A while ago, I got myself two books by Ellis Davidson, mostly because Dumézil refers to her frequently. I was positively surprised by the popular-looking large book with many images Scandinavian Mythology. In that book Ellis Davidson gives a nice overview of the myths and sagas (but without references most of the time), has great images and has some thought-provoking remarks here and there. Gods And Myths Of Northern Europe looks more ‘serious’, but this little book is actually not very special at all. Quite standard information, again a mix of all kinds of unnamed sources and just a few interesting theories. The composition isn’t even too good and in general this is just a nice book about “Anglo Saxon and Viking” mythology. I don’t know if to suggest this book to beginners (they will only get a very rudimantary idea without references for further study) or ‘advanced students’ (the information is too standard). The nice glossary in the back seems to imply that the book was meant for the first group. In any case, not a bad book about Scandinavian mythology, but not the best either.
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Read quotes of Ellis Davidson here.
1964/90 * isbn 0140136274