"As a child, I devoured the information in my parents copy of Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain, published by the Readers Digest in the mid-sixties. Inside its black, embossed covers, was a rich and magical world of Green Men, Stone Circles, Witches, Giants, Haunted Houses and Seasonal Customs. Single-handedly, it engendered my life-long interest in the folklore traditions of these Islands" - Simon Costin, The Museum of British Folklore.
Bibliographic information:
Title: Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain.
Contributors: Reader's Digest Association, Reader's Digest Association Staff Edition illustrated.
Publisher: Reader's Digest Association, Limited, 1973.
ISBN: 0276000390, 9780276000393.
Length: 552 pages.
A wonderful book. I must have read this book so many times when younger. A few years ago I found a copy at a School Fete. Needless to say I bought it.
ReplyDeleteThis book is my childhood. I think I had a slightly later edition -faux leather-bound- which I can no longer find.
ReplyDeleteThere was particular image that unsettled me - a striding giant...
ps- you might be interested in my own burgeoning hauntology site:
http://scarfolk.blogspot.com
Superb book. Does anyone remember the Reader's Digest book of Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, which I very much regarded as a companion volume to this one. I spent countless childhood hours poring over them in the 70s, and luckily still have them both. I'd forgotten about the dust cover though; that didn't last long......
ReplyDeleteIn 1974 when I was about 10 or 11 I used to go round for tea at the house of a lady who was a friend of my mother: she had a copy of this book I and used to read it by the fire - it completely fascinated me and needless to say I obtained a battered 2nd hand copy years later. It really hasn't been surpassed and many of the images and illustrations are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteNigel Jackson