Theodore H Gaster Abridgment Editor (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. "The New Golden Bough" is James Frazer's classic anthropological work edited and abridged by Theodore H. Gaster. This is the Second Printing of Gaster's edited abridgment, complete with notes and a Foreword, issued in 1965 by S. G. Phillips in New Jersey. Frazer's original work, first issued in twelve volumes in 1890 in England, was a "pioneer study in magic and religion" that completely changed the course of anthropological thinking, and, along with its supplementary volume ("Aftermath"), became the crowning masterpiece of what was, then, a fairly new field of study. The following is excerpted from the dust-jacket's write-up : "A pioneer study in magic and religion that links the primitive concepts and modes of thought to the many institutions and folk customs they underlie, "The Golden Bough" was a milestone in the interpretation of man's past. No other work in the field of anthropology contributed so much to the mental and artistic climate of our times. What Freud did for the individual, Frazer did for civilization as a whole. Tracing the evolution of human behavior from the 'savage' to the civilized through his studies of magic, taboos, sexual practices, superstitions, and wizardry, and locating from these the basis and roots of contemporary social, scientific, and religious ideas, Frazer built a magnificent behavioral bridge from the past to the present. "This completely new, revised, one-volume abridgment . preserves the original thesis, structure, and documentation - while omitting those subsidiary and incidental elements which recent research has rendered obsolete or untenable. Holding to the eight divisions of the original, Dr. Gaster has divided them into sub-topics , and again, into paragraphs numbered for easy cross-reference. Gaster has improved the internal order of the sub-topics, cut away excess verbiage, and included comprehensive notes not available before in earlier editions. Where he has cut, or condensed outdated material, new commentary and connective material have been added. Notes, a complete index, and the text proper are all carefully coordinated and a valuable synopsis, general preface, and a substantial foreword analyzing Frazer's work and comparing it with this abridgment are included. "The New Golden Bough" gives the reader easy, logical access to one of the richest works of the human imagination, and restores it as a living, working classic and an indispensable reference work." TITLE : The New Golden Bough AUTHOR : James Frazer (1854 - 1941) ABRIDGMENT EDITOR : Theodore H. Gaster (1906 - 1992) IMPRINT : S. G. Phillips PLACE : New Jersey DATE : (1965) EDITION : Second Printing PHYSICAL DETAILS : Contains a Note to the Reader, the Editor's Foreword, a Synopsis, the Author's Introduction, Notes, an Index; xxx + 738 pages; black cloth-covered boards and spine; gilt lettering on spine; blind-impressed design on front board; pictorial dust-jacket which still retains the publisher's original 1965 price. CONDITION . BOOK : VERY GOOD ? DUST-JACKET : NEAR VERY GOOD ? This is a previously owned book that remains clean and presentable, with the following particulars noted :: EXTERIOR : Slight fading and compression to pine extremities, else spine, boards and etc are clean and free of any untoward wear; text-block edges display slight signs of use, else clean. (Our picture of the cover, sans jacket has an inexplicable grid pattern which is not on the book itself, which is clean and free of marking.) BINDING : Solid - tight. INTERIOR : Clean and free of marking. no writing, no underlining, no marginalia. No signatures. DUST-JACKET : There is a triangular shaped piece of the jacket's rear panel which has been lost; the spine is slightly faded, and the spine extremities display slight wear (a bit of wrinkling at the top, slight nicking to bottom). Otherwise the jacket is clean and presentable, and, as mentioned above, still has its original 1965 printed price.