Editing Lewis Spence

{{short description|British academic (1874–1955)}}
{{about||the Scottish footballer|Lewis Spence (footballer)|the English footballer|Lewwis Spence}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2012}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Lewis Spence
| image = Lewis Spence writer.png
| imagesize = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1874|11|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Monifieth]], [[Angus, Scotland]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1955|3|3|1874|1|25|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]]
| nationality = [[Scotland|Scottish]]
| occupation = Journalist, folklorist, occult scholar
| subject = [[Scottish folklore]], old British, German, and Aztec [[mythology]], [[Atlantis]]
}}

[[File:The grave of Lewis Spence, Dean Cemetery.jpg|thumb|The grave of Lewis Spence, [[Dean Cemetery]]]]
'''James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence''' (25 November 1874 – 3 March 1955) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] journalist, poet, author, [[folklorist]] and [[occult]] scholar. Spence was a Fellow of the [[Royal Anthropological Institute]] of Great Britain and Ireland, and vice-president of the Scottish Anthropological and Folklore Society.<ref>Brief details of his career are available in the introduction to the 1997 reprint of ''An Encyclopaedia of Occultism'' ([http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/s/spence_lewis.html on-line text]).</ref> He founded the [[Scottish National Movement]].

==Early life==
Spence was born in 1874 in [[Monifieth]], [[Angus, Scotland]]. After graduating from [[Edinburgh University]] he pursued a career in journalism. He was an editor at ''[[The Scotsman]]'' 1899–1906, editor of ''The Edinburgh Magazine'' for a year, 1904–05, and then an editor at ''The British Weekly'', 1906–09.

==Career==
In this time Spence's interest was sparked in the myth and folklore of [[Mexico]] and [[Central America]], resulting in his popularisation of the [[Maya civilization|Maya]]n [[Popol Vuh]], the sacred book of the [[Kʼicheʼ people|Quiché Mayans]] (1908). He compiled ''A Dictionary of Mythology'' (1910), an ''Encyclopedia of occultism and parapsychology'' (1920)<ref>{{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfOccultismAndParapsychologyVol2.pdf | title = Encyclopedia of occultism and parapsychology | language = en  | oclc = 60531255 | volume = 2 vol. |publisher = J. Gordon Melton | year = 2001 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200810172045/https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfOccultismAndParapsychologyVol2.pdf | archive-date = 10 August 2020 | url-status = live}}</ref> and numerous additional volumes.

Turning his interest closer to home, he investigated [[Scottish folklore]]. An ardent [[Scottish independence|Scottish Nationalist]], he unsuccessfully contested a parliamentary seat for [[Midlothian and Peebles Northern (UK Parliament constituency)|Midlothian and Peebles Northern]] at a [[1929 Midlothian and Peebles Northern by-election|by-election in 1929]]. He also wrote poetry, collected in 1953.

Spence wrote about [[Celtic Britons|Brythonic]] rites and traditions in ''Mysteries of Celtic Britain'' (1905). In this book, Spence theorized that the original Britons were descendants of a people that migrated from [[Northwest Africa]] and were probably related to the [[Berbers]] and the [[Basques]].<ref>''The Mysteries of Britain'', Lewis Spence, Health Research Books, 1996, p. 21</ref><ref>More nuanced recent views, based on early DNA research, are presented by the Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes, in ''Blood of the Isles'', 2006.</ref>

