[Curiosa] Baring-Gould, Sabine The Book of Were-wolves: Being an Account of a Terrible Superstition

First edition of Sabine Baring-Gould's classic treatise on the were-wolf

"The were-wolf may have become extinct in our age, yet he has left his stamp on classic antiquity, he has trodden deep in Northern snows, has ridden rough-shod over the mediaevals, and has howled amongst Oriental sepulchres...He may still prowl in Abyssinian forests, range still over Asiatic steppes, and be found howling dismally in some padded room of a Hanwell or a Bedlam."

London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1865. First edition. 8vo. xii, 266, 2 (ads) pp. From the library of three-time British Prime Minister, Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, and with his armorial book-plate on front paste-down. Illustrated with a wood-engraved frontispiece of a were-wolf and its victim. Original full crimson cloth, stamped in blind and in gilt, front board decoratively stamped in gilt with the image of a were-wolf; all edges trimmed; dark blue endpapers; light foxing at bottom of prelims; a few scattered minor stains to text.

A stunning copy of this very scarce classic work on the history and mythology of the were-wolf. Considered a standard on the subject, Baring-Gould traces the were-wolf through its shape-shifting ancient and medieval origins, through traditions in Scandinavian, English, French, Russian, and Indian mythology, and examines historical cases of lycanthropy and its relation to violence.

Lord Stanley (1799-1869) was a British statesmen, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date, the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party. Stanley served as Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1830, and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1833, where he oversaw the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. He led two brief Tory ministries in 1852 and 1858-59, and formed another government in 1866 with Benjamin Disraeli as Chancellor of Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. He also served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Provenance

From the private collection of Asher D. Atchick, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania