Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/159

 Pitj'd — Dibliognifia. i 5 i

the masterly example afforded by Signer Pitre in this volume. Our Society must not look behind in so impor- tant a work. The bibliography of English folk-lore ought to be its next great undertaking, and it ought not to be difficult, I should imagine, to combine with it the present stage of the collection of County Folk-lore.

The work of Signor Pitr6 is thus seen to be of epoch- making importance in the organisation of our science.

It may be as well if I devote this notice to a tolerably full description of the plan on which the Cavaliere has worked.

It is obviously impossible for the Englishman to criticise, in any adequate sense of the word, the bibliography of Italian folk-lore, but I may possibly have something useful to observe on the plan and arrangement of the work.

The method adopted is that of six alphabets of authors' names, supplemented by one alphabet of names, another of localities, and a third of subjects. The various sections are : I. Folk-Tales ; li. Folk-Songs ; III. Children's Games and Rhymes ; IV, Riddles and Popular Cries ; V. Proverbs ; VI. Customs and Superstitions ; vil. Miscellaneous.

I think it likely that any future attempt on similar lines would still further split up Section VI, which is by far the most elaborate of the Italian savant's collections.

Probably the divisions adopted in the Handbook of Folk- lore, into Festival, Ceremonial, and Local Customs; Witch- craft and Goblindom ; Tree, Plant, and Animal Super- stitions ; Folk-Medicine and Magic, would have made this part of Pitre's work more handy for use ; but it is by far the most difficult section both to collect and to arrange, and possibly our author has already rejected the sugges- tion I make here.

Turning to the first section, it is obvious that Italy, the home of Straparola, Basile, and Boccaccio, would afford a rich crop of materials. In all, some twelve hundred items are devoted to this subject, though these numbers include the reprints and new editions of standard works