Best of
Folklore

1959

New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology


Félix Guirand - 1959
    from pre-biblical Egypt and pre-Homeric Greece to the farthest researches of Africa, the Orient, the Pacific and the Americas.. all gathered into one mammoth volume of unprecedented scope and beauty, and illustrated with an incomparable scope and beauty, and illustrated with an incomparable assemblage of authentic paintings, sculpture, symbols, idols, ritual and sacrificial objects, many rarely seen by modern Western eyes. This monumental work is the first complete encyclopedia of world anthology. Originally published in France by the famous house of Larousse, it contains of course all the well-loved myths of Classical Antiquity. But more than half the book is devoted to the strange and unfamiliar mythologies of civilizations...from Peru to Persia, from Tahiti to Togoland. Nearly 600 Illustrations.

The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren


Iona Opie - 1959
    Going outside the nursery, with its assortment of parent-approved entertainments, to observe and investigate the day-to-day creative intelligence and activities of children, the Opies bring to life the rites and rhymes, jokes and jeers, laws, games, and secret spells of what has been called "the greatest of savage tribes, and the only one which shows no signs of dying out."

Mythologies


W.B. Yeats - 1959
    Based on Irish country beliefs, traditions, and folk tales, the stories were first published at the height of Yeats' romantic period in three collections entitled The Celtic Twilight, The Secret Rose, and Stories of Red Hanrahan.

The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs


Ralph Vaughan Williams - 1959
    

The Highlands


Calum I. Maclean - 1959
    Maclean, a Gaelic-speaking Highlander, interprets the traditional background, culture and ways of life of his native country. Calum's formal training in folk culture and the depth of his local knowledge make this book truly outstanding - it is written by a Highlander from the inside.Many books on the Highlands have been penned by outsiders with an uncritical appreciation of the scenery and only the most superficial knowledge of the Gaelic language and culture. By contrast, Maclean brought informed attitudes and sympathetic opinions. He was concerned not so much with places, beauty spots and scenery as with the Highlanders in their own self-created environment. He writes in terms of individuals and suggests reasons why Highland culture is unique in the world - it is something that, if lost, can never be recovered or recreated.

And Horns on the Toads


Mody Coggin Boatright - 1959
    Herein is collected the lore surrounding the horned toad in a survey which gives a name to the richly varied assortment of materials making up And Horns on the Toads, a baker's-score of essays presenting folkish findings all the way from Old Fort Clark in Texas to the Flamenco-filled Gypsy caves of Andalusia.The volume borrows its title from John Q. Anderson’s article on the horned toad of the Southwest. William Owens’ “Seer of Corsicana” and “Curanderos of South Texas” by Brownie McNeil are about the folk doctors or advisers whom the people visited. The next two articles by John Henry Faulk and William Henry Hardin are about folk characters who have in common a creativity which leads one to imaginative lying and the other to stories, rhymes, or tricks to raise a laugh. George D. Hendricks writes of “Southpaws, Psychology, and Social Science,” and Americo Paredes writes of songs and stories found in the Spanish Southwest. Michael J. Ahearn writes the history of a madstone that has been in his family for a long time. Everett Gillis describes a rural singing school. Girlene Marie Williams writes of “Negro Stories from the Colorado Valley’ while Fred O.Weldon analyses the African-American folk hero. Cultural conflict is evident in Richard Lancaster’s “Why the White Man Will Never Reach the Sun.” Frontier life and ways are reflected in G. A. Reynolds’ essay on “Vigilante Justice in Springtown.” J. R. Jamison tells the story of “The Sinking Treasure of Bowie Creek.” Ruth Dodson’s essay “South Texas Sketches” looks back to frontier life and Kenneth Porter writes of ghost stories.