“Full of curious lore, sought out and arranged with much industry.”—The Scotsman.
“Mr. Andrews’ volume is admirably produced, and contains a collection of curious illustrations, representative of many of the punishments he describes, which contribute towards making it one of the most curious and entertaining books that we have perused for a long time.”—Norfolk Chronicle.
“Those who wish to obtain a good general idea on the subject of criminal punishment in days long past, will obtain it in this well-printed and stoutly-bound volume.”—Daily Mail.
“Mr. William Andrews, of Hull, is an indefatigable searcher amongst the byways of ancient English history, and it would be difficult to name an antiquary who, along his chosen lines, has made so thoroughly interesting and instructive the mass of facts a painstaking industry has brought to light. For twenty-five years he has been delving into the subject of Bygone Punishments, and is now one of the best authorities upon obsolete systems of jurisdiction and torture, for torture was, in various forms, the main characteristic of punishment in the good old times. The reformation of the person punished was a far more remote object of retribution than it is with us, and even with us reform is very much a matter of sentiment. Punishment was intended to be punishment to the individual in the first place, and in the second a warning to the rest. It is a gruesome study, but Mr Andrews nowhere writes for mere effect. As an antiquary ought to do, he has made the collection of facts and their preservation for modern students of history in a clear, straightforward narrative his main object, and in this volume he keeps to it consistently. Every page is therefore full of curious, out-of-the-way facts, with authorities and references amply quoted.”—Yorkshire Post.
[p IV]
The Church Treasury of History, Custom, Folk-Lore, etc.
Edited by WILLIAM ANDREWS.
Demy 8vo., 7s. 6d. Numerous Illustrations.
Contents:—Stave-Kirks—Curious Churches of Cornwall—Holy Wells—Hermits and Hermit Cells—Church Wakes—Fortified Church Towers—The Knight Templars: their Churches and their Privileges—English Medieval Pilgrimages—Pilgrims’ Signs—Human Skin on Church Doors—Animals of the Church in Wood, Stone, and Bronze—Queries in Stones—Pictures in Churches—Flowers and the Rites of the Church—Ghost Layers and Ghost Laying—Church Walks—Westminster Waxworks—Index. Numerous Illustrations.
“It is a work that will prove interesting to the clergy and churchmen generally, and to all others who have an antiquarian turn of mind, or like to be regaled occasionally by reading old-world customs and anecdotes.”—Church Family Newspaper.
“Mr. Andrews has given us some excellent volumes of Church lore, but none quite so good as this. The subjects are well chosen. They are treated brightly and with considerable detail, and they are well illustrated. ... Mr. Andrews is himself responsible for some of the most interesting papers, but all his helpers have caught his own spirit, and the result is a volume full of information well and pleasantly put.”—London Quarterly Review.
“Those who seek information regarding curious and quaint relics or customs will find much to interest them in this book. The illustrations are good.”—Publishers’ Circular.