Books That Expand The Mind

View Original

The Owl of Athena

The Owl of Athena: In Greek mythology, a little owl (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology. Because of such association, the bird—often referred to as the "owl of Athena" or the "owl of Minerva"—has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the Western world.

The Owl of Athena adornes the THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION Series by the publisher KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER

Series Note: "A Complete History of Mankind from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day in Upwards of 200 Volumes Designed to Form a Complete Library of Social Evolution."

Presentation of the Series

This series marks one of the most ambitious adventures in the annals of book publishing. Its aim is to present in accessible form the results of modern research and modern scholarship throughout the whole range of the Social Sciences—to summarize in one comprehensive synthesis the most recent findings and theories of historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, sociologists;, and all consci-entious students of civilization.

To achieve success in this stupendous undertaking, the arrangement of the series has been entrusted to the experienced editorship of C. K. Ogden, M.A., of Magdalene College, Cambridge. The new French series, L'Evolution de l'Humanité. in which the leading savants of France are collaborating with the Director of the Bibliothèque de Synthèse Historique, M. Henri Berr, is being incorporated. Distinguished historians, both European and American, are contributing volumes in their several departments. Above all, while detailed and very special monographs have been avoided, no attempt to "write down" to a low level has been made.

The field has been carefully mapped out, as regards both subjects and periods; and, though the instalments will be published as they are ready, the necessary chronological sequence will be secured by the fact that the volumes of the French collection will be used as a nucleus. Each work will be entirely independent and complete in itself, but the volumes in a given group will be found to supplement one another when considered in relation to a particular subject or period.

The volumes are uniformly bound in a line art-cambric cloth, with specially designed gold lettering and emblem (The Owl of Athena), royal octavo in size, and usually illustrated.

Two key books from this series of particular interest to me:

THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY
By MONTAGUE SUMMERS, editor of Congreve, Wycherley, Otway, etc.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF WITCHCRAFT
By MONTAGUE SUMMERS.

The following plan, comprising upwards of ninety titles, though not definitive, will serve to convey a general notion of the nature and scope of the enterprise:
A. PRE-HISTORY AND ANTIQUITYI. INTRODUCTION AND PRE-HISTORY
Social Organization - W. H R. Rivers/
The Earth Before History - Edmond Perrier.
Prehistoric Man - Jacques de Morgan.
The Dawn of European Civilization - V. Gordon Childe.
Language: A Linguistic Introduction to History - J. Vendryes.
A Geographical Introduction to History - L. Febvre.
Race and History - E. Pittard.
The Aryans - V. Gordon Childe.
From Tribe to Empire - A. Moret and G. Davy.
Money and Monetary Policy in Early Times - A. R. Burns.
The Diffusion of Culture - G. Elliot Smith.
The Migration of Symbols - D. A. Mackenzie.
Woman's Place in Simple Societies - J. L. Myers.
Cycles in History - J. L. Myers.
II. THE EARLY EMPIRES
The Nile and Egyptian Civilization - A. Mores.
Colour Symbolism of Ancient Egypt - D A. Mackenzie.
The Mesopotamian Civilization - L. Delaporte.
The Aegean Civilization - G. Glotz.
III. GREECE
The Formation of the Greek People - A. Jardé.
Ancient Greece at Work - G. Glotz.
The Religious Thought of Greece - C. Sourdille.
The Art of Greece - W. Deonna and A. de Ridder.
Greek Thought and Scientific Spirit - L. Robin.
The Greek City and its Institutions - G. Glotz.
Macedonian Imperialism - P. Jouguet.
IV. ROME
Primitive Italy - Léon Homo.
The Roman Spirit in Religion, Thought, and Art - A. Grenier.
Roman Political Institutions - Léon Homo.
Rome the Law-Giver - J. Declareuil.
Ancient Economic Organization - J. Toutain.
The Roman Empire - Victor Chapot.
Ancient Rome at Work - Paul Louis.
The Celts - H. Hubert.
V. BEYOND THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Germany and the Roman Empire - H. Hubert.
Ancient Persia and Iranian Civilization - Clément Huart.
Ancient China and Central Asia - M. Granet.
A Thousand Years of the Tartars - E. H. Parker.
India - (Ed.) S. Lévi.
The Heroic Age of India - N. K. Sidhanta.
Caste and Race in India - G. S. Ghurye.
The Life of Buddha as Legend and History - E. H. Thomas.
B. CHRISTIANITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES
I. THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY

