Showing 58 results

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. - Asks if he has come across fire-walking traditions, for a talk to the Folklore Society on points where their work intersects with the 'Psychical people'.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. Dated June 22, 1895 - Refers to a sacrifice being commuted; a 'regular' fire walk in Bulgaria; mentions sulfuric acid 'would do it': this from [Edward] Clodd, who heard it from Sir R. Richardson.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. Dated April 21 - Thanks him for reading the draft of an unidentified text ['Modern Mythology'?]; mentions the mouse and Apollo, thinks exogamy is only part of the general totem taboo.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. Dated April 20 - Two line letter instructing Frazer to note the dedication of an unidentified text, and says 'Max [Müller?] has pinned Oscar of Sweden a usurper'.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. Dated April 11 - Wonders about Max [Müller]'s 'Fire Totems'; has added the fire walk to an unidentified publication.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. Dated April 15 - Wonders if he should add a chapter on myths and the origin of death to an unidentified work.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. Dated May 9 - Suggests Miss Kingsley for something in Frazer's 'totem line'; dropped Max [Müller's?] Icelandic and wrote a new introduction for an unidentified work.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. Dated April 20 - Refers to revisions in an unidentified work: the Pest is interesting and must be hitched in as it is the most 'totemy' thing in Greece.

Highgarth, Gloucester - Sends [Frank] Jevons' article [not present]; says not to worry about [E. B.] Tylor, who is immersed in his Gifford Lectures; is glad [Franz] Cumont sent the note [about the Acts of St Dasius], is amused [Andrew] Lang misunderstands others despite complaining that others misunderstand him.

Highgarth, Gloucester - Has been away and asks what Frazer knows about [George McCall] Theal's 'Records of South-Eastern Africa' quoted in his article for 'Man'; hears from [Alfred] Haddon that Frazer had gone to Germany to see a doctor about his eyes; has read [Andrew] Lang's attack on GB, but thinks GB is not harmed by it.

Highgarth, Gloucester - Doesn't feel they have enough evidence to say what the origin of totemism is; doesn't see a clear line between magic and religion; mentions Baldwin Spencer's letter which points in favour of Frazer's theory; asks if he has read [Jesse] Fewkes' article on the Owakülti Altar at Sichomovi Pueblo; agrees with Frazer about [Andrew] Lang's use of [Alfred] Howitt and [Henry] Roth; is surprised to hear the story about [E. B.] Tylor wishing to supress a chapter in Spencer and Gillen's book; agrees with Frazer about [Frank] Jevons' difficulty because he generalized too soon; will write to [George] Theal.

Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Dated 10/7/10 - Describes his travels: particularly enjoyed Rothenberg, and cities in southern Spain; sent one of his copies of 'Totemism' to Sir Hugh Clifford; his review in the 'Nation' contained discussion of the sub-incision to stop procreation but was censored; hears [N. W.] Thomas will review the book in 'Folk-Lore'; promises to not send any more letters from [Andrew] Lang, but defends him as lacking malice; Clifford said he enjoyed 'Adonis, Attis' and would like them to meet.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Has been very concerned about the troubles with the nurse [Mrs Catt], for her own sake and for Elizabeth's; hope they will soon be settled. Glad that Julian is so well. Enjoyed their visit from the [Andrew?] Langs; got to like him personally, and it seems he was impressed by 'the real knowledge of books' in the family; he is 'a very curious fellow, and is the better for a little self-knowledge'. Has long thought the "Amours de Voyage" the best of Clough's works; quite agrees with Robert about "Dipsychus", and [Henry] Sidgwick's early essays; will read [Lang's] "In The Wrong Paradise" is Robert likes it. He, Caroline, Charles, and he expects now George are all at different stages in reading [James Ford?] Rhodes' history; Caroline 'was the pioneer'.

Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Dated 12/3/11 - Thanks him for the new instalment of 'The Golden Bough', third edition; has written an article on 'Totemism' for the 'Quarterly' and has given his opinion that Andrew Lang's theories are more satisfactory than others.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Always happy to hear of Julian's progress. On a shoot yesterday each side of the road up to Cambo, they saw fourteen hares, of which he shot seven, and not a single rabbit; shows how 'thoroughly they have been put down'. In 1898 they shot four hundred and ninety four rabbits; last winter Charles and his friends shot only three. This is 'a most satisfactory thing in many ways', including the increase of the hares. Has read some of Andrew Lang's stories 'with friendly intentions', but like Robert thinks them 'rather thin'. They have just read "The Winter's Tale" aloud; he admired the first two acts greatly, having never liked them before.

Inch-ma-home, Cambridge - Thanks him for his letter giving his permission to use his name on the memorial [to the Australian government on preserving the anthropological record of 'primitive men now left on the globe']; other signatories are Professors [Sir Richard] Jebb, [Frederic?] Maitland, [Charles] Waldstein [later Walston], [James?] Ward, [Henry Francis?] Pelham, Andrew Lang, Henry Jackson, and James Bryce, and of Cambridge science men, [Sir Michael?] Foster, [Alfred?] Newton, [Sir Francis?] Darwin, [John Newport] Langley, [Adam?] Sedgwick.

Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Dated 21/3/13 - Thanks him for ['The Belief in Immortality'] and suggests another map of the land of shades, and cites Duncan MacDougall's work on the weight of the soul in a book by Edward Carpenter; suggests he meet Sir Mortimer Durand while he visits, an authority on Oriental customs and ideas; was pleased to see his tribute to [Andrew] Lang.

1 Marloes Road, Kensington, W. - Has written a fresh introduction [to his 'Modern Mythology'] to try to put the general question [of Max Müller's 'Contributions to the Science of Mythology'] clearly, and cut the dedication, but Mlle Ferrand was a romantic creature, suggests he read Condillac's preface to 'Traité des sensations'; wants to give the mice theory as an alternative.

