CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Festivals (book)

book by Ruth Manning-Sanders

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ5445828 ↗
Source-derived summary

Festivals is a 1973 anthology of festival-related folklore from around the world compiled by Ruth Manning-Sanders. According to the book's dust jacket, "This potpourri of festivals reveals fascinating customs and celebrations from many countries of the world. Each special day is preceded by background material on the origins of the holiday."

Some of the special days covered are (using Manning-Sanders' words and spellings): New Year's Day, Saint Bride's Day, the Japanese Snow Festival, Saint Valentine's Day, Saint Patrick's Day, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Easter Day, All Fools' Day, the Bright Weather Festival, Saint George's Day, May Day, the Padstow Hobby Horse, Independence Day, Michaelmas Day, Saint Crispin's Day, Hallow E'en, the Fifth of November, Hogmanay, and Christmas.

For many of the festivals, the book includes the writings of some famous authors or historical personalities. Among those included in the book are Robert Herrick, Fiona Macleod, Marco Polo, John Donne, Sir Charles Lyall, Norman Hunter, Chiang Yee, Flora Thompson, Laurie Lee, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Dylan Thomas, William Shakespeare, Richard Cobbold, P. L. Travers, Oliver Herford, Alison Uttley, Richard Crashaw, Jon and Rumer Godden, and Alfred Tennyson.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Festivals (book)” as book by Ruth Manning-Sanders. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1973—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1973. The account is most persuasive where Festivals, book and Ruth can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as book by Ruth Manning-Sanders. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5445828. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Festivals (book)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Festivals (book) primary sources, Festivals (book) archive and Festivals research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Festivals (book)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Festivals (book)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.