Israel and Judaism - A. Lods.
Jesus and the Birth of Christianity - G. Guignebert.
The Formation of the Church - G. Guignebert.
The Advance of Christianity - G. Guignebert.
History and Literature of Christianity - P. de Labriolle.
II. THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE
The Dissolution of the Western Empire - F. Lot.
The Eastern Empire - C. Diehl.
Charlemagne - L. Halphen.
The Collapse of the Carlovingian Empire - F. Lot.
The Origins of the Slavs - (Ed.) P. Boyer.
Popular Life in the East Roman Empire - Norman Baynes.
The Northern Invaders - B. S. Phillpotts.
III. RELIGIOUS IMPERIALISM
Islam and Mahomet - E. Doutté.
The Advance of Islam - L. Barrau-Dihigo.
Christendom and the Crusades - P. Alphadéry.
The Organization of the Church - R. Genestal.
IV. THE ART OF THE MIDDLE AGES
The Art of the Middle Ages - P. Lorquet.
The Papacy and the Arts - E. Strong.
V. RECONSTITUTION OF MONARCHIC POWER
The Foundation of Modern Monarchies - C. Petit-Dutaillis.
The Growth of Public Administration - E. Meynail.
The Organization of Law - E. Meynail.
VI. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EVOLUTION
The Development of Rural and Town Life - G. Bourgin.
Martime Trade and the Merchant Gilds - P. Boissonnade.
Life and Work in Medieval Europe - P. Boissonade.
The Life of Women in Medieval Times - Eileen Power.
Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages - (Ed.) A. P. Newton.
VII. INTELLECTUAL EVOLUTION
Education in the Middle Ages - G. Huisman.
Philosophy in the Middle Ages - E. Bréhier.
Science in the Middle Ages - Abel Rey and P. Boutroux.
VIII. FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO MODERN TIMES
Nations of Western and Central Europe - P. Lorquet.
Russian, Byzantines, and Mongols - (Ed.) P. Boyer.
The Birth of the Book - G. Renaudet.
The Grandeur and Decline of Spain - C. Hughes Hartmann.
The Influence of Scandinavia on England - M. E. Seaton.
The Philosophy of Capitalism - T. E. Gregory.
The Prelude to the Machine Age - Mrs. Bertrand Russell.
Life and Work in Modern Europe - G. Renard and G. Weulersse.
London Life in the Eighteenth Century - M. Dorothy George.
China and Europe in the Eighteenth Century - A. Reichwein.

A special group of volumes will be devoted to:
(1) SUBJECT HISTORIES
The History of Medicine - C. G. Cumston.
The History of Money - T. E. Gregory.
The History of Witchcraft - Montague Summers.
The Geography of Witchcraft - Montague Summers.
The History of Oriental Literature - E. Powys Mathers.
The History of Music - Cecil Gray.
(2) HISTORICAL ETHNOGRAPHY
The Ethnography of India - T. C. Hodson.
The Peoples of Asia - L. H. Dudley Buxton.
The Threshold of the Pacific - C. E. Fox.
The South American Indians - Rafael Karsten.

In the sections devoted to MODERN HISTORY the majority of titles will be announced later.
Source of above list and series note:
Ancient Persia and Iranian Civilization by Clément Huart. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., and New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927 (The History of Civilization series).

VOLUMES PUBLISHED (by the year 1927)

The following volumes have already been issued. They are arranged roughly in the order in which they were published. But their place iti the scheme of the whole series may he discovered from the list above :

THE EARTH BEFORE HISTORY: Man's Origin and the Origin of Life
By EDMOND PERRIER, late Hon. Director of the Natural History Museum of France.
With 4 maps, 15s. net.

PREHISTORIC MAN : A General Outline of Prehistory
By JACQUES DE MORGAN, late Director of Antiquities in Egypt.
With 190 illustrations and maps, 12s. 6d. net.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
By W. H. R. RIVERS, LL.D., F.R.S. Preface by PROFESSOR G. ELLIOT SMITH.
Second edition, 10s. 6d. net.

THE THRESHOLD OF THE PACIFIC : an Account of the Social Organization, Magic, and Religion of the People of San Cristoval in the Solomon Islands
By C. E. FOX, LITT.D, Preface by PROFESSOR G. ELLIOT SMITH
With 14 plates and 40 text illustrations, 18s. net.

LANGUAGE : a Linguistic Introduction to History
By J. VENDRYES, Professor in the University of Paris.
16s. net.

A GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION TO HISTORYBy LUCIEN FEBVRE, Professor in the University of Strasburg.
With 7 maps, 16s. net.

THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF CHRISTIANITY: from Tertullian to Boethius
By PIERRE DE LABRIOLLE, Professor of Literature at the University of Poitiers. Foreword by CARDINAL GASQJCJET.
25s. net.

LONDON LIFE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
By M. DOROTHY GEORGE.
Second impression, with 8 plates, 21s. net.

A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE TARTARS
By E. H. PARKER, Professor of Chinese in the Victoria University of Manchester.
With 5 illustrations and maps, 12s. 6d. net.

CHINA AND EUROPE: their Intellectual and Artistic Relations in the Eighteenth Century
By ADOLPH REICHWEIN.
With 24 plates, 12s. 6d. net.

THE DAWN OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
By V. GORDON CHILDE, B LITT.
Second Impression, with 198 illustrations and 4 maps, 16s. net.

MESOPOTAMIA: the .Babylonian and Assyrian Civilization
By L. DELAPORTE, Professor in the Catholic Institute of Paris.
With 60 illustrations and maps, 16s. net.

THE AEGEAN CIVILIZATION
By G. GLOTZ, Professor of Greek History in the University of Paris.
With 4 plates, 87 text illustrations, and 3 maps, 16s. net.

