Élie Reclus - Primitive folk - 1891

Élie Reclus (1827–1904) was born on July 11, 1827 in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, in the Gironde region of southwestern France. He was the eldest child in a large Protestant family: his father was a minister and his mother a teacher — a background that instilled in him a respect for education, critical thinking, and broad humanistic values. He pursued formal studies in theology, languages, and the humanities, first in France and then in Germany. He audited courses in philology, history, and comparative religion, which profoundly shaped his intellectual outlook. His lifelong studies focused on ethnology, folklore, and the evolution of religious practices, fields he developed independently through extensive reading, travel, and research. Later in life, Reclus became a lecturer at the then-newly founded Université Nouvelle in Brussels, delivering lectures on the evolution of religions
Among his siblings is the more widely known Élisée Reclus, the celebrated geographer and writer.

Reclus’s intellectual formation was shaped by a commitment to social equality and a cosmopolitan outlook: he rejected nationalist or racial prejudices, believing instead in the common dignity and shared humanity of all people — a conviction that guided both his scientific work and his political sympathies. Over his lifetime, he contributed many articles to journals across Europe and internationally, engaging with anthropology, sociology, religion, and the history of cultures.



“Primitive Folk” is the English translation of Reclus’s 1885 French work Les Primitifs: Études d'Ethnologie Comparée, which was translated and published in London (reissued 1891) under the title “Primitive Folk: Studies in Comparative Ethnology.”


In this work, Reclus does not attempt to produce exhaustive monographs of every culture; rather, he offers comparative, thematic studies — each chapter examining a particular institution, custom, or social practice among “primitive folk”: for instance, modes of subsistence (hunting, rudimentary agriculture, herding), kinship and marriage customs, initiation rites, magical and religious arts, and early forms of social organization.


What makes the book remarkable — and highly relevant even today — is Reclus’s empathetic and respectful approach to cultures that, in his time, were often described solely by colonizers or outsiders with contempt. He argues that many customs dismissed by “civilized” observers as superstitious or primitive, in fact make sense when studied in their cultural and environmental context; that “savage beliefs and customs,” far from being arbitrary or meaningless, often reveal a coherent, moral, and rational structure from the viewpoint of their practitioners.


The book also has a historical-scientific value: it records observations of cultures at a moment when many of them were undergoing dramatic transformations or disappearing — a “snapshot” of human diversity in a rapidly changing world. As Reclus himself warned, many “primitive folk” will vanish before their ways are fully documented.


Élie Reclus
Primitive folk. Studies in comparative ethnology.
Walter Scott, 24, Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, London, [1891]
xiv, [2], 339, [5] : portrait ; 8 ̊

Solid hardcover binding, maroon cloth with gilt title + author's name on front board and spine. Occasional notes and frequent underlines (as per pictures). Corners slightly rounded; some shelf wear. Pages bright and text clear.

.PS: I'll ship the book carefully packaged in bubble wrap, via An Post, the Irish Postal Service ("Registered Post, Tracking & Insurance included to protect your valuable items"). I will provide the tracking number once dispatched.