==Atlantis==
Spence's research into the mythology and culture of the [[New World]], together with his examination of the cultures of western Europe and north-west Africa, led him to the question of [[Atlantis]]. During the 1920s he published a series of books which sought to rescue the topic from the occultists who had more or less brought it into disrepute. These works, including ''The Problem of Atlantis'' (1924) and ''History of Atlantis'' (1927), adopted theories inaugurated by [[Ignatius Donnelly]] and looked at the lost island as a [[Bronze Age]] civilization that formed a cultural link with the New World, which he invoked through examples he found of parallels between the early civilizations of the Old and New Worlds. Despite Spence's erudition and the width of his reading, the conclusions he reached, avoiding peer-reviewed journals,<ref>Though Spence wrote reviews of popularizations of mythology and folklore for ''Folklore''.</ref> have been almost universally rejected by mainstream scholarship. His popularisations met stiff criticism in professional journals, but his continued appeal among theory hobbyists is summed up by a reviewer of ''The Problem of Atlantis'' (1924) in ''The Geographical Journal'': "Mr. Spence is an industrious writer, and, even if he fails to convince, has done service in marshalling the evidence and has produced an entertaining volume which is well worth reading."<ref>R.N.R.B. in ''The Geographical Journal'' '''64'''.2 (August 1924:181-182).</ref> Nevertheless, he seems to have had some influence upon the ideas of controversial author [[Immanuel Velikovsky]], and as his books have come into the public domain, they have been successfully reprinted and some have been scanned for the Internet.

Spence's 1940 book ''Occult Causes of the Present War'' ({{ISBN|0766100510}}) is an early book in the field of [[Nazi occultism]].

==Personal life==
In 1899 he married Helen Bruce.

Over his long career, he published more than forty books, many of which remain in print to this day. Spence was also the founder of the [[Scottish National Movement]] which later merged to form the [[National Party of Scotland]] and which in turn merged to form the [[Scottish National Party]].

==Death==
Spence died in [[Edinburgh]] in 1955 aged 80 and is buried in the north-west section of the 20th century northern extension to [[Dean Cemetery]] in western Edinburgh. His wife, Helen S. Bruce (d. 1942) lies with him.

==Selected works==
'''Ancient Britain'''
* ''The Mysteries of Britain: Secret Rites and Traditions of Ancient Britain Restored'', (1905, reprinted 1994) London: Senate. {{ISBN|1-85958-057-2}}
* ''The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain'', (1949, Reprint 1999) Dover Publications, {{ISBN|0-486-40447-1}}
* ''Celtic Spells and Charms'', (Reprint 2005) Kessinger Publishing {{ISBN|1-4253-1046-X}}
* ''The History and Origins of Druidism'', 1949

'''Occult'''
* ''An Encyclopaedia of Occultism: A compendium of information on the occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science, magic, demonology, spiritism and mysticism'', (1920, Reprinted 2003) Dover Publications, {{ISBN|0-486-42613-0}}
* ''Occult Causes of the Present War'', (1940, Reprint 1997) Kessinger Publishing, {{ISBN|0-7661-0051-0}}
* ''Second Sight: Its History and Origins'', Rider 1951

'''Atlantis and other lost worlds'''
* ''The Problem of Atlantis'', London, 1924<ref>The reviewer R.N.R.B. in ''The Geographical Journal'' '''64'''.2 (August 1924:181-182) remarked that "in reading this book one cannot help feeling that the author believes more than the evidence warrants" and that "he is rash in stating that there is proof that [[Greenland]] has moved 2500 yards in forty years."</ref>
* ''Atlantis in America'', London: Ernest Benn, 1925
* ''The History of Atlantis'' (1927, Reprinted 1995) Adventures Unlimited Press, {{ISBN|0-932813-28-3}}
* ''The Occult Sciences in Atlantis'', (Reprinted 1976) Mokelumne Hill Press, {{ISBN|0-7873-1292-4}}
* ''The Atlantis of Plato''
* ''The Evidence For Lemuria From Myth And Magic''
* ''The Problem of Lemuria: The Sunken Continent of the Pacific'', London: Rider & Co., 1932<ref>The reviewer O.R. in ''The Geographical Journal'' '''81'''.2 (February 1933:181-182) found Spence's evidences well marshalled and noted that biological and geological evidences were set aside as conflicting with Spence's view that a fair-complexioned race "remarkable chiefly for their arcane knowledge and their prowess as builders" inhabited now-sunken lands of the Pacific; the reviewer notes Spence's lack of bibliography and casual references to books whose titles he rarely offers.</ref>

