The Lore of the Honey-Bee: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Lore of the Honey-Bee, credited to Tickner Edwardes, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Lore of the Honey-Bee by Tickner Edwardes. Read in English by Steve C. The sun shines — you know it has always shone, changeless as Time itself. With such a faith — unfounded and therefore incontestable — I came under the glow of one brave June morning, threading field after field of blossoming clover until I stood at the gate of the bee-garden over against the hill. I raised the latch of the gate. Its sharp click drew to its full lean height a figure at the end of the garden, which was bending down in the midst of a wilderness of hives. The man came towards me coatless, his rolled-up shirt-sleeves baring wiry brown arms to the hot June sun. The bee-master had keen grey eyes, set deep in a sun-blackened, honest face, and the ever-ready tongue of him was that of the beeman all the world over. He was ripe and willing to talk of his work, explaining what he was, and what he had done, as we slowly wandered through his domain. (From The Lore of the Honey-Bee) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Lore of the Honey-Bee is an enlightening study written by a master beekeeper, the Reverend Tickner Edwardes, that covers the story of the honey bee from the earliest times through to the first decade of the twentieth century. Starting with the mythology of the honey bee, the author leads us along historic paths to a more modern understanding of this fascinating and undervalued creature and gives an insightful and sympathetic perspective of beekeeping, based on the wisdom gained through the many years of mastering his craft. (Summary by Steve C)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Lore of the Honey-Bee
• Author credits: Tickner Edwardes
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 18
• Listed recording duration: 9:51:10

Catalogue topics

• nature
• bees
• honey
• honey bee
• apiary
• apiculture
• Natural History
• bee keeping

Track guide

1. 00 - Introduction - The Oldest Craft Under The Sun — 28:06
2. 01 - The Ancients and the Honey-Bee — 34:06
3. 02 - The Isle Of Honey — 18:59
4. 03 - Bee-Masters In The Middle Ages — 43:46
5. 04 - At The City Gates — 35:23
6. 05 - The Commonwealth Of The Hive — 35:14
7. 06 - Early Work In The Bee-City — 18:56
8. 07 - The Genesis Of The Queen — 47:19
9. 08 - The Bride-Widow — 19:15
10. 09 - The Sovereign Worker-Bee — 39:25
11. 10 - A Romance Of Anatomy — 57:16
12. 11 - The Mystery Of The Swarm — 42:28
13. 12 - The Comb-Builders — 50:40
14. 13 - 'Where the Bee Sucks' — 29:32
15. 14 - The Drone And His Story — 30:45
16. 15 - After The Feast — 17:45
17. 16 - The Modern Bee-Farm — 20:08
18. 17 - Bee-Keeping And The Simple Life — 22:07

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.