Magic, texts and travels:homage to a scholar, Will Ryan

These essays honour the breadth of the scholarship of Will Ryan, Emeritus Professor of Russian Studies at the University of London. Will Ryan has published extensively on Russia; his best-known books are The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia, and (with Moshe Taube), The Secret of Secrets: The East Slavonic Version. The contributions, which reflect Professor Ryan's interests, cover three main themes: magic and folklore, texts and translations, and science, travel and exploration. The main focus is inevitably on Russia, but the papers also inter alia discuss magic, religion and folklore in other Slavonic regions, translations from Hebrew, Arabic and West European languages, British travellers in the Russian Empire and Russian explorers in the Far East and Alaska. Collectively the papers make a fascinating contribution to our understanding of the Russian and Slavonic world, and of the relationship between Russia and the West.