Literature & Other
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An eight-volume set of the Gresham Publishing Company's Myth and Legend in Literature and Art series, uniformly bound in decorated cloth – a rare, display-worthy collection of world mythology.
About the book
Published in London from 1912, the Gresham series brought together the myths, legends and folklore of the ancient and medieval world, written by leading popular scholars of the day such as Donald A. Mackenzie and Charles Squire, and illustrated with plates after artists of the period.
This set includes eight titles: Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, Indian Myth and Legend, Classic Myth and Legend, Celtic Myth and Legend, Romance and Legend of Chivalry, Teutonic Myth and Legend, Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe and Egyptian Myth and Legend.
Each volume is uniformly bound in pale green/beige cloth with decoration to the front boards and spines.
The series was conceived as a companion to literature and art as much as a work of scholarship: each volume retells the great myth cycles in readable prose and explains how they shaped later poetry, painting, drama and religious thought. Readers will find the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Babylonian creation story, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Olympian gods and heroes, the Ulster and Fenian cycles, Arthurian and Carolingian romance, the Norse Eddas and Nibelungenlied, the Minoan world of Knossos, and the Osiris cycle and Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The volumes are illustrated with colour plates and monochrome illustrations after artists of the period, which – together with the decorated bindings – make the set as much a decorative object as a reference library. Complete or near-complete runs in uniform bindings are far scarcer than single volumes, as the books were issued over several years and sets were often broken up.
About the author
The series drew on some of the best-known popular mythographers of the early twentieth century. Scottish journalist and folklorist Donald A. Mackenzie wrote the Egyptian, Indian, Teutonic, Babylonian and Cretan volumes; Charles Squire, an authority on Celtic literature, wrote the Celtic volume; and A. R. Hope Moncrieff wrote the Classic and Chivalry volumes.
Ideal for: collectors of decorative Edwardian bindings, students of comparative mythology and religion, and anyone building a serious library of world myth and legend.
Details
- Publisher: The Gresham Publishing Company, London
- Published: c. 1912–1920s
- Format: Hardcover, 8 volumes
- Series: Myth and Legend in Literature and Art
Carefully packed and shipped from Australia. Questions about this copy, or want more photos? Get in touch.
A journey into the mind and the spirit of the Bushmen
Laurens Van Der Post
"To me, the most personal, moving and profound book he has written so far'
-Elspeth Huxley
In this sequel to The Lost World of the Kalahari Laurens van der Post records everything he has learned of the life and the lore of Africa's first inhabitants.
Van der Post wrote this book as a loving tribute to a people of rare imagination and spirit: 'I find the thought of what black and white did to the Bushman almost more than I can endure. I could not, alas, bring him alive again: yet it seemed to me some atonement would be accomplished if helped to see that the meaning his life held for him should not perish as he perished. I felt it a debt of honour long overdue to gather into our own what was living in his spirit.'
By Rabindranath Tagore
'The way to read Tagore is emphatically not to sit at his feet, to look to hun for wisdom ... Tagore’s idealism sets him apart: it also makes him human’ - William Radice
The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki
Although Tadashi Suzuki has long been considered one of the world's foremost contemporary theatre artists, until now his writings have been unavailable in English. This land. mark collection provides a useful, provocative introduction to Suzuki's philosophical as well as practical approaches to the stage, offering Western audiences long-overdue insight into Suzuki's singular artistry.
The Way of Acting also features Suzuki's compelling adaptation of the Greek tragedy Clytemnes-tra. Finding an astonishing parallel between ancient Greek and modern Japanese society, Suzuki effectively melds traditional and avant-garde techniques to shed new light on this primal tale.
Tadashi Suzuki began working in the theatre in the 1960s, while a student at Waseda University, and has since refined and put into practice his unique theories of training and acting, with his own company as well as in residence at the University of Wisconsin and at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1976, he moved his company from Tokyo to the rural village of Toga, where it continues to occupy a renovated farmhouse theatre and each year hosts a respected international festival.
Edited by Margaret Smith and David Crossley
This book is intended to be creative and constructive. The contributors come from all walks of life, but their articles (some 50 of them) argue our a coherent philosophy of practical alternatives to improve our present-day society.
Only a short time ago such ideas seemed utopian and unrealistic. Now they are becoming a reality as the world is forced to look closely at solar and methane energy, domes for school buildings, healthier diets to prevent heart diseases, and more cooperative working and living situations, to take but a few examples.
The Way Out is also intended as a guide for all people who want to explore alternatives and put them into practice in their own lives.
Kahlil Gibran