Curiosities of Superstition, and Sketches of Some Unrevealed Religions

William Henry Davenport AdamsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2
Word count
702K words
Chapters
71

Tags

English Originals Religion Anthropological StudyHistorical ReappraisalSocial ObservationCuriosityIllustrated GuidePopular ExplanationExotic CultureCultural ChangeFolk CustomsCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Curiosities of Superstition, and Sketches of Some Unrevealed Religions by AdamsAuthor: Adams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport), 1828-1891,Language: English, Class: BL: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Religion: General, Miscellaneous and Atheism, Release Date: Dec 5, 2012

Editor's review

This book is a collection of essays on superstition and religious phenomena by the nineteenth-century author W. H. Davenport Adams, issued as a public-domain eBook by Project Gutenberg. Taking "curiosities" as its thread, it surveys folk superstitions from many places and so-called "unrevealed religions," bearing the distinctive observational perspective and narrative flavor of the Victorian era. Its value lies not in offering modern conclusions about religion but in showing how one age recorded, classified, and judged foreign beliefs and folk customs; it is thus useful for the history of religious ideas, the history of folklore studies, and the style of popular writing. The text unfolds in an essayistic tone and is quite readable, suitable as cultural-history material or casual reading. A caution: the book carries the prejudices and curiosity-seeking spirit of its time, so readers should read it critically and not take it as an objective account of religions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read by chapter topic; there is no need to read the whole book through.
  2. Note the era's prejudices as you read and compare them with modern scholarship.
  3. Pair it with an introductory work on folklore to help assess the material.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71

FAQ

Which religions does this book discuss? It does not focus on one particular religion; rather, the author records in essay form folk superstitions and so-called "unrevealed religions" from various places, a fairly mixed range seen through a nineteenth-century lens.
Are the book's views still accurate today? They should not be taken as accurate conclusions. The author carries Victorian prejudices and a taste for the curious; the material is better used as a source for the history of ideas and folklore studies, and should be read critically.
Must it be read from beginning to end in order? No. The book consists of relatively independent essays, so you can pick chapters by interest or dip into it as a reference book; reading it straight through is not necessary.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

William Henry Davenport Adams Author · English · 1828–1891

William Henry Davenport Adams (1828–1891) was a British writer and journalist born in London. After teaching and editing newspapers, he turned to full-time writing and produced nearly 140 works across popular science, juvenile literature, historical biography and reference books, while also translating French authors such as Figuier and Michelet into English. The library holds eight of his works, showing a wide range of subjects: popular studies of belief and legend such as Witch, Warlock, and Magician and Curiosities of Superstition; travel biographies including Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century and Some Heroes of Travel; a popular account of practical installations in Lighthouses and Lightships; and the literary essay collection By-ways in Book-land. His clear, engaging style brought knowledge to ordinary readers through lively stories. He died at Wimbledon in 1891.