Research Guides
Folklore & Mythology: Bibliography
Folkloristics, the study of Folklore, is the study of human expressive culture, and includes myths, legends, folk- and fairy-tales, jokes, proverbs, jump-rope rhymes, material culture, and much more.
Bibliography Starting Points
Below is a selection of bibliographic compilations – that is, publications that have put together bibliographies of previously published works related to Folklore and Mythology. They can be a useful place to start your research.
The most well-known of these is the Internationale Volkskundliche Bibliographie – the international folklore biography. It is a continuation of Volkskundliche Literatur des Jahres 1911, and is strong for European ethnology and folklore, but international in scope.
Other Bibliography Resources
The following list of bibliographies is very selective out of necessity; the Libraries holds hundreds of bibliographies on folklore. Below are just a few examples of general bibliographies--some works presented are global in scope, other titles are focused on one continent or country, and some are highly specific, narrowly defined bibliographies.
- Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
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Click through to "Browse By Subject" and search for "Mythology" or "Folklore"
- Armenian folklore bibliographyAvakian, A. (1994).
- Bibliografia descriptíva de la poesía traditional y popular de MexicoGonzález, A. (1993).
- A bibliography of folklore of Bihar; books, articles, reports, and monographs in English and Hindi.Prasad, H., & Sen Gupta, Gita. (1971).
- A bibliography of Ukrainian folklore in Canada, 1902-64Klymasz, R. (1969).
- Contemporary legend : A folklore bibliographyBennett, G., & Smith, Paul. (1993).
- Folklore : an annotated bibliography and index to single editionsZiegler, E. (1975).
- Folklore bibliography for 1973Simmons, M. (1975). Z5981 .S53 1973.
- Nordnorsk Folklore: en Bibliografi til og med 1995Skjelbred, A. (2000).
- Philippine folklore bibliography : a preliminary surveyManuel, E. (1965).
- South Slavic Folk Culture: a Bibliography of Literature in English, German, and French on Bosnian- Hercegovinian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Serbian Folk-cultureRoth, K., Wolf-Keller, G. and Helebrant, T. (1994).
Tom Thumb and the Giant
The History of Tom Thumb (first published in 1621) was the first fairy tale printed in English.