'''Mythology'''
* ''The Popul Vuh: The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of the Kiches of Central America'', London, David Nutt, 1908
* ''A Dictionary of Mythology'', 1910
* ''[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The%20Myths%20of%20Mexico%20and%20Peru The Myths of Mexico and Peru]'' (1913,<ref>{{cite journal|date=23 August 1913|issue= 4478|page=186|title=Review of ''The Myths of Mexico and Peru'' by Lewis Spence|journal=The Athenaeum|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c109524956;view=1up;seq=204}}</ref> Reprinted 1976) Longwood, {{ISBN|0-89341-031-4}}
* ''[[The Myths and Legends of the North American Indians|The Myths of the North American Indians]]'', London: George G. Harrap & Co, 1914<ref>[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000559571 Catalogue Hathitrust]</ref>
* ''[[Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria (Lewis Spence)|Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria]]'' (New York:Stokes) 1917; (Reprint 1997) Kessinger Publishing, {{ISBN|1-56459-500-5}}<ref>"A readable popular account" began the reviewer in ''The Biblical World'', ('''51'''.2 [February 1918: 112-113]) who found its breezy attempt to "contain the pure gold of Babylonian romance freed from the darker ore of antiquarian research", in Spence's words, a camouflage for Spence's "totally inadequate preparation."</ref>
* [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006552700 ''The Legends and Romances of Spain''] ca. 1920
* ''An Introduction to Mythology'' George G. Harrap & Co., 1921
* ''The Gods of Mexico'', Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1923
* ''The Mysteries of Egypt, or, The Secret Rites and Traditions of the Nile'', 1929
* ''The Magic and Mysteries of Mexico'', 1932
* ''Legends and Romances of Brittany'', 1917
* ''The Minor Traditions of British Mythology'', 1948, London: Rider & Co {{oclc|535883}}, Reprinted 1972, Benjamin Blom, Inc {{ISBN|0-405-08989-9}}
* ''The Outlines of Mythology'', 1944
* ''British Fairy Origins: The Genesis and Development of Fairy Legends in British Tradition'', London: Watts & Co., 1946
* ''Fairy Tradition in Britain'', (1948, Reprint 1997) Kessinger Publishing {{ISBN|1-56459-516-1}}
* ''Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine''
* ''Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends'', (Reprint 1990) Dover, {{ISBN|0-486-26525-0}}
* ''Scottish Ghosts and Goblins'', 1952

'''Poetry'''
* ''Collected Poems of Lewis Spence'', 1953

==See also==

*[[Donald Alexander Mackenzie]]
*[[David MacRitchie]]
*[[Henry O'Brien (classicist)|Henry O'Brien]]

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource author}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=5707| name=Lewis Spence}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Lewis Spence}}
* {{Librivox author |id=15247}}
*[https://www.wisdomlib.org/mesopotamian/book/myths-and-legends-of-babylonia-and-assyria/index.html ''Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria'']
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/pvuheng.htm ''Excerpts from The Popul Vuh'']
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lrs/index.htm ''The Legends and Romances of Spain'']
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lr/index.htm ''Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine'']
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/lrb/index.htm ''Legends and Romances of Brittany'']
* {{LCAuth|n79112342|Lewis Spence|86|ue}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Lewis}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Monifieth]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Mythographers]]
[[Category:Scottish folklorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish historians]]
[[Category:Scottish journalists]]
[[Category:Scottish National Party politicians]]
[[Category:Scottish lexicographers]]
[[Category:British encyclopedists]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish poets]]
[[Category:Scottish poets]]
[[Category:Scottish male poets]]
[[Category:Scots-language poets]]
[[Category:Atlantis proponents]]
[[Category:Lemuria]]
[[Category:Scottish Renaissance]]