Magic and Fetishism - Alfred C. Haddon

Title: Magic and Fetishism
Author: Alfred C. Haddon
Publisher: Constable & Company Ltd., London
Format: Hardcover, no dust jacket
First published: 1906
This edition: 1921 Constable reprint
ISBN: No ISBN stated
Category: Witchcraft, Magic & Occult; History, Politics & Society

Condition: Second-hand. Fair. Original decorated cloth boards show general rubbing, marking and edge wear, with fraying at the corners and spine ends. The front hinge/joint is notably weakened and partly split, with visible separation at the upper spine edge, though the text block remains present. Pages show age toning and some foxing, and there is a previous owner's name written to the front endpaper. No dust jacket. Please see photos for the exact copy available.

A compact early twentieth-century study of magic and fetishism by Cambridge ethnologist Alfred C. Haddon, issued as part of the Religions: Ancient and Modern series. Haddon surveys sympathetic and contagious magic, magical names and words, talismans and amulets, divination, sorcery, magical practice and the religious use of fetish objects across a wide range of cultures.

Although written within the language and assumptions of early anthropology, it remains an interesting historical document in the development of comparative religion, folklore and the academic study of magic.