Man, Myth & Magic (encyclopedia)

First Edition Cover. Painting by Austin Osman Spare

Man, Myth & Magic is an encyclopedia of the supernatural, including magic, mythology and religion. It was edited by Richard Cavendish. The art director was Brian Innes, former percussionist of The Temperance Seven.

Man, Myth & Magic was originally published as a British weekly magazine by Purnell and Sons. Publication commenced in 1970, and continued for 112 issues spanning 1,000 articles with some 5,000 illustrations, many of them in full colour. Purnell also sold binders for gathering the installments into seven volumes, plus one additional binder for the magazine covers.

More than two hundred academics and specialists contributed to the magazine, and wrote in a generally accessible style.

The editorial board consisted of:

• Glyn Daniel, archaeologist and editor of 'Antiquity'.
• E. R. Dodds, former Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford.
• Mircea Eliade, professor of the History of Religion at University of Chicago.
• William Sargant, past Physician in Charge of the Department of Psychological Medicine, St. Thomas Hospital.
• John Symonds, author and literary executor of Aleister Crowley.
• R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, professor of Comparative Religion, Dean of Faculty of Humanities, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
• Robert Charles Zaehner, Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics, Oxford.
• Cottie Arthur Burland, formally of the Department of Ethnography at the British Museum.