It’s a rare pleasure to find a book that delivers exactly what its title promises – no more and no less. Steve Pollington has crafted a small (88-page), highly readable volume that steers clear of both New Age occultism and academic astringency.  After a few introductory pages on the probable origin of the runes, Rudiments of Runelore immediately delves into the Scandinavian and English runic traditions, giving concise summaries of the presumed names and phonetic values of the individual runes, along with occasional speculation as to their original meanings.  Additional short sections deal with the historical uses of runes, the occurrence of pseudo-runic inscriptions, and bind-runes and runic cryptography.

The second half of Rudiments of Runelore consists mainly of a selection of informative case studies, including the Abecdarium Nordmannicum, the English, Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems, two runic riddles, seven Old English runic verses, the author’s analysis of three inscriptions from Suffolk, and a reinterpretation of the Norfolk “Tiw”' runes.  In conclusion, Pollington urges the reader to pursue his or her interest in runes, but cautions against the ubiquitous modern “Runelore” paperbacks, which tend to be written by people with little or no serious background in the subject.  Instead, he advises seeking out works by “persons whose training and background is firmly academic and who yet are willing to try out other approaches and not dismiss interesting ideas out of hand” (p. 82).  Sound advice, albeit difficult to implement.

Overall, Rudiments of Runelore ranks as one of the best introductions to its topic.  Like all of Pollington’s books, it is written in a clear, simple style yet conveys a wealth of reliable, useful information.  Especially considering the book’s very reasonable cost (£4.95/$9.95), it would make an ideal gift as well as meriting a permanent place in the library of any serious student of the runes.