The Oxford Companion to the Year: An Exploration of Calendar Customs and Time-Reckoning |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Iceland History > Item 275
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The Oxford Companion to the Year: An Exploration of Calendar Customs and Time-Reckoning
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by Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens
Sales Rank: 616607
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List Price: $85.00
$68.00
At Amazon
on 11-27-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 976 pages
Published by: Oxford University Press, USA February 17, 2000
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0192142313
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0192142313
Book Dimensions:
9.5 x 6.6 x 2.2 inches
Weighs: 3.6 pounds
Product Review
The Oxford Companion to the Year is one of those splendid volumes that should have a permanent place in every personal reference library, next to a well-thumbed Brewer's.
The main body of the book gives a huge amount of historical and folkloric information on every day of the year (including, yes, February 30, which has happened three times); the days of the week, months and seasons; and the major feast days and festivals in a wide variety of different cultures. This is the section that most readers will find the most fascinating; its 658 pages provide endless browsing.
The second part concentrates on the making of calendars over the centuries: how our own complex calendar evolved with its irregular month lengths and its rules for when leap years occur, plus details of the calendars of many other cultures--Chinese, Hindu, Muslim, and many more--all trying to find a regular system that can cope with the fact that the roughly 29-and-one-half-day lunar month and the roughly 365-and-one-quarter-day solar year simply can't be meshed.
Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens must be congratulated on the huge amount of work this book must have taken, and on such splendid results. --David V. Barrett, Amazon.co.uk
From Library Journal
Blackburn (Music, Oxford Univ.) and Holford-Strevens (Aulus Gellius) have produced an interesting reference work that can be seen as a modern version of the medieval Book of Days. Recognizing the significance that the recording of time has had for almost all known cultures, they set out to explain the origins of calendar construction, taking care to examine the significance of each day of the year. The book is divided into two parts. "Part I: Calendar Customs" is a day-by-day guide to the year as organized by the Western calendar. Here, the authors explicate the peculiar attributes each day of the year has acquired. "Part II: Calendars and Chronology" is an in-depth study of how time has been organized over the ages. The authors explain more than 18 calendar systems from Anglo-Saxon to Zoroastrian and also include tables for converting dates from one calendar system to another. This work should appeal to browsers and researchers alike and would be a useful resource for academic as well as public libraries. Recommended for both.
-Robert James Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reader Reviews
This 937 page reference work of calendar customs and time-reckoning is a modern day version of Robert Chambers's "Book of Days" (1864), and is now surely THE definitive reference work on the subject. For every day of the year (including February 30, which has been observed three times in past calendars, once in Sweden and twice in the Soviet Union), there is a listing of the date (e.g., 25 Abril), the Roman date (e.g., a.d. VII Kalendas Maias), a list of Holidays and Anniversaries (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga: ANZAC Day) or Holy Days (e.g., Mark the Evangelist) or perhaps something from Ancient Rome (e.g., "On this day was held the ceremony for keeping rust off crops, the Robigalia,"). Moreover, there are usually one or two paragraphs given to explain the origins of various holidays or as biographical background. Sometimes poems or literary excerpts are inserted to further enliven the entry. Additionally, a generous amount of humor and bonhomie are sprinkled throughout the text. Other calendar customs such as the moveable feasts of the western church year, days of the week, Red-Letter days, Dog Days, terms at Oxford or Cambridge, Handsel Monday, Thanksgiving, or the Lord Mayor's Show each have their own entries and explanations. Part II follows, with investigation into calendars and chronology. Here the international scope of the book receives greater exposure, with discussion of the Roman Calendar, Chinese Calendar, Egyptian Calendar, Greek Calendar, Hindu Calendar, Jewish Calendar, Muslim Calendar, Anglo-Saxon Calendar, or Celtic Calendar being some of the many discussed. Explanations of the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, calculating the date of Easter, use of symbolic calendars, as well as many other topics round out a thoroughly researched section. My only demurring remark about this excellent book is that sometimes the academic writing can be a little dry and murky, drifting into the pedantic, so that at times I found myself nodding off to sleep. This style of presentation also led to occasional difficulties when trying to understand the discussion at hand. Nevertheless, on the whole, the book is most interesting. A great deal of research obviously went into this wonderfully thorough and accurate reference work. It may be used either as a source for information, or alternatively its daily entries may be read throughout the year as a short daily entertainment. To sum, it is a book well worth obtaining.
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The Oxford Companion to the Year: An Exploration of Calendar Customs and Time-Reckoning
Available from Amazon
Price: $68.00
Updated on 11-27-2008.
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