WESTROPP, Hodder M. "Phallism in Ancient Worships" [J.W. Bouton, 1875]

WESTROPP, Hodder M. and WAKE, C. Staniland. Ancient Symbol Worship. Influence of the Phallic Idea in the Religions of Antiquity.

New York: J.W. Bouton, 1875. Second Edition. 9.5" x 6.25", 97pp with 10pp of illustrations + frontispiece. Brown cloth with gilt titling on front cover and spine. Spine titling a little dulled. Rubbing at extremities and general scuffing to boards. Hinges secure and textblock unmarked, albeit mildly toned. Very Good.

First published in London in 1874, this controversial study reflects the Victorian era’s fascination with comparative religion and the origins of symbolism. Westropp and Wake argue that many ancient religious symbols, myths, and rites have phallic origins, situating their work within the broader 19th-century anthropological movement to trace all cultures back to common primitive roots. Often cited in later scholarship on fertility cults and symbolic anthropology, it remains a key example of how Victorian scholars blended archaeology, ethnology, and the era’s speculative theories about human cultural development.