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Guide to Daily Reading | 3/20/20

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Background on GDR. Previous Daily Readings.

The world is full of folks I’ve never heard of. Often– that’s too bad. Sometimes… well, we’ll see.

Died this day in 1903, Charles Godfrey Leland.

Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe.

Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensively, and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics. He published books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions. He worked in a wide variety of trades, achieved recognition as the author of the comic Hans Breitmann’s Ballads,[1] and fought in two conflicts. He wrote Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, which became a primary source text for Neopaganism half a century later.

That infallible source

Other snippets

  • Leland returned to Europe in 1869, and travelled widely… His fame… rested chiefly on his comic Hans Breitmann’s Ballads (1871), written in a combination of broken English and German (not to be confused, as it often has been, with Pennsylvania German).[6] In recent times his writings on pagan and Aryan traditions have eclipsed the… forgotten Breitmann ballads, influencing the development of Wicca and modern paganism.
  • In his travels, he made a study of the Gypsies…
  • His writings on Algonquian and gypsy culture were part of the contemporary interest in pagan and Aryan traditions. 
  • Scholars have found Leland had taken significant liberties with his research. 
  • It has also come to light that Leland altered some of those folk tales…

Oh oh. It goes on.

I did some additional researches while sitting at the old sewing table that has a nice collection of crappy old books about crappy old books and their authors.

The Literature of American History: A Bibliographical Guide. J.N. Larned, ed. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York. 1966. 1902.

Looks to me as if “scholars” had their doubts all along.

Speaking of folks I’d never heard of, J.N. Larned was one until about a year ago. Here’s the journey to discovering him, his book above, and two others, A Talk About Books (The Peter Paul Book Company, 1897), and Books, Culture and Character ( Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, New York. 1967. 1906).

Here is the whole of Hans Breitmann’s Ballads at Archive. The first of three suggested readings, “Ballad,” begins here. The second, “Hans Breitmann’s Party,” begins here.

It’s only two pages.

The third reading, “De Quincey’s Levana,” is apparently some sort of commentary on De Quincey’s “Lavana,” a prose poem, which I am not inclined to go find. FYI:

Levana (from Latinlevare, “to lift”[1]) is an ancient Roman goddess involved in rituals pertaining to childbirth. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levana

And there you have it folks. Looks like there are more recognizable names coming up. Stay tuned! (WooHoo!! There will be thoughts on the Lambs!)