrim, Drumlin Publications, 2006, 192pp

I first came across the name James O’Neill in 1973. That was the year a book called The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems... arrived in our house. The book was edited by Chief Francis O’Neill and arranged by Sergeant James O’Neill. That book still sits on my bookshelves – back then indeed it already seemed to have the look of an heirloom about it. In my mind the names of both O’Neills were conflated until they became, when I thought of James at all, brothers: but more often, they seemed a single entity. It was many years later, in London, that I heard the story of...