Best Brags for 2004 and Just Missed...

"John A. Stovall" wrote...
As the year draws to a close, let's reflect back on our best finds of
the past year.


Two early issues of the literary quarterly "Epoch," published by Cornell U,
containing Don DeLillo's first two published stories, both so far
uncollected (although one later appeared in an Epoch anthology).

Also, two unusual baseball novels found on eBay: a signed copy of the
self-published "Andy, the First Switch Pitcher," by Al Carmona, at a very
nice price; and "64 Intruder" by Gregory T. Glading, a vanity-press issue
which doesn't seem to be available anywhere else at all, at the moment.
(They're both terrible books, of course, but that's beside the point.)


--
Jon Meyers
(To reply, lose
your way)

For me, two highlights:

* in my area of interest, one novel stands out. Written in 1966, published
on both sides of the Atlantic, released in pocketbook, and then a movie, the
book faded into obscurity save for a loyal few. It actually became a
legend. The writer was assumed to be dead.

There were two novels that he wrote, and several by others using the same
name.

Anyway, by digging around on the Internet, I finally located the
screenwriter of the movie, and she notwithstandign a stoke, has saved her
correspondence with the novelist form 1972! Relying on teh norm that thsoe
I knwo in teh UK do not move often, I used the address on a Brit Post site,
got teh code, and then had a a town bulletin board check to see the name -
same person!!! A trip to Brit Tel got me the telephone number, and finally
a post and subsequent telephoen call resulted in perhaps the only known
autographed copies of this writer's two books!!!

* I located antoehr writer, nto after such a long timie, but fifteeen years,
and managed to respect her privacy and also get teh three copies of her book
autographed, thanks to FedEx a delightful detour!!!

Too many more - it was a good book year me!!!

Hugs,
Willow

Best brag for me this year is recent enough that I'm reluctant to go
on at any length, since anyone interested probably doesn't have to be
reminded of it. It was finding the (so far) earliest literary project
Groff Conklin was involved with - and buying a copy of said project
with his inscription to a family member.

There is a book that I have been searching for that I recently located
online and for which I placed an order. For rather complicated reasons, I
have not been able to find out whether the order has been filled or
cancelled and have been unable to contact the dealer at all. So this book
will be either my brag, or my near-miss, of the year.

The book is a medical/health guide by Victorian-era American doctor. This
doctor, with his wife, an early feminist, was a proponent of every fad of
the late 19/c, hydro-therapy and spiritualism among them, and was quite
well-known in those and related circles.

During a series of seances, the wife reported that she was contacted by a
series of Catholic saints who instructed her in the Catholic faith. She and
her husband were converted and they eventually published an account of this
conversion in a series of letters to the (Cincinnati) *Catholic Telegraph*.
That account was republished as a pamphlet (1857), which has become my holy
grail: I know of only one copy ever reported (and that report was 70 years
ago), its current location unknown.

In any event, the doctor revisited the subject in the above mentioned 1887
health guide, which features a memorial to the late wife. The book is also
quite rare, with only about 4 copies in the U.S., most in medical or science
libraries. The National Library of Medicine at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland
has only a photocopy of the copy in the British Library.

(So, hey, St. Nick, I've been a good boy this year, so if it's not too late,
I'd really appreciate it if you would drop this book off sometime soon . . .
..)

In the course of my researches on this book and its author, I came upon this
very nice site, which should be of interest to anyone pursuing the subject
of 19/c spiritualism (it appears that the webmaster is a collector, of
libraries if not of the actual artifacts):

http://www.spirithistory.com/


William M. Klimon
http://www.catholicbookcollector.com

I suspect you would never have heard of it...

I am a transsexual woman. The first novel to deal with transsexuality was
in 1966. "I Want What I Want", (another example of publishers selecting
titles instead of writers) was written by Geoff Brown. 10 years later he
wrote "My Struggle" which is a strange and difficult book. Disappointed at
the result of his labours, he settled down to a non-literary life in
England.

