William Francis Ryan (1937–2023), usually known as W.F. Ryan or Will Ryan, was a British librarian and scholar of Russian language and culture, who was described as "one of the world's foremost experts" on Russian magic and witchcraft. Ryan was Emeritus Professor and Honorary Fellow,

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. Ryan died in 2023.

Career

Between 1967 and 1976, Ryan was a lecturer in Russian Language and Literature at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London. In 1976, he was appointed Academic Librarian at the Warburg Institute, University of London, a position he held until 2002. In 1999, Ryan published ''The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia'' (1999), which was described by one reviewer as "the most thorough and detailed study to date on the magic and divination of Russian and Eastern Slav peoples".

Recognition

Ryan was elected as Fellow of the British Academy in 2000. In 2005, Ryan delivered the British Library's

Panizzi Lectures The Panizzi Lectures are a series of annual lectures given at the British Library by "eminent scholars of the book" and named after the librarian Anthony Panizzi. They are considered one of the major British bibliographical lecture series alongside ...

, on ‘The Magic of Russia’, which were published in 2006. Between 2005 and 2008, Ryan served as President of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a registered charity under English law based in London, England for the study of folklore. Its office is at 50 Fitzroy Street, London home of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. It wa ...

Selected publications

* Ryan, W. F; Schmitt, Charles B (eds) (1983). ''Pseudo-Aristotle the secret of secrets: sources and influences''. London: The Warburg Institute. .

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848737353. * Schmitt, Charles Bernard; Ryan, W. F; Kraye, Jill (eds) (1986). ''Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages: the theology and other texts''. London: Warburg Institute. .

884261018. * Ryan, W. F; Norman, Peter (eds) (1995). ''The Penguin Russian dictionary''. London: Penguin. .

477191306. * Ryan, W. F (1999). ''The bathhouse at midnight: an historical survey of magic and divination in Russia''. Stroud: Sutton.

767558870. * Ryan, W. F (2006). ''The Panizzi lectures 2005: Russian magic at the British Library: books, manuscripts, scholars, travellers''. London: British Library. .

506180806. * Burnett, Charles; Ryan, W. F (eds) (2006). ''Magic and the classical tradition''. London; Turin: The Warburg Institute; Nino Aragno. .

804851957. * Kapaló, J. A.; Pócs, Éva; Ryan, W.F. (eds) (2013). ''The power of words: studies on charms and charming in Europe''. Budapest; New York: Central European University Press. .

903379636. * Ryan, W. F; Taube, Moshe (eds) (2019). ''The Secret of Secrets: The East Slavic Version. Introduction, Text, Annotated Translation, and Slavic Index''. London: The Warburg Institute. .

1182800516.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, W. F. 1937 births 2023 deaths British librarians Fellows of the British Academy Presidents of the Folklore Society