On the True Basis of Relationships

"On the True Basis of Relationships" by Dr. Ossian Guldhavn Kieran Sørensen, in Danish, 1922, Gephardt Absom Forlag, Rosekilde, Denmark, Softcover, 348 pages, no illustrations. This book should have never seen the light of print, it consists of edited case notes on depression caused by relationships. Dr. Sørensen, a clinical psychiatrist who had over eight hundred registered patients, was a relative unknown until Monday, August 14th 1920 when soldiers of The Royal Danish Halberdiers Guard hacked him to death as he was running towards the Royal Princess Maria Frederika Carlotta with a shotgun. The doctor's heirs intended to cash in on the sudden fame and published the book. I found it interesting but frustrating as it consists of a thorough analysis that tries to determine the actual true basis of relationships. Boredom, frustration, love, hate, lust, curiosity, loneliness, hunger, thirst, greed, love of dogs, love of cats, odd mental state, consciousnesses, weltschmerz, experimentation, depravity, lack of self-control, herpetophobia, ophidiophobia, herpetophilia, partial or total loss of vision and/or sense of smell, melomania, alcoholism, fear of anything, fear of nothing, being in the army, playing cards, having strange passions, having curious collections, singing off key, kissing well, restlessness, catatonia, whistling in the dark, solving puzzles,  building model ships, shapely thighs, round shoulders, cooking Asian foods, driving too fast, eating spicy Italian, growing vegetables, picking flowers at night, Yoga, coloring between the lines, boxing, Thai Chi, planting rumors, grating horseradish, treasure hunting, praying, painting, polluting, voting, braying, peeling onions, protesting, trampling on dreams, somnambulism, listening to Bach's Chaconne, smelling flowers, pampering, trespassing, littering, loitering, breaking and entering, grabbing, catching and releasing, pleasing others, pulling pranks, bending rules, creating chaos out of order, keeping bees, superstition, ignorance, creepiness, poking fun, keeping track, having dreams, egomania, narcissism, mythomania, kleptomania, nymphomania, satyriasis and so on ... are all examined as possible or probable but none is eventually proven beyond robust scientific doubt to be it (thus causing me frustration).  

  

La Storia di Collezione Szücz

"La Vera Storia di Collezione Szücz" by Giovanni Moser, in Italian, 1908, Edizione Fratelli Fallamberti, Pieve di Cadore, Belluno, Italy, Softcover, 1128 pages, each item fully illustrated.

It is fully accepted by critics and public alike that Józef Szücz is the greatest Baritone ever to step on an opera stage. His voice, ambition and appetite for life are legendary as was the pay he demanded for his shows. Thus his retirement from singing at age 54, at the height o his glorious career, came to everybody as a major shock. He used his time, talent and money to assemble a most astonishing art collection. Signor Moser was a boyhood friend to the great singer and for many years, the curator, agent, accomplice, confidant and author of this catalogue. Far more interesting than the pieces themselves (although they are very professionally described, categorized, evaluated and photographed) are the background facts of their acquisition. It seems that the blazing ambition and stark ruthlessness that brought Szücz success and fame as a singer made him a completely unethical collector. Although the majority of his art was acquired legally at auctions or private sales, if the original owner refused to sell, Szücz and Moser did not shy back from breaking and entering and stealing or robbing. Moser relates with remarkable candor one of several cases when, one morning, after weeks of fruitless negotiation for "Warden in the Sun" by the great Australian landscape painter Clement Shapiro, Szücz came to see Karl Burda, Baron von Blinks, and hit him on the head with a heavy crystal ashtray. While the Baron was bleeding out on the carpet, he simply took the painting off the wall and walked out.

In a cunning (and eventually successful) attempt to protect the collection, the singer's legal team drew up a bulletproof donation undertaking in favour of the town of Békéscsaba where Szücz was born. The city was at that time part of the Hapsburg Empire, as was Lombardia and the city of Brescia, where he had his home. 852 objects were taken to the basement of a castle just outside Békéscsaba never to see the light of day again. We are thankful to Giovanni Moser for the opportunity.

Abendländliche Paradoxa

"Abendländliche Paradoxa" by Lorenz Maria von Schaffenburg, 1928, Ichtion Hellblau Verlag, Behren-Lübchin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, Hardcover, 128 pages, no graphics.

This is an extremely interesting book by the young (and at that time yet unknown) von Schaffenburg, who, of course, went on to write "Didokletionastatis Glomm" which made him famous, rich and led to his death in the duel against Horst von Schaffenburg (a distant cousin).

The book is divided in two fascinating parts: the gripping and compelling "Winning while Losing" and the captivating and intriguing "Losing while Winning".

The reader will become familiar with strategies, tactics, operations, processes and procedures of both these life-policies, schemes and transactions.

What nobody could foresee is the strong and mysterious influence this work would have many years later on the lyrics of Rod Stewart, Rita Pavone and Johnny Legend.

General Colin Hawk, a Biography

"General Colin Irving Hawk, a Life in Arms" by Loretta Corwoy, 1912, Pompston & Co, Aurora, Illinois, Softcover, 864 pages, 28 photographs, 18 black and white graphics.

