Folklore, mythology and fantasy collections
Scope of the collection
From their original sources in human belief and imagination, the subjects of folklore, mythology and fantasy have found expression in many of the branches of the Arts and Humanities. So, rather than looking for one location in the Library, members should widen their searches for these topics across the Library’s collections. While folklore and mythology are most focused in the classmark S. Folklore, their reach across the Library is broader than that, and fantasy can be studied in more than just the Library’s Fiction collection.
Founded in 1841, the Library’s collection has grown each year and we hold titles from the late 18th century onwards on the open shelves. As a result, our collection reflects the evolution and changes in thinking in a particular subject and does mean that you may come across titles which contain ideas and vocabulary that would be considered abhorrent today. The collection continues to grow with some 5,000 new titles being added each year. As we develop the collection, we seek to ensure that the controversial topics of today are represented from all sides of a debate.
Understanding shelfmarks
The Library’s collections are divided into broad subject areas (History, Literature, Art, for example) and then into smaller areas, arranged alphabetically. Within each section, books are generally arranged by author name, but edited titles are most often filed under the book title instead.
To make the most effective use of space, the collection is also shelved by size. Check the end of shelf marks for the notations 4to (quarto), small folio, folio and folio extra large that may indicate a different place to look for the books.
When looking for a particular book, we advise checking the Catalogue for the classmark and what the book is ‘shelved under’.
Above is an example of a book record on the Catalogue. Here you can see that the book is available (i.e. on the shelf) in the Science and Miscellaneous section (S.), in the sub-section for Folklore &c. and then within that section it is shelved alphabetically under the author’s surname Rhys.
Labels on the edges of the shelves will guide you through the section. Some shelfmarks are large, such as S. Folklore &c. and are subdivided further by letters marking the authors’ surnames (or titles in the case of edited collections).
Books may be requested and put aside ready for collection, but we would always encourage members to browse the shelves and discover books serendipitously. Items from the Library’s Special Collections cannot be borrowed but may be consulted in the Library under supervised conditions, given 72 hours’ notice.
Books and eBooks
The Library’s collection includes both academic eBooks and other fiction and non-fiction eBooks available through the Libby platform. All academic eBooks will appear in your search results in the Library Catalogue. Those available through Libby are also in our Catalogue but can also be searched separately through the Libby platform, which you also need in order to access these titles.
The Library’s main collection of books of and about mythology and folklore is in the Science and Miscellaneous collection, under the classmark S. Folklore &c (Back Stacks Level 4 Front). As in the rest of the Library, within this classmark most books are shelved under the author’s surname, with edited works shelved under the title (ignoring The and A). Collections of folktales passed down the generations through oral tradition are contained in this classmark, as well as studies of mythology and folklore (including Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale) and books on the Arthurian legends, folk-music, fairy tales, myths and superstitions. Works by and about the Brothers Grimm can be found at S. Folklore &c., Grimm.
Multiple languages are represented in S. Folklore, in particular English, German, French, Russian, Danish and Italian, and there is even a translation from Middle English into Modern English (On the properties of things : John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus De proprietatibus rerum : a critical text).
Some other classmarks are also related to folklore and mythology. In particular, the Literature collections (Central Stacks and St James’s Building, Floors 2 to 4) will contain mythological writings such as Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Poetic and Prose Eddas. Also, works about literature and folklore tend to find a home in the Literature collections. The Literature collections are organised by language.
There are other relevant classmarks. For example, the Children’s Books collection includes mythological and folkloric tales as retold for children, like Andrew Lang & Leonora Blanche Alleyne’s “Coloured” Fairy Books. Bibliog. Folklore (Central Stacks Floor 5) is in the Bibliography collection, so these books contain lists of books on particular topics within the subject of folklore, for example Fictitious beasts, a bibliography and The Arthurian legend : a check list of books in the Newberry Library. RR Dict.s Folklore is one of the Reading Room Subject Dictionaries classmarks, located in the South Gallery of the main Reading Room. Books in this classmark are for reference use only.
