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From time to time, you might see a book in the catalogue listed as Stack. These are books which are housed behind the scenes in the Central Library - items that the Library definitely wants to keep, but for some reason (e.g. older condition, or not in as high demand) the open shelf is not the right place for them. Most can be borrowed.
Please ask at the enquiries counter on the Second Floor and staff will be happy to retrieve them.
This webpage will highlight some of these nearly forgotten treasures - note that the author's selections and recommendations of these golden oldies are entirely idiosyncratic!
Beliefs
The Natural Genesis, by Gerald Massey(1883)
(class: 291)
The alternative title expands - "or a Second Part of a Book of the Beginings, containing an attempt to recover and reconstitute the lost origins of the myths and mysteries, types and symbols, religion and language, with Egypt for the mouthpiece and Africa as the birthplace". (Now we know!) While one may deem this rightly to be a "book of its time" - (the introduction describes it as a "book for evolutionists by an evolutionist") - any reader with a passing interest in the development of language, myth or belief systems or history will find it interesting to dip into even if not read from cover to cover.
The signs and symbols of primordial man, by Albert Churchward, (1913)
(class: 291.13)
Well illustrated with many black and white examples of religious symbols. With a sub-title as "The evolution of religious doctrines from the eschatology of the ancient Egyptians" its subject is not for the faint-hearted. The language used to treat indigenous peoples art and myth may be somewhat dated to say the least, but it does cover a wide range of symbols through the prism of freemasonry.
The Aryan Maori, by Edward Tregear(1885)
(class: 291.13) A little closer to home, Tregear sets out to assert that Maori language and traditions prove a descent from pastoral peoples, rather than walrlike and migratory. Still of interest because of its language discussion, rather than mythological.
Life beyond death in the beliefs of mankind, by James Thayer Addison(1933)
(class: 237) The author describes himself as "Christian" in the foreword, but does present a brief survey of key different beliefs about "future life". Written for the general reader rather than the scholar.
Fifteen sermons preached before the University of Oxford, by John Henry Newman.(1892)
(class: 252.03) This is just one of a series of books by Newman - the famous English theologian. This group of sermons were preached between 1830 and 1843. A typical topic is "The nature of faith in relation to reason".
The gods of Olympos = or Mythology of the Greeks and Romans, translated and edited from the twentieth edition of A. H. Petiscus by Katherine A. Raleigh (1892)
(class: 292) Classical stories with many engraving illustrations.
The story of the covenant; fifty years of fighting faith, by Thomas Ratcliffe Barnett.(1928)
(class: 274.1) This book could equally find itself on the historian's shelf as it traces events from the riot in the Kirk of St Giles, in Edinburgh in 1637, through the following turbulent years of Scottish Church history. Written in a somewhat dramatic style, studded with quotes and purported eye-witness accounts e.g. "And he held up his Bible before them. Crack! crack! crack! was the answer he got ... So died Andrew Hislop, the boy martyr of the Covenant." But it does add flavour if read alongside other more conventional historical treatments, such as The Scottish revolution, 1637-1644; the triumph of the Covenanters. by David Stevenson.
Tapu removal in Maori religion by Jean Smith.(1974)
(class: 291.13) Published as a memoir of the Polynesian Society, this represents a version of a thesis submitted for an Oxford University B. Litt. Smith briefly outlines some aspects of Maori rites of passage in birth, war and death, before dealing with the main focus of tapu removal in ritual contexts. Readers will find the list of references also useful.
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