Book of Eucalypt

I aim for this to be a little library for anyone researching Herne, wanting to work with him, or you’re just curious. If I have missed any books, or new ones have not yet been added, please drop me a line/message/email and I’ll update the list.

The Originals – “The OGs” regarding Herne the Hunter

The Merry Wives of Windsor, by William Shakespeare

Where Herne’s legend all began in written form. This appearance is significant because there is little reliable evidence for Herne before Shakespeare wrote the play around 1597. Some scholars believe Shakespeare drew on older oral tales or local Windsor folklore, but no earlier written source survives. As a result, The Merry Wives of Windsor effectively became the foundation of Herne’s literary identity and preserved the legend for later generations. Without Shakespeare’s mention, Herne might have disappeared entirely from cultural memory.

If you are someone who struggles with reading Shakespeare, there are options on YouTube to assist in breaking the story down. I love the ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ by Shakespeare by the Sea (2018), and more recently there is a ‘Practical Learning’ video on it that assists bringing it into today’s language.

Website: Go to your nearest second hand bookstore, there’s bound to be a copy of Shakespeare’s Complete Works!

Windsor Castle: A Historical Romance, by W. Harrison Ainsworth

This is the collection that set off what most of us come to be aware of in regards to the legend of Herne the Hunter and the extended tale that came after Shakespeare. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the breadth of where his legend (as we know it to be today) comes from. Nearly every modern interpretation — from occult romanticism to fantasy fiction and neopagan symbolism — carries traces of Ainsworth’s version.

Website: AbeBooks – Windsor Castle, a Historical Romance

The OGs of the 20th Century

Herne the Hunter: A Berkshire Legend, by Michael John Petry (1972)

I believe this is the first book devoted to Herne the Hunter from an academic viewpoint – and I’m using the term “academic” because of the amount of research that has gone into this book. If you are able to find it, snatch it immediately. I was so blessed to receive this as a gift, I cried.

Petry examines the Windsor Forest traditions, Shakepearean origins, local Berkshire folklore and broader connections to the older Horned-God archetypes. This book helped revive serious interest in Herne before the wider Neopagan resurgance of the 1980s and 1990s.

Website: AbeBooks – Herne the Hunter: A Berkshire Legend

In Search of Herne the Hunter, by Eric Fitch (1994)

If you are a Devotee of Herne, you no doubt have this in your collection. This is a highly influential folkloric and estoteric study on Herne where Fitch explores Herne’s relationship to the Wild Hunt, Woden, Cernunnos, Shamanic traditions and English mythology. This is one of the most important books to have in your Herne the Hunter library.

Website: Goodreads (This book is now available through InternetArchive)

More Recently Published

Herne the Hunter: Seeking Shakespeare’s Ghost, Windsor’s Demon, and Wicca’s God; by Edmund Newell (2025)

I must stress I have not yet read this, however it is in the mail for me.

Herne the Hunter: Seeking Shakespeare’s Ghost, Windsor’s Demon, Wicca’s God unravels an intriguing process of mythmaking to show how the familiar antlered man of British folklore has his origins not, as commonly assumed, in local legend or ancient Celtic myth, but as a creation of William Shakespeare. Through speculation, wishful thinking, misunderstanding, and an amazing cast of people – including George III, Queen Victoria, Jacob Grimm, Margaret Murray, Gerald Gardner, Arthur Sullivan, and major literary figures such as Richard Brindley Sheridan, William Harrison Ainsworth John Masefield, Robert Graves, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, and Terry Pratchett – Herne has transformed from Shakespeare’s joke (in The Merry Wives of Windsor) to a famous ghost, a legendary figure of popular culture (The Box of Delights and TV’s Robin of Sherwood) and a manifestation of the Celtic horned god Cernunnos in the Wicca religion.This fascinating historical investigation by Edmund Newell is illustrated with beautiful original artwork by printmaker Charles Shearer – including the eye-catching cover art and eight colour illustrations inside the book.

Website: Ed Newell (author)

Herne the Hunter: Myth, Legend and Devotion of the Horned God, by Rowan Hunter (2026)

Oh my, it’s my book!

I must stress that this book is to be used as a COMPANION to all the books listed here. I did not want to write Herne’s history from the academic perspective of these that came before me, because I didn’t want to remove the hard work of these individual authors and all the research that they did. Also, I’m not an academic – I’m a Devotee.

This book is a Devotional to Herne the Hunter. Within I help you lay the ground work to creating a Devotional practice to Herne, including rituals and meditations to connect with some of his Archetypes.

Website: Book available from Crossed Crow Books

The Wild Hunt

I wanted to make a special mention of the books by Hugh Williams. I came across The Mystery of Mercia though a FB group post and found it so mesmorising as Williams takes us on a journey through what-was Mercia.

Williams then became so interested while writing that book about The Wild Hunt, he wrote a whole book on The Wild Hunt and how its mythology traces throughout Mercia and other parts of England.

You need his books in your library!

He has more books – The Mystery of Mercia II – but I am yet to order that for myself.

The Mystery of Mercia, by Hugh Williams (2021)

The Horn of Mercia: The Wild Hunt and the Spectral Huntsman of Central England (2025)

Website: mysteriesofmercia.com

The Horned God Devotionals

The following are Anthology books and/or Devotions to the Horned Gods as Collectives. These are incredibly interesting reads as they come from us – those who work with the Horned Gods. These are highly recommended for anyone’s library.

Horns of Power: Manifestations of the Horned God (Anthology), edited by Sorita d’Este (2008)

Website: Sorita d’Este (Author)

Call of the God: An Anthology Exploring the Divine Masculine within Modern Paganism (Anthology), edited by Frances Billinghurst (2015)

Website: Temple of the Dark Moon (Author)

Hoofprints in the Wildwood: A Devotional for The Horned Lord, by Richard Deiks (2011)

Website: Book available on Lulu.com

Adjacent

The Oak Papers, by James Canton (2020)

The story of one man’s connection to a particular Oak, Canton records his interactions with the Honywood Oak in developing a relationship with the tree over time. The Honywood Oak would have been a sapling when the Magna Carter was signed in 1215.

I really enjoyed this book as it helped reinforce to me the requirement of slowing down – relationships with trees, with Gods or with self is not something to be rushed.

Website: James Canton (Author)

Herne the Hunter, by Peter McDonald (2016)

A book of poetry, this is often one that will come up when you search for books on Herne.

I won’t lie – I purchased this book many years ago for the sole purpose of this one specific poem. Each time I read it, it tells me a different story. More recently it hit in regards to a new challenge I am currently facing.

Website: Carcarnet Press (Author’s Publisher)