Magic of Brittany - Volume 1

At the time he had Max Jacob as a student in Quimper, Anatole Le Braz (1859-1926) was already the enchanter who knew how to awaken dormant myths, the forgotten ghosts that populate the nights of secret Brittany.

From the most shimmering to the most terrifying: from the city of Ys that will one day re-emerge from the Bay of the Dead, intact, with all its bell towers, to the comings and goings of the "Ankou", that servant of death who mingles incognito with the living.

The unsettling presence of sunken lanes, cemeteries, calvaries and dolmens, the "portents" carried by the voices of the wind, the sea and the night make La Légende de la mort chez les Bretons armoricains (The Legend of Death among the Armorican Bretons) a monument to the glory of the Breton imagination, a remarkable collection of testimonies on man's relationship with death.

Au pays des pardons (In the Land of Pardons) and Les Saints bretons (The Breton Saints) illuminate the magical aspects of the encounter between Celtic marvels and Christian marvels. One does not spend a lifetime collecting tales without succumbing to the temptation to write one's own.

Les Vieilles Histoires du pays breton, les Récits de passants, Pâques d'Islande, Contes du soleil et de la brume form a magnificent epilogue to this collection, less real but more literary than La Légende de la mort chez les Bretons armoricains.
Francis Lacassin.

📖 The opinion of the Librairie du Grimoire Ancien

By our editorial & librarian committee

Anatole Le Braz (1859-1926), "the enchanter who knew how to awaken dormant myths," signs with this first volume of Magies de la Bretagne, published by Robert Laffont and presented by Francis Lacassin, a monument to the glory of the Breton imagination. This collection is much more than a collection of tales: it is an exploration of humanity's relationship with death, the sacred, and the invisible.

What gives this volume its strength is its grounding in La Légende de la mort chez les Bretons armoricains, a masterful work that brings together the most powerful figures of the Celtic imagination: the city of Ys that will re-emerge from the Bay of the Dead, the Ankou (that servant of death who mingles with the living), the "portents" carried by the voices of the wind, the sea, and the night. Each story reveals the unsettling presence of the sacred in sunken lanes, cemeteries, calvaries, and dolmens.

Au pays des pardons and Les Saints bretons explore the fascinating encounter between Celtic marvels and Christian marvels, that unique alchemy that defines Brittany's spiritual specificity. Le Braz's original tales (Vieilles Histoires du pays breton, Récits de passants, Pâques d'Islande, Contes du soleil et de la brume) form a magnificent literary epilogue.

We recommend this volume to researchers of the Celtic imagination, lovers of Breton traditions, and all those who wish to explore the mysteries of death and the sacred. An essential treasure for understanding the soul of Brittany.

Our rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — A monument to the Breton imagination that reveals the mysteries of death and the Celtic sacred.