St Keyne's, Cambridge. Dated 14 August 1912 - Would like to contribute to a volume in Andrew Lang's memory; Lang's death came as a complete surprise, thought the obituary he read hardly noticed his poetry and light humorous prose, which he thinks should have been his real vocation.

Highgarth, Gloucester - Sends him a MS by Andrew Lang of the book on totemism and exogamy that he never published [not transcribed], is proposing to publish one chapter of it, but wants Frazer's approval. A typescript note at bottom states 'Frazer's reply to this letter has not been preserved.'

Melbourne. Dated June 29, 1906 - A long 12 page letter: has been extremely busy at the University of Melbourne, recasting courses of study and instituting new ones, and arranging the Jubilee; describes a holiday on the Tasman glacier in New Zealand; [A. W.] Howitt is much exercised by [Andrew] Lang's publications and thinks him 'entirely unreliable and unscrupulous' in handling evidence; has looked at Howitt's papers and stands by what he sent to Frazer; thinks that Lang put [N. W.] Thomas in touch with [Carl] Strehlow the missionary so that he would quote him as a source, which he had not done, disapproves of Strehlow's use of 'altjira' for 'god'; will ignore for now the article by Lang in the [Journal of the Anthropological Institute] seems to be an attack on Spencer's address on totemism; discusses the ignorance of the cause of pregancy as noted in Frazer's articles in 'Fortnightly' ['The Beginnings of Religion and Totemism among the Australian Aborigines'?], pointing out that the 'savage' is a most logically minded individual and that it is natural to think that as not all sexual intercourse results in pregnancy, that they are not related matters; disagrees entirely with Lang's statement that encountering a group made up solely of women and children would astonish 'Australian savages'; Lang appears to especially dislike his and [Francis] Gillen's work; discusses Frazer's theory of conceptional totemism, and agrees with him that exogamy forms no part of totemism; wishes it were possible to call back to life extinct tribes and begin the study of them anew, 'the incompetent observer, such as [Samuel] Gason, does anthropology much harm'.

Melbourne. Dated Sept. 25, 29, 1908 - Has been going through [A. W.] Howitt's letters but doesn't think his notes are ready for publication as he still had research to do, and was working to show that exogamy was the rule, which he doesn't think needs proving again, despite R. H. Matthews' [recte Mathews] papers to the contrary; Matthews has been in communication with miners and cattle people in Central Australia who have a profound contempt for the natives and are unreliable sources of information. The letter continues, dated Sept. 29. He has received the letter Frazer wrote Miss Howitt about the inadvisability of reprinting Howitt's old papers, and he agrees; is interested to hear he is leaving Liverpool for Cambridge, remembers a longing he had at first to be back amongst old places, given he was in a modern town where nothing dated back more than fifty years; has been too busy for anthropological work but hopes to try Western Australia, as Central Australia and the Macdonnel Ranges are now 'spoilt'; Strehlow's papers are to be published, edited by [Moritz] von Leonhardi, 'a very uneducated man'; [Andrew] Lang has endeavored in van to draw him, and Matthews is now exploting his and [Francis] Gilllen's field as he had Howitt's; misses Howitt, as he has no one to discuss anthropologic matters with, as Gillen only comes over once every two years.

Melbourne. Dated Sept. 7, 1906 - [A. W.] Howitt has shown him a letter from Professor Rhys in which he notes that often in fairy stories all the fairies are women, and believes that this must be a very primitive idea; notes that [Andrew] Lang has ridiculed the idea of 'savages' not being astonished at a community of women; believes that the old folk custom of women who go to shrines to become fertile and the saying that babies came from the parsley bed are based on the same essential idea of conception as the Arunta; he has told Howitt that it is 'his sacred ethnologic duty to punch, pound and pulverize [Lang] until he hasn't a whole bone in his body'

Highgarth, Gloucester - Thanks him for his letter, is sending [Andrew Lang's] MS to [F. A.] Milne; had no idea that Frazer felt Lang had made an open insinuation of his honesty in an article in 'Fortnightly' and deplores their misunderstanding.

Queens' College, Cambridge. Dated 4.xi.1905 - Thanks Frazer for the book ['Lectures on the Early History of Kingship'], for the mention in the preface; 'May the book have a worthy sale, and Andrew Lang starve in a garret!'

Folk-Lore Society, 11 Old Square, Lincolns Inn. Dated January 13th, 1913 - E. S. Hartland will be forwarding an MS on totemism by the late Andrew Lang; it is not to be published; Mrs Lang has been persuaded that the chapter on Totemic Exogamy could be published on its own, only if Hartland and Frazer (as representing the opposing views) both agree that it is suitable for publication.

3 Queen Anne Terrace, Cambridge. Dated 1.3.02 - Is troubled that Frazer should feel 'discouraged and disheartened' by critics; [Andrew] Lang is 'a mere dilettante anthropologist'; assures him that he has opened a new world of knowledge; has simply cut out the reference to Barabbas.

Langton House, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham. Dated 1 November 1905 - In answer to Frazer's query about his opinion of Frazer's 'Fortnightly' articles ['The Beginnings of Religion and Totemism among the Australian Aborigines'] he agrees that [Andrew] Lang's theory of exogamy is wrong and offers another theory concerning touching the blood of a clansman.

Didsbury College, Manchester. Dated 7th Oct., 1913 - Thanks him again for books, notes that 'Psyche's Task' is a good answer to Andrew Lang, 'who had a book published by the Rationalist Press Association, and then attacked you for impiety!'; is to be visited by Professor Thumb, from Strasbourg, and recommends attending his lecture in Cambridge.