There are a number of outstanding dissertations in folklore which warrant a wider readership and which belong in the library of any educational institution or individual with a serious interest in folklore. A few of these are in fact already well known to professional folklorists who may have bothered to send for them through inter-library loan or in more recent times purchased copies from University Microfilms International in Ann Arbor, Michigan. However, it should be noted that not all dissertations are available through UMI. The appearance for selected folklore dissertations and theses, both old and new, in the Folklore Library series will make it much easier for libraries and individuals to obtain these significant studies. Among the most important hitherto unpublished folklore dissertations are such works as motif and/or tale type indices, historic-geographic (comparative) in-depth studies of single folktales or ballads, and surveys of specialized folklore scholarship e.g., of a particular country or group. There are in addition valuable filed collections of folklore data to be found in dissertations.

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.