Giant Text...

[Old-Barbarossa]

Anyone read the full text? Any reason to do this?

[Alford]

Yes, It's long because of large amounts of examples given for each topic. If you would like to know the examples to compare and contrast with other motifs then it is worth the read. If you just would like to learn the topic and a few examples then read one or two and then skip the other 5. However this was a very influential text to Campbell and others.

[Walter]

It is to the 3rd Edition that most collectors will want to turn. The 3rd edition has twelve volumes, and a 1-volume afterward, which, when assembled look rather like a set of encyclopedias. There have been twelve reliable and interchangable printings from 1911 to 1990 which may allow the collector the opportunity to assemble a complete set of mis-matching volumes, as I have done, spending less than $240 to assemble the entire series, or averaging less than $20.00 a volume. The original publishers to look for are MacMillan & Co. and St. Martin's Press. One cannot vouch for the print accuracy of the plethora of "On Demand" editions, I avoid them after a couple bad experiences with other titles.

The numbering on these volumes is sometimes confusing-- The on-line seller's lists always get them wrong, so you may want to do a general search for "Frazer" "Golden Bough Part" and compare the listing to the contents below (as printed on the dust jacket back of the 1990 edition).
The 13 books are divided into 9 parts:
Part I Vols. 1 & 2, The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings
Part II Taboo and The Perils of the Soul
Part III The Dying God
Part IV Adonis, Attis Osiris Vols. 1 & 2
Part V Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild Vols. 1&2
Part VI The Scapegoat
Part VII Balder the Beautiful: The Fire Festivals of Europe and
The Doctrine of the External Soul
Part VIII Bibliography and General Index
Part IX Aftermath: A Supplement to "The Golden Bough."

These books ought to be required reading to any student of religion, history, sociology, and occult sciences.

[Feliks]

I agree it is quite an important book and one which anyone with imagination will probably become very fond of. But its important to bear in mind where Frazer falls short in his aims and in the conclusions he draws, where his method and examples are flawed and unreliable. That being granted, its nevertheless a marvelous work with rich language and imagery...a title which compliments any shelf. I'm surprised and pleased to see it being talked about on Goodreads.

[Walter]

Aleister Crowley has it on his A.'.A.'. reading list (which has never been updated), so you'll find a number of Occultists still seeking it out. Crowley actually wrote a series of eight stories inspired by tales from 'The Golden Bough' that were published in 1990 by Teitan Press as "Golden Twigs" and which have since been reprinted in The Simon Iff Stories & Other Works