The Secret of the Totem.
London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1905. First Edition. Hardcover. Large octavo. xi + 215pp. Gilt illustrated navy cloth gilt-lettered on spine, printed endpapers, appendixes, index. The first edition of folklorist Andrew Lang's (1844 – 1912) study of Totemism, which he calls "the natural sequel of his "Social Origins and Primal Law" which published three years earlier. Contents of this volume are: Intro; Origin of Totemism; Method of Inquiry; Theory of Primal Promiscuity; The Arunta Anomaly; The Theories of Dr. Durkheim; The Author's Theory; Rise of Phratries and Totem Kins; A New Point Explained; Totemic Redistribution; Matrimonial Clauses; Mr. Frazer's Theory of Totemism; Appendix - American Theories. Affixed to the front pastedown is handwritten two page autograph letter, signed, from Lang to an un-named recipient (9 x 7 inch sheet - folded once to make 4 pages) "I always lose my presence of mind when any one mentions my rhymes, which are, to me a source of confusion and I forgot to say that I only sent them to you as an acknowledgment of your kindness in sending me your verses. I thought the new ones had been forwarded, but there is no harm done, as they were still worse than the old. Believe me. Sincerely yours, A. Lang" (Kensington. June 17 [1894]). Very light overall shelf wear, lower corners bumped, spine ends and upper corner bruised and lightly chafed, light ripple to cloth at mid-spine, page edges and endpapers a bit darkened, pages toned, unmarked. Overall a tight, clean VG+ copy of this first edition with signed letter from the author. Item #66746
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