Concurrently, the clinical and medical side of TSity was ramping up, with
studies and reports, research projects around the globe, and some
understanding. Vidal had "Myra Breckenridge", not really on point. In the
mid 70s, a Canadian writer named Keith Maillard (still writing) came out
with "Two Strand River" and was savaged by critics, one of whom say that the
writer was talented, but has wasted his talent on the subject.

Thinks were quite for years. 2000 brought Ebershoff's "The Danish Girl" and
Chris Bhjorhian's "Trans Sister Radio". A few in between, mostly POD and
all unknown.

"I Want..." is known by those like me around the world, and is often cited
as one spark of understanding. Others in Sweden, Russia, Israel, Australia,
to Canada and the United States have written me concerning their own first
reading of the book, or first view of the movie.

I do not include at either porn nor what is called "Transgender fiction" (as
distinct from "transsexual"), rather distinct categories.

Hugs,
Willow




"John A. Stovall" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 21:55:43 GMT, "Willow Arune"
wrote:

For me, two highlights:

* in my area of interest, one novel stands out. Written in 1966,
published
on both sides of the Atlantic, released in pocketbook, and then a movie,
the
book faded into obscurity save for a loyal few. It actually became a
legend. The writer was assumed to be dead.

There were two novels that he wrote, and several by others using the same
name.

Anyway, by digging around on the Internet, I finally located the
screenwriter of the movie, and she notwithstandign a stoke, has saved her
correspondence with the novelist form 1972! Relying on teh norm that
thsoe
I knwo in teh UK do not move often, I used the address on a Brit Post
site,
got teh code, and then had a a town bulletin board check to see the name -
same person!!! A trip to Brit Tel got me the telephone number, and
finally
a post and subsequent telephoen call resulted in perhaps the only known
autographed copies of this writer's two books!!!

* I located antoehr writer, nto after such a long timie, but fifteeen
years,
and managed to respect her privacy and also get teh three copies of her
book
autographed, thanks to FedEx a delightful detour!!!

Too many more - it was a good book year me!!!

What were the books? Who's the author?


************************************************** *****

"Les livres font les époques et les nations,
commes les époques et les nations font les livres."

_Mélanges littéraires_
Jean-Jacques Ampère
(1800-1864)

2004 was such a good year for books that it's hard to determine which
acquisitions were my best brags. It could be Harry B. Smith's
catalogue, A Sentimental Library ($100), or it could be his bookseller
catalogue, A Catalogue of One Hundred Rare Books and Autographs ($40),
which is even scarcer than his Sentimental Library catalogue.

There is no doubt in my mind as to which book wins out in the just
missed category. Bill Klimon sent me the listing, but I waited a day
too long before finally deciding to buy it. Think long, think wrong.
The book would have sat beside the Napoleon book formerly owned by
General Billy Mitchell and would have self-propelled my Aviation
Collection. Here is the lsting:

Committee on Military Affairs, U. S. House of Representatives, John C.
McKenzie, Chairman]. AIR SERVICE UNIFICATION: HEARING BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SIXTY-EIGHTH
CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION ON H. R. 10147 AND H. R. 12285=85. Washington:
Government Printing Office, 1925. First printing, Wrappers, Octavo, iv,
413 pages. Good.
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0Scarce transcript of these hearings
on two House bills, held January 8, 1925 to February 17, 1925 "to create
a department of aeronautics, defining the powers and duties of the
secretary thereof, providing for the organization, disposition, and
administration of a United States Air Force, and providing for the
development of civil and commercial aviation, the regulation of air
navigation, and for other purposes." Billy Mitchell, then a General and
Assistant Chief of the Army Air Service, gives much of the testimony. It
had been a year and a half since his famous naval bombing demonstration
off the Outer Banks. Testimony from other notables such as Lt. Commander
Robert E. Byrd, Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, Maj. Gen. John A.
Lejune; Maj. Edward V. Rickenbacker, and Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. is
also included. Crucial document relating to the organization of military
and civilian aviation services in the United States. Bound in plain
brown printed wrappers over stapled binding. Covers have some browning
along spine and edges, corner creases, short separations along joint
extremities, prior ownership name and department in light crayon on
front cover. Title page has a closed 3/4" tear at top edge and some
evidence of a label or sticker removal along inner margin. Binding
remains sound. Contents fine. =A0 $125.00

...he sighs......