THE PEOPLES OF ASIA
By L. H. DUDLEY BUXTON, M.A., F.S.A., Lecturer in Physical Anthropology in the University of Oxford
With 8 plates, 12s. 6d. net.

LIFE AND WORK IN MODERN EUROPE, from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century
By G. RENARD, Professor at the College of France, and G. WEULERSSE, Professor at the Lycée Gamot. Introduction by EILEEN POWER, D. Lit., Reader in Medieval Economic History in the University of London.
With 8 plates, 16s. net.

THE MIGRATION OF SYMBOLS, and their Relations to Beliefs and Customs
By DONALD A. MACKENZIE, author of " Ancient Man in Britain ".
With 16 plates and 53 text illustrations, 12s. 6d. net.

TRAVEL AND TRAVELLERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES: a series of Essays
Edited by A. P. NEWTON, Rhodes Professor of Imperial History in the University of London.
With 8 plates and maps, 12s. 6d. net.

ANCIENT GREECE AT WORK : an Economic History of Greece from the Homeric Period to the Roman Conquest
By G. GLOTZ, Professor of Greek History in the University of Paris.
With 49 illustrations, 16s. net.

RACE AND HISTORY: an Ethnological Introduction to History
By E. PITTARD, Professor of Anthropology in the University of Geneva.
Second Impression, with 9 illustrations and maps, 21s. net.

THE ARYANS : a Study of Indo-European Origins
By V. GORDON CHILDE, B.Litt.
With 8 plates, 28 text illustrations, and a map, 10s. 6d. net.

FROM TRIBE TO EMPIRE : Social Organization among the Primitives and in the Ancient East
By A. MORET, Professor in the University of Paris, and G. DAVY, of the University of Dijon.
With 47 illustrations and 7 maps, 16s. net.

THE FORMATION OF THE GREEK PEOPLE
By A. JARDÉ, Professor of History at the Lycée Lakanal.
With 7 maps, 16s.net.

THE ROMAN SPIRIT in Religion, Thought, and Art
By A. GRENIER, Professor in the University of Strasburg.
With 16 plates and 16 text illustrations, 16s. net.

THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY
By MONTAGUE SUMMERS, editor of Congreve, Wycherley, Otway, etc.
With 8 full-page plates, 12s. 6d. net.

THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE, from the time of the Pharaohs to the end of the Eighteenth Century
By C. G. CUM8TON, M.D., Lecturer in the University of Geneva.
With a Foreword by F. G. CROOK SHANK, M.D., F.R.C.P.
With 24 plates, 16s. net.

THE CIVILIZATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS, with special reference to Magic and .Religion
By RAFAEL KARSTEN, Ph. D., Professor at the University of Finland,, Heisingfors. Preface by PROFESSOR E. WKSTERMARCK.
25s.net. ,

PRIMITIVE ITALY, and the Beginnings of Roman Imperialism
By LEON HOMO, Professor in the University of Lyons.
With 13 maps and plans, 16s. net.

ROME THE LAW-GIVER
By J. DECLAREUIL, Professor in the University of Toulouse.
16s. net.

LIFE AND WORK IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE, from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Century
By P. BOISSONNADE, Professor in the University of Poitiers. Translated with an Introduction by EILEEN POWER, D.Lit.
With 8 plates, 16s. net.

THE LIFE OF BUDDHA, as Legend and History
By E. J. THOMAS, D.LITT., Under Librarian in the University Library, Cambridge.
With 4 plates and a map, 12s. 6d. net.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF WITCHCRAFT
By MONTAGUE SUMMERS.
With 8 plates, 21s. net.

ANCIENT PERSIA, and Iranian Civilization
By CLEMENT HUART, Member of the Institute of France.
With 4 plates, 35 text illustrations, and a map, 12s. 6d. net.

ANCIENT ROME AT WORK : an Economic History of Rome from, the Origins to the Empire
By PAUL LOUIS.
With 4 illustrations and 6 maps, 16s. net.

ART IN GREECE
By A. DE RIDDER, Curator at the Louvre Museum, and W. DEONNA, Director of the Geneva Museum of Art and History.
With 20 plates and 6/ text illustrations, about 16s. net.

MONEY AND MONETARY POLICY IN EARLY TIMES
By A. R. BURNS, B.Sc. Econ.
With 16 plates, about 21s. net.

THE NILE, and Egyptian Civilization
By A. MORET, Professor at the College of France.
With 24 plates, 79 text illustrations and 3 maps, about 21s. net.
Religion and institutions, art and literature, science and trade, in Ancient Egypt are brilliantly described, with striking quotations from the documents.

Other early volumes, of which details will he announced later, include:
GREEK THOUGHT, and the Origins of the Scientific Spirit
By L. ROBIN, Professor in the University of Paris.
MACEDONIAN IMPERIALISM, and the Hellenization of the East
By P. JOUGUET, Professor in the University of Paris.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
By VICTOR CHAPOT, late Member of the French School of Athens.
ROMAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: Republicanism and Caesarism
By LEON HOMO, Professor in the University of Lyons.