These are my quick picks for anyone who would like to make a first foray beyond Focal an Lae into one of the Gaelic languages. While there are
many excellent books and courses out there these days, the following have the virtue of being (1) user-friendly, (2) widely available, and
(3) inexpensive.
--- Dennis King, 1998
IRISH
Teach Yourself Irish
by Diarmuid ó Sé & Joseph Sheils
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1993)
$9.95 ISBN: 0-8442-3800-7
(also available as a package with tapes)
Collins Gem Irish Dictionary
by Séamus Mac Mathúna & Ailbhe
ó Corráin (HarperCollins, 1995)
$6.50 ISBN: 0-00-470753-2
(English-Irish and Irish-English, with lots of examples of usage)
SCOTTISH GAELIC
Teach Yourself Gaelic
by Boyd Robertson and Iain Taylor
(NTC Publishing Group, 1993)
$14.95 ISBN: 0-8442-3776-0
(also available as a package with tapes)
Scottish Gaelic-English & English-Scottish Gaelic Dictionary
by R.W. Renton & J.A. MacDonald
(Hippocrene Books, 1994)
$8.95 ISBN: 0-7818-0316-0
(originally Abair Faclan! from Mingulay Publications, 1979)
OLD IRISH
An Introduction to Old Irish
by R.P.M. & W.P. Lehmann
(The Modern Language Association of America, 1975, 1991)
$19.50 ISBN: 0-87352-288-5
Old Irish Verbs and Vocabulary
by Antony Green (Cascadilla Press, 1995)
$15.00 ISBN: 1-57473-003-7