African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Jamaican Proverbs

I decided to start off this week not with folktales, but with proverbs. Specifically, three books of proverbs from Jamaica!

The oldest book of the three, published in 1910, is Jamaica Negro Proverbs by Izett Anderson and Frank Cundall.

The 737 proverbs are arranged alphabetically, with notes and comparative comments, for example:

One hundred years later is More Jamaica Old-Time Sayings by Edna Bennett, published in 2010.

The book contains 60 pages of Jamaican proverbs, along with some other Caribbean proverbs too. This book also contains some commentary on each proverb too, for example:

And last but definitely not least is this scholarly book: Jamaican Sayings with Notes on Folklore, Aesthetics, and Social Control by G. Llewellyn Watson, published in 1991.

This book is organized thematically, and of course I am most interested in the first chapter: animal proverbs! This book has a version in literary English of each proverb, plus the commentary:

So, just jump in: all three proverb books are just a click away at the Internet Archive.

Jamaica Negro Proverbs

by Izett Anderson and Frank Cundall

More Jamaica Old-Time Sayings

by Edna Bennett

Jamaican Sayings with Notes

on Folklore, Aesthetics, and Social Control

by G. Llewellyn Watson