Folk-Lore from Adams County Illinois

by Harry Middleton Hyatt 

First edition.  New York:  Alma Egan Hyatt Foundation, 1935 

Hardback is overall in VERY GOOD condition.

• Black cloth over boards.  Boards show some smudges, marks, edgewear.  Corners are bumped and frayed.  See photos. 
• Spine has gilt text and is a little faded, with bumped ends.
• Binding is secure.
• Pastedowns and feps have some toning, bookseller sticker, pencil marks.  See photos.
• Two maps in black and white follow the title page. 
• Interior is gently age-toned, with marginal toning and a closed tear at foot of page 601.  See photos. 
• Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks.
• PS2024.1107

723 pages. 6 x 9 5/8 inches

Overall a very good copy of the first edition of this comprehensive reference on the folklore of Adams County, the westernmost county of the state of Illinois.  The book is basically a massive compendium of over 10,000 folk beliefs, with the descriptions of each running from as little as a short sentence to several pages.  It includes 90 pages specifically on the beliefs of "Hoodoo and Witchcraft," although many of the other beliefs described would fall broadly into that category.  The first publication of the Memoirs of the Alma Egan Hyatt Foundation.  A second edition was issued in 1965. 

Henry Middleton Hyatt (1896-1978), Director of the Alma Egan Hyatt foundation which published his work, was an amateur folklorist and Anglican minister.  Dedicating himself to the compilation of folklore, he spent years on fieldwork.  He is perhaps best known for his "Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork: Beliefs Accepted by Many Negroes," a massive work, also very scarce.   

Please see photos. More photos available upon request.

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