Happy New Year!
Jerry Morris


Welcome to Moi's Books About Books: http://www.tinyurl.com/hib7
My Sentimental Library http://www.picturetrail.com/mylibrary and
moislibrary.com http://www.tinyurl.com/hisn

"John A. Stovall" wrote:

As the year draws to a close, let's reflect back on our best finds of
the past year.

Mine had to be finding a very good first of Hemingway's _Old Man and
The Sea_ in my late mother's books which had sat on my shelf for 2
years without my looking at it.

The just missed was a _Hundred Years of Solitude_ 1st edition but
second printing...

************************************************** ***

"It is a good thing to read books, and need not be a
bad thing to write them, but in any case, it is a
pious thing to collect them."

Fredrick Locker-Lampson
(1821-1895)

Mine is an emotional 'tie' ( can't really say which I was happiest with
)...either the 1st ed. / FINE++ condition / GUNSLINGER by Stephen King (
found at a 'half priced style' used book store for one/half of the
ORIGINAL cover price!!! ) or the complete set - all 5 - of 1st ed. /
FINE condition / BOOKS OF THE NEW SUN by Gene Wolfe ( same store, same
half of original cover price each...

....NO, I most certainly will NOT tell you where the store is! ). :-p

--

Swimming in the rivers of light.

My best finds were hitherto unrecorded 2nd and later editions of Ernest
Bramah books. It's rather challenging collecting books you are not sure
exist. My best brags are a few mentions in recently published books,
primarily because of material I had in my collections. This year my
collection "justified" its existence to a certain extent.

I did not "miss" many, as this year I spent far more than my wife would have
preferred. Also, halfway through the year I set my sights quite a bit lower.

---MikeB
http://www.ernestbramah.com


"John A. Stovall" wrote in message
...
As the year draws to a close, let's reflect back on our best finds of
the past year.

Mine had to be finding a very good first of Hemingway's _Old Man and
The Sea_ in my late mother's books which had sat on my shelf for 2
years without my looking at it.

The just missed was a _Hundred Years of Solitude_ 1st edition but
second printing...

************************************************** ***

"It is a good thing to read books, and need not be a
bad thing to write them, but in any case, it is a
pious thing to collect them."

Fredrick Locker-Lampson
(1821-1895)

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 15:27:50 -0800, "Mike Berro"
wrote:

My best finds were hitherto unrecorded 2nd and later editions of Ernest
Bramah books. It's rather challenging collecting books you are not sure
exist. My best brags are a few mentions in recently published books,
primarily because of material I had in my collections. This year my
collection "justified" its existence to a certain extent.

Mike, is there a published bibliography for Bramah? If there isn't,
aren't you the one to assemble it?

In article , Bud Webster
wrote:

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 15:27:50 -0800, "Mike Berro"
wrote:

My best finds were hitherto unrecorded 2nd and later editions of Ernest
Bramah books. It's rather challenging collecting books you are not sure
exist. My best brags are a few mentions in recently published books,
primarily because of material I had in my collections. This year my
collection "justified" its existence to a certain extent.

Mike, is there a published bibliography for Bramah? If there isn't,
aren't you the one to assemble it?

The most I ever encountered about Bramah in one spot was in Richard
Grant's memoir, which was also a delightful source for an intimate
portrait of Thomas Burke (I included the Grant remembrance of Burke as an
addendum to my volume of Burke's complete weird tales, THE GOLDEN GONG &
Other Night-Pieces & Unpleasantries). Commentators on modern fantasy &
detective fiction have tended to liken Bramah to a furtive hermit who left
few traces of himself, but the reality seems to be that he was extremely
gregarious & a bit of a dandy showing himself off in literary & nuministic
clubs & gatherings, not hermit-like in the least. Yet he was adverse to
self-promotion & managed to evade all the standard references. Someone
like Mike really should pursue the possibility of a full-blown biography,
though tracking down surviving correspondence & never-published source
materials might be a chore with considerabole travel expenses to check out
the special collections holdings of his compatriots, though universities
scattered around England & America.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com