FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH

Today is Friday and it's the 13th day of the month ... which means we will hear stories of scary occurrences on this particular combination of day of the week/date of the month.

And the perfect Bullis Collection book to accompany today's bad-luck stories is waiting for you in the Bullis Room:

Myths and Myth Makers: 

Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by

Comparative Mythology

By: John Fiske (1842-1901) 

Published by: Houghton Mifflin, Boston: 1885

There are chapters on: "The Origin of Folk Lore," "Werewolves and Swan-Maidens,"
"Light and Darkness,"  "Myths of the Barbaric World," and "The Primeval Ghost World."

So if you would like to learn more about the background of today's superstition, as well as other myths and superstitions,  well ... you know what to do!

And ... may your day be filled with good luck!!

CUSTOMS, MYTHS, GREEK THOUGHT, AND MORALS

This week we focused on the religion and philosophy section of this collection. Since it covers two full shelving units, it's difficult to choose which books to recommend for your consideration. Here are a few that especially caught our attention:

Custom and Myth, by Andrew Lang (1885)

Studies in Greek Thought: Essays Selected from the Papers

of Lewis Packard, by Lewis Richard Packard (1886)

A Preface to Morals, by Walter Lippmann (1933)

History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science,

by John William Draper (1875)

Although we plan to have a closer look at all of these books, yesterday we took Custom and Myth off the shelf, sat down at the round table and enjoyed a good read. It begins with the method of folklore and goes into specific myths: Cronus, Cupid, Psyche, as well as the Star myths and Hottentot mythology. The book ends with an early history of the family and the art of savages. We think you would enjoy this book, too, as it revisits familiar myths and enhances the reader's knowledge of mythology in general.

We invite you to stop by the Bullis Room when you're in the library, and take a look at any or all of these books.