author
Archer Taylor
1890–1973
A leading scholar of folklore and literature, he helped turn proverbs and riddles into serious subjects of study. His work ranges widely, but he is especially remembered for the depth and care he brought to old sayings, oral traditions, and bibliography.
1 Audiobook
A History of Bibliographies of Bibliographies
by Archer Taylor
About the author
Born in Philadelphia on August 1, 1890, Archer Taylor became one of the best-known American scholars of folklore, with a special gift for tracing the history of proverbs, riddles, and other traditional forms. His work also reached into cultural history, bibliography, and Germanic studies, giving him an unusually broad view of how stories and sayings travel across languages and centuries.
Taylor taught at major universities, including the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, and built a reputation for patient, exacting scholarship. Among his best-known books are The Proverb and English Riddles from Oral Tradition, works that helped shape modern folklore studies and are still cited for their range and clarity.
He died in Vallejo, California, on September 30, 1973. Even now, he is often remembered as a foundational figure in proverb and riddle scholarship: a researcher who took small, familiar pieces of language and showed how much history and human experience they contain.