A reprint of a book from the 1920s, and it shows. I don't mean that in a disparaging way - Villiers has collected a range of interesting information about good luck charms and mascots from a variety of sources. This includes some practices which sound quite old and strange indeed, but which she avers took place within the last 50 years (of her writing), or within living memory and so forth. Add on near a hundred years and it doesn't sound so fresh, is what I'm saying.