Lovely is the Lee

Book excerpt: Readers of Robert Gibbings’ previous illustrated tales of river life such as “Sweet Thames Run Softly” (1940) and “Coming Down the Wye” (1942) will need no introduction to the unique style that this author uses to explore the people and places that he describes with warmth and affectionate good humour. But the real reason that his books have become so collectable is the delicate and evocative engravings with which he illustrates his subject. In “Lovely is the Lee”, first published in 1945, Gibbings has never written with more ease and grace than in this exploration of the River Lee in Ireland. Here is the simple and ancient life which still exists in Ireland, centered in tiny villages in the southern and western part of the Irish Free State. Gibbings finds every part of that life absorbing. As a naturalist he is sensitive to the bird life of the western counties and islands, and describes with an accurate beauty these winged inhabitants. Richly illustrated throughout with engravings by the author.