Folklore and mythology also serve as inspiration for new writing, resulting in books like Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and Madeline Miller’s Circe, and works of this nature can be found in the Fiction (Central Stacks Floor 2), Children’s Books and Literature collections. Works of art in multiple media depict mythological scenes, and books about them can be found in the Art collections (The Art Room and Mezzanine floor, T S Eliot House), which are organised by medium, for example A. Painting and A. Sculpture.
Other classmarks which may include books related to folklore and mythology include:
- S. Animal Lore
- S. Flower Lore
- S. Zoology
- S. Witchcraft
- S. Occult Science
- S. Devil &c.
- S. Superstitions
Books on folklore and mythology might also be found in the Special Collections, which are kept behind locked doors. The Stoker Collection, for example, contains 26 original volumes which Bram Stoker almost certainly used when researching his classic novel Dracula, including the Book of Were-Wolves by Sabine Baring-Gould and The Devil: His Origin, Greatness and Decadence by Albert Reville.
The Library holds several periodicals about mythology and folklore, for example the journal Folklore, a peer-reviewed international journal of folklore and folkloristics published by the Folklore Society. This journal has had three different titles since its inception in 1878: The Folk-Lore Record until 1882, The Folk-Lore Journal from 1883 to 1889 and in 1890 it merged with The Archaeological Review and adopted its current title Folklore. The Library holds the physical volumes from 1878 up until 2015, and also has online access to the journal archive from 1878, with a moving wall of five years.
Fantasy
The Library holds several precursors to the fantasy genre, such as a first edition of Sara Coleridge’s Phantasmion (1837) (please speak to a member of staff at the Issue Desk about arranging an invigilation to view this book; alternatively an 1874 edition is available in Fiction), as well as The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (several editions in Fiction) and Undine by Friedrich Heinrich Karl la Motte-Fouqué (for example in the original German in L. German Fiction and in English translation in the Fiction collections).
The Library holds important early works of fantasy, for example George MacDonald’s Phantastes (2 copies in Fiction, and a first edition in the safes) and The Earthly Paradise by William Morris. Works by Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison and Mervyn Peake are also available, as well as Hope Mirrlees’ fantasy work Lud-in-the-Mist. Biographies of many early fantasy writers can be found in the Biography collections, under the subject’s surname. Criticism of many of these authors’ work is available in the Literature collections and in our ejournal collections.
The Library holds first editions of the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien (in Fiction and in the safes), as well as copies of The Hobbit (Children’s Books). Tolkien’s posthumously published Middle Earth writings are held, including The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin and The History of Middle Earth (all in Fiction). Several biographies and two editions of his letters are available in Biog. Tolkien on the third floor of the Central Stacks, and critical writings can be found on the second floor of the St James’s Building in L. Eng Lit, Tolkien. Tolkien’s essay on his philosophy of fantasy ‘On Fairy Stories’ can be found in Poems and Stories, The Monsters and the Critics (both in L. English Lit., shelved under Tolkien) and Essays Presented to Charles Williams (L. English Lit., shelved under the title).
Much of the fantasy the Library holds from the period following the publication of The Lord of the Rings up to the present day is held in the Children’s Books collection, for example the six books of Ursula le Guin’s Earthsea series as well as His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. However, some fantasy for adults, including Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is also held.
Criticism and history of the fantasy genre in general will mostly be in L. Literature, Hist. of (Gen.), but, depending on the exact subject of the book, could also be found elsewhere, for example L. Children's Books, Hist of, or S. Folklore. Historical or critical works about works of fantasy in a particular language will be found in Literature in the classmark for the original language of the work.
Journals, eJournals and online resources
Mythology and folklore will be found in many journals and in many languages but some that focus specifically on the topic can be found, predominantly online through JSTOR. For example, Folk music journal, Journal of folklore research, Marvels & tales, Asian folklore studies, Studia Celtica, and Dublin penny journal.