A Literary Guide to Dublin by Vivien Igoe (Methuen, £12.99 in UK)

This is not the usual touristic flim-flam about literary pubs and the ghosts of Behan and Kavanagh or the early life of Oscar…

This is not the usual touristic flim-flam about literary pubs and the ghosts of Behan and Kavanagh or the early life of Oscar Wilde; it is a sober and well-researched directory going back as far back as the Elizabethan Age. Neither is it confined to Irish-born writers: Addison, Spenser, Betjeman are all included (Addison's contemporary and friend, Sir Richard Steele, was legitimately a Dubliner by birth). Gerard Manley Hopkins, impeccably English by birth and upbringing, not only lived and taught in Dublin but died there. There is a useful list of pubs with literary connections, suggested routes for literary pilgrimages, and many illustrations, as well as some maps. Much thought and labour has gone into this volume, which will be welcome to many people besides cultural tourists.