William Henry Matthews

With devoted scholarship and an appreciation for what he terms "the lure of the labyrinth," Matthews explores accounts of ancient mazes, the "meanders" of Greek and Roman times, theories on the meaning of church labyrinths, the hedge maze, and more. All important or exceptional examples are illustrated with 151 line drawings.

Their History and Development

Mazes and Labyrinths

Mazes and Labyrinths is a look into the origin and mystery of mazes. From ancient stone carvings, Minoan palaces to today's hedge-maze, Matthews chronicles the history of the maze. With over 140 illustrations.

A General Account of Their History and Developments

This volume charts the history and study of the maze and labyrinth. With sections on garden, hedgerow, topiary, artistic, mystical, turf, and trick mazes, church labyrinths and maze etymology, this text covers periods from ancient Crete and Greece through to the 19th century.

Mazes and Labyrinths [Lost Library]

Albert Christopher Addison

Being the Only Full and Authentic Account of the Famous Shipwreck Extant, Founded on Collected Official, Documentary, and Personal Evidence, and Containing the Narratives and Lives of Actors in the Most Glorious Ocean Tragedy in History

A Deathless Story of the "Birkenhead" and Its Heroes

Eric Arthur Jarman

Geology Made Simple

The hedge-maze, which is the only type with which most of us have a first-hand acquaintance, is generally felt to be a survival of a romantic age, even though we esteem its function as nothing higher than that of a playground for children. Many a tender intrigue has been woven around its dark yew alleys. Mr. Compton Mackenzie, for example, introduces it most effectively as a lovers' rendezvous in "The Passionate Elopement," and no doubt the readers of romantic literature will recall other instances of a like nature. The story of fair Rosamond's Bower is one which will leap to the mind in this connection. This type of maze alone is worth more than a passing thought, but it is far from being the only, or even the most interesting, development of the labyrinth idea. What is the difference, it may be asked, between a maze and a labyrinth? The answer is, little or none. Some writers seem to prefer to apply the word "maze" to hedge-mazes only, using the word "labyrinth" to denote the structures described by the writers of antiquity, or as a general term for any confusing arrangement of paths. Others, again, show a tendency to restrict the application of the term "maze" to cases in which the idea of a puzzle is involved. It would certainly seem somewhat inappropriate to talk of "the Cretan Maze" or "the Hampton Court Labyrinth," but, generally speaking, we may use the words interchangeably, regarding "maze" as merely the northern equivalent of the classic "labyrinth." Both words have come to signify a complex path of some kind, but when we press for a closer definition we encounter difficulties. We cannot, for instance, say that it is "a tortuous branched path designed to baffle or deceive those who attempt to find the goal to which it leads," for, though that description holds good in some cases, it ignores the many cases in which there is only one path, without branches, and therefore no intent to baffle or mislead, and others again in which there is no definite "goal." We cannot say that it is a winding path "bounded by walls or hedges," for in many instances there are neither walls nor hedges. One of the most famous labyrinths, for example, consisted chiefly of a vast and complicated series of rooms and columns. In fact, we shall find it convenient to leave the question of the definition of the words, and also that of their origin, until we have examined the various examples that exist or are known to have existed.

William Henry Matthews

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