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Sir James George Frazer originally set out to discover the origins of one ancient custom in Classical Rome - the plucking of the Golden Bough from a tree in the sacred grove of Diana, and the murderous succession of the priesthood there and was led by his investigations into a 25-year study of primitive customs, superstitions, magic and myth throughout the world. The 13-volume work which resulted has been a rich source of anthropological material and a literary masterpiece for more than half a century. ""The Golden Bough"" is an essential reference work for all involved in the intellectual disciplines of anthropology and the history of religion but also on literature and the arts. The third edition, reprinted here, was Frazer's final authoritative statement in which he offered readers a dramatically new way of understanding the religious beliefs and behaviour of the ancient world and their connection to those of the ""primitive"" world that then made up much of the British Empire. Frazer's three stage evolutionary ladder of magic religion science gave his large readership a clear way of understanding, in David Hume's phrase, ""the natural history of religion"". The third edition is presented with two major works of scholarship enabling readers to understand the origins, development and importance of Frazer's landmark work. The first extra volume is an out-of-print biography of J.G. Frazer by Professor Robert Ackerman, first published by Cambridge University Press. Professor Ackerman also provides us with an excellent introduction in this volume. The second volume contains Dr Robert Fraser's ""The Making of the Golden Bough"". These volumes are available as a two-volume set as well as being part of the 15-volume set.

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SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER (1854-1941) was one of the early pioneers in the sociological study of religion. He began his career as a classicist but it is for his work in social anthropology that he is best remembered. His most famous work, The Golden Bough first appeared in 1890 in a two-volume edition but was twice revised and expanded, the third edition appearing in twelve volumes in 1911-15 and a thirteenth volume, Aftermath, appearing some twenty years later. Frazer's other works include Psyche's Task, Totemism and Exogamy, The Belief in Immortality and The Worship of the Dead and Folklore in the Old Testament.

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