Russian Magic Books in the British Library: Books, Manuscripts, Scholars and Travellers

The work of W.R.S. Ralston, a Keeper of the British Museum Library in the mid- 19th century and authority on Russian magic and folklore is discussed in this latest addition to the Panizzi Lectures which also looks at travel literature and memoirs and examines both the merits and the problems of using this kind of material as a historical source for the study of popular belief.