A History of British Folklore

This set reissues two classic works on Folklore by Richard M.

Dorson which were originally published by Routledge & Kegan Paul in 1968.

The British Folklorists The word 'Folklore' was coined in 1846 by an English antiquary, William John Thoms, although Professor Dorson's study shows that the history of the folklore movement had its origins in an earlier period.

Men and women in many fields, especially Victorian times, succumbed to the fascination of folklore.

The idea of folklore was then carried to the four corners of the British Empire by colonial administrators, missionaries, military officers, and throughout Europe by English travellers.

The British Folklorists shows how the influence of folklore also extended into literature, history, classics, archaeology, philology, physical research, legal and medical antiquities, Scandinavian, Germanic and Celtic studies, and the history of religions.

The work traces the historical development of the idea of folklore, beginning in the emergence of English and national history with Camden in the sixteenth century and reaching its climax with the 'Great Term' of Andrew Lang and his co-workers from the 1870's to the First World War. Peasant Customs and Savage Myths Volumes I & II These two companion volumes to The British Folklorists bring together theoretical writings of some of the brilliant folklorists whose works deserve the attention of all students of the history of modern thought.

Among those whose writings are represented are Andrew Lang , Sidney Hartland , George Laurence Gomme , Alfred Nutt and Joseph Jacobs .

The subjects they discuss range from the origin and dispersion of the Aryans, through the mythopoeic world view of early man, to the animistic philosophy of savages and the survival of primitive belief among peasants.