Folklore, myths & legends
Showing 1–16 of 48 results
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A feast of folklore
£16.99A feast of folklore
Folklorist Ben Gazur guides you through the dark alleys of British history to uncover how our food habits have been passed down through generations of folklore. Who was the first person to throw salt over their shoulder? Why do we think carrots can help us see in the dark? When did we start holding village fairs to honour gigantic apple pies? Or start hurling ourselves down hills in pursuit of a wheel of cheese? Gazur investigates the origins of famous food superstitions as well as much more bizarre and lesser-known tales too, from what day the devil urinates on blackberries to how to stop witches using eggshells as escape boats.
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A monstrous commotion
£10.99A monstrous commotion
‘A Monstrous Commotion’ delves deep into the depths of the Loch Ness phenomenon, one of the iconic scientific mysteries of the last 100 years. The legend of the ‘water horse’ in Loch Ness and other Scottish lakes is ancient, but reports of the monster date from as recently as the 1930s, courtesy of a correspondent of the ‘Inverness Courier.’ Rather than debating the arguably unfathomable realities of what lies beneath these murky Scottish waters, Gareth Williams instead engages with the people who have dedicated themselves to unearthing the truth of the monster’s existence. He explores just what it is that drives these people to the point of obsession, and the ways in which their own quests have changed their lives, and the lives of others.
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Arabian Folk & Fairy Tales
£10.99Arabian Folk & Fairy Tales
The Book of the Seven Vizirs, The Tale of the Four Dervishes, the famous stories of Sinbad, and the tales of Scheherazade are brought together here as a magical thread of love and adventure, invoking the mysteries of the night and the mirages of the desert.
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Arthurian Legends
£14.99Arthurian Legends
The definitive book of stories from Arthurian legend, featuring the Knights of the Round Table, Wizard Merlin and King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.
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Barrowbeck
£16.99Barrowbeck
In a remote and seemingly cursed village on the Yorkshire Lancashire border, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck wrestle with life, death and a landscape that is wild and mercurial.Friends gather to support a widower whose wife has died in mysterious circumstances; an elderly teacher is unnerved by one of his pupils; a childless couple must make an agonising decision; sisters welcome a lodger into their home.Set over the course of a year, these gothic stories are riven with psychological trauma, unsettling events and encroaching darkness.
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Beasts and beauty
£14.99Beasts and beauty
You think you know these stories, don’t you?
You are wrong.
You don’t know them at all.
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Britain’s Birds
£12.99Britain’s Birds
70 of Britain’s birds – natural history facts, folklore and literary appearances.
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Enchanted creatures
£20.00Enchanted creatures
We have always created and destroyed monsters. They give form to what we don’t wish to know or understand; to our anxieties and irrational terrors. They have helped us manage the extraordinary complexity of our minds and deal with the challenges of being human. In ‘Enchanted Creatures’, Natalie Lawrence delves into the dark histories of creatures we have imagined over 15,000 years of history: from strange beasts carved in Palaeolithic caves and hybrid snake women, to deep-sea leviathans and apocalyptic dino-monsters. She reveals what lies beneath the monstrous menagerie that has shaped our minds, our societies and how we see our place in nature. Understanding our monsters allows us to understand ourselves, perhaps the most important quest there is.
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Enchanted tales & happily ever afters
£20.00Enchanted tales & happily ever afters
A stunning, illustrated gift edition of classic retellings of ten of the most loved fairy stories in the world.
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Fairy tale
£8.99Fairy tale
Marina Warner guides us through the rich world of fairy tale, from Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel to Snow White and Pan’s Labyrinth. Exploring pervasive themes of folklore, myth, the supernatural, imagination, and fantasy, Warner highlights the impact of the genre on human understanding, history, and culture.
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Fairy Tales Can Change Your Life
£12.99Fairy Tales Can Change Your Life
A unique and empowering guide to using the symbolism, themes and archetypes in fairytales to improve your life using practical, creative exercises.
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Folklore of Hampshire
£14.99Folklore of Hampshire
Hampshire is proud host to traditions, customs and legends that may seem strange to the people of the twenty-first century but were very real to the Hampshire folk of yesteryear.
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Greek Myths & Tales
£20.00Greek Myths & Tales
A potent pantheon of gods, heroes engaged in epic battles, fearsome mythical creatures and supernatural transformations – such fantastical elements infuse Greek myths with a wonder and excitement that’s hard to beat. These tales of love, courage and intrigue, shared for thousands of years, still exercise a powerful influence on our modern lives.
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Irish Fairy Tales
£20.00Irish Fairy Tales
In this book, Arthur Rackham’s distinctive artwork, along with illustrations by other artists from the turn of the twentieth century, accompany powerful tales of the early Celts and the later stories of an Ireland of mighty hearths, dreaming of battlefield glory, ancient gods and mystical isles.
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Japanese ghost stories
£9.99Japanese ghost stories
The dead wreak revenge on the living, paintings come alive, spectral brides possess mortal men and a priest devours human flesh in these chilling Japanese ghost stories retold by a master of the supernatural. Lafcadio Hearn drew on the phantoms and ghouls of traditional Japanese folklore – including the headless ‘rokuro-kubi’, the monstrous goblins ‘jikininki’ or the faceless ‘mujina’ who stalk lonely neighbourhoods – and infused them with his own memories of his haunted childhood in 19th-century Ireland to create these terrifying tales of striking and eerie power.
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Legendary Lighthouses of Britain
£25.00Legendary Lighthouses of Britain
Packed with legends, sea lore and exciting true-life tales, this is a highly giftable treasure trove of Britain’s top 100 lighthouses, each one illustrated by award-winning artist Roger O’Reilly.
£25.00