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.