Prof. Dr. Loretta Millicent Corwoy from the University of Augsburg (an der Lech) is the leading Authority on the Spanish - American War of 1898. This, ultimate biography of General Hawk, is a pearl, it should be the model for any biography ever conceived, designed and written, it's marvelous.  It reveals five major secret facts that explain baffling behavior and mystifying outcomes, puzzling twists and turns of action and incomprehensible statements made by some of the principals of the story. For instance, we learn (bewildered) that the actual root-cause of the war was not Cuban independence or American expansionism into the Pacific region, but the dispute over a sausage recipe. It was always suspected that General Hawk was gay and so all his aide-de-camp were stunningly good looking, we are informed, for the first time, that Melissa Cunard Hawk, wife to the general was in charge of picking them (this is how the Hawks managed a full dozen splendid offspring). We learn that Hawk's tactical masterstroke, the chart for the battle of Cavite, studied in all military academies from St. Cyr to Sandhurst, to West Point and Evelpidon was the result of a spilled glass of Madeira on a map and Hawk's drunken attempts to dry it (who subsequently fell asleep on the floor and his adjutant picked up what he thought was the battle plan and set it forth). President McKinley later created and awarded General Hawk the highest military decoration the US can award: the Golden Eagle Broom (only two more officers have that to this day). By page 750 or so, the reader is finally convinced that Hawk was a total cretin and the favorable outcome of the war was a combination of history moving that way and pure luck. A complete chapter is dedicated to the tragic death of Hawk (mauled to death and partially eaten by his nine Rottweilers whom only he was allowed to feed - and he forgot to do do so for a week as a result of deep drunken stupor). 

All-in-all a satisfying read and a splendidly published volume.

Herman Hook - Collected Poems

"Collected Poems, vol I" by Herman Hook, 1899, Éditions Pollimont & Fils, Quetigny, Côte-d'Or, Eastern France, Hardcover, 162 pages, 81 black and white graphics.
For the few who don't already know, Herman Hook is the name Mme. Pauline de Arajacque used to publish her love poems. A tall brunette with stunning deep blue eyes, she lived in the nearby town of Saint-Apollinaire (pop. 607) and wrote powerful poetry that so realistically described the torture of unrequited love, that dozens of young men and women committed suicide with her book in their hands. One late October night, authorities broke into her home, confiscated all her manuscripts and burned them together with all of her books they could lay their hands on. M. Pierre Montand, examining magistrate and M. Gustav d'Ichy, public prosecutor for Le Département Côte-d'Or, subsequently issued an order of indefinite involuntary confinement against Mme de Arajacque to Charenton (later of Marat/Sade fame) where finally she died in 1960 aged 86. Strangely, in the sixty-one years that poor Pauline spent in the lunatic asylum, forbidden access to pen and paper, there were no suicides among the inmates but twenty-eight pregnancies (all carried successfully to term).
The book I discovered in box #1 proved to be valuable due to rarity rather that literary quality (the last known copy that came up for auction in 2012, in Rotterdam went for eighteen thousand Euros).

A History of Cans

I have reviewed this book as part of my activity for the Evart-Gunn Publishing Company Book Salvage Operation, Read this First

"A History of Cans" by Hillary Kahn, 1902, Solloway & Co, Publishing, Pittsburgh, Hardcover, 202 pages, 18 full color illustrations.
Physically, a very beautiful book with an attractive green cover printed on heavy, luxurious, off-white heavy stock.
Content-wise, an extremely confusing and badly written dissertation on cans (origins, uses, classification and future of the can).
Looks good on the shelves but a waste of production effort ... Peter Solloway should have known better!  

       

The Evart-Gunn Publishing Company Book Salvage Operation

During my recent travels in the Michigan Upper Peninsula, when I stopped in Cadillac, Wexford County, Michigan, at a Bed and Breakfast just off Granite, I came upon a true treasure trove: three very large wooden boxes filled with books by a bunch of publishing houses from all over the world, members of something called the Association of Small International Book Editors (ASIBE). My host, who acquired the property just a few of months ago planning a killing on tourist rentals, was cleaning out the large, solid, wooden barn at the back of the plot where he found these crates and was seriously contemplating to throw them into the thrash/recycle bin. In an effort to salvage them I tempted him with a potential windfall saying that old books are often valuable and many people will pay good money for the right wares. I offered to produce an inventory and a catalog of their content and we agreed to share the proceeds he providing the books and I investing my skills, knowledge experience and labor. From his greed and my curiosity this strange and unusual endeavor was born.
As I progress in my travail, I will publish on the web this log (recte blog), for yous to enjoy the fruits of my toils. Each blog post represents a book and an entry in my catalog.
Documents found in one of the boxes showed provenance: everything came from the Evart-Gunn Publishing Inc. of Evart, about forty miles to the South of Cadillac, founded in 1876 by a certain Cpt. Jonathan Gunn. It seemed he was also a founding member of ASIBE having traveled to Rotterdam in May 1878 to the first (and only) ASIBE conference where/when said association was established. The charter, a copy of which I discovered in the files together with the minutes of the meeting, was simple, it listed all members and specified that each member is obliged to supply all other members with a copy of any book they publish. Indications were that this was the brainchild of M. H. Simionescu, owner and editor in chief of "Editura Prahova Nouă" of Comarnic, Romania.