Product Description

This guide to symbols is the first of its kind with a unique design to set us on the path of symbolism 1001 Symbols is a portable, pocket-sized guide to traditional symbolism, arranged by theme - as in a thesaurus. Following the symbols by subject allows us to compare all the symbols that different cultures have used to connote a particular quality, such as purity, love, deception or immunity. At the same time a helpful and comprehensive index enables the reader to look up individual symbols; and there is also a useful cross-reference system providing signposts to other meanings of the same symbols. This unique illustrated guide, with more than 130 specially-commissioned illustrations, enlightens us as to the fascinating world of symbols, from East and West, and their significance in art, folklore, religion, literature, tradition and the complex psychology of humankind through the ages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89457 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Jack Tresidder has worked as a newspaper journalist, foreign news editor, and book and theatre critic, and, in London, as a publishing director. He now lives and writes in a remote valley in the French Alps.

Customer Reviews

Valuable reference work on symbols
This reference work is like a thesaurus. It lists the idea, quality or state symbolised and then discusses all the major symbols used to represent it under the topic. Important symbols with multiple meanings therefore appear under various different topic headings. Related topics are sometimes grouped together.

The goal is to provide an overview of the various symbols used by different cultures that stand for concepts like wisdom, goodness, evil, truth justice, freedom and salvation amongst others. The author claims that traditional symbolism as a whole was developed to represent a relatively small spectrum of ideas that were seen as the keystones of civilisation, in order to emphasize the positive over the negative.

There are many cross-references, an index and more than 130 beautiful monotone and full colour illustrations. The main headings are: Blessings and Hardships, Human Qualities and Powers, Virtues and Vices, Emotions and Instincts, States and Conditions, The Spiritual Life. Symbols from both West and East are discussed in a way that covers their significance in religion, literature, art and human consciousness.

Interesting!!!
This book is definitely worth buying if you are into finding out the history behind everyday signs and symbols that we take for granted. It shows just how certain symbols have different meanings to different people, and how some have become corrupted and used to give totally different meanings than their original.

not as expected
1001 symbols with much less illustrations; the sketches are very primitive, the text more of a tabloid paper; overall a disappointment