Ireland: In Word and Image
By Jay Ben Adlersberg
Welcome Books, 272 Pages
On Sale Via Amazon.com October 22, 2013
Pre-Order Price: $42.70 (List Price $60.00)

A Review by Catherine Lilbit Devine

There is something comforting and familiar in this new book put out by Jay Ben Adlersberg.  From the very moment I held the book in hand to the very last page, I was carried back to the land that sings in my soul and haunts my dreams.  I would look at each image and say “I have stood in that very spot.”

This is a book that you set out on your coffee table and people will actually pick it up and become lost. If you have visited Ireland, it serves as a memory nudge and a story prompter. If you long to visit but have neither a passport nor the finances, fix yourself a cuppa, grab up this book, find a comfy chair and be transported.

Jay will guide you through verdant green landscapes, hustle-bustle cityscapes, along craggy cliffs and into the halls of Manor houses, Government Buildings, Churches and ruins that stand today as a testament to History and time. Along the way, you will be immersed in the light and energy of her people, be they child, Elder, fisherman or shopkeeper, commoner or king.  

Along with the fabulous pictorial journey, a lot of thought went into the selection of written material.  Jay Ben gives the credit for this to his editor, Samantha Bowser. In an email, he stated "My editor, Samantha Bowser, who is half Irish, wrote all the captions and was the one who selected all the literature excerpts." I found it to be educational and rich without being dry. I was delightfully turning pages to see which writers, modern and eternal, he had chosen: J.M Synge, Douglas Hyde, William Butler Yeats, Mary Ann Larkin; 36 authors, if my count is correct, in all.  Each writer lent their unique voice to the magic of his images.

It is a rarity to find someone so diverse that they can make landscapes, streetscapes, people and animals equally seem alive and “at-your-fingertips”.  Jay has done this with a seeming ease and grace. I find myself going back to the fold-outs, holding my breath each time in anticipation of the view within. It isn’t that the image changes each time that I open the book but in the anticipation of the beauty that I know waits within.

If you treat yourself to one thing this year, let it be this amazing book which will be released October 22. It will be available through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

For those of you unfamiliar with Jay Ben Adlersberg as a photographer, pay a visit to his website, www.jaybenimages.com. You will enjoy your "trip around the world" as you wander through his galleries, no passport needed. CLD