Queer Book Titles Found

From a wire news story, published in 1913:

Queer Book Titles Found

London.—As the keeper of four millions of books, the late Dr. Fortescue delighted to tell of the titular curiosities in the British Museum. He found it necessary very frequently to dip deeply into a book before discovering its subject. Thus, "Music of the Wild" resolved itself into natural history; "Light for the Blind" into an appeal on behalf of foreign missions, and "Earl Percy's Dinner Table" into a war history.

But the book that baffled him completely was "The Abbey on the Marsh." There was internal evidence that the book was an account of a real abbey, but the author had forgotten to mention its name.

So the lesson, dear writers, is as you compose your book of nonfiction, let not your creativity in describing things allow you to forget to say the name of the darn thing.

The Big Book of Cattle Brands

In my job, I stop into County Recorder's offices from time to time. If you're unfamiliar: a county recorder is in charge of archiving county records. They've been doing it since people laid claim to any part of this country — North Dakota county recorders have records going back to the Territory days. Originally, all records were hand-transcribed into books like the one on the right, and often a County Recorder kept records of everything: contracts, birth certificates, legal mailings, &c. That book up there on the right is one of the coolest ones I've encountered: the Marks and Brands book.

In order to ensure that your brand was the only brand of its kind, you had to record it with a governing authority of some kind. Usually, there was a statewide inspector and recorder of brands. While I didn't read the entire Marks and Brands book, most seemed to be from the Territory days, which could mean that, at the time, your county was the highest authority you had to report to. Or, it could be that, in interest of verifying your brand, you re-filed it with your local county for the benefit of the Sheriff. Regardless of how it originated, the book is a freakin' hoot to flip through. Here's the first couple pages:




For some scope: a hundred and twenty years ago, before the railroads, before statehood, some homesteader sat down under his kerosene lantern, drew out his brand, and took it to be filed. Glued to a page in a book and sealed by the Register of Deeds, his little sketch has lasted over a century, because it's the Recorder's job to make sure the information is stored indefinitely. Your own county has an office of its own, somewhere: the job's title has changed over the years, so check with your current County Recorder, Public Trustee, or Register of Deeds. They're the ones who need to use the information today, so they'll know where the records are. Most counties are open to the public, and the documents are largely items of Public Record, which means you shouldn't need permission to access them…although the genuine, centuries-old leatherbound books might not be directly available, in the interest of preservation. You might find some information here, as well as links to current brand books.

The Most Expensive Book In The World

The Task is a book of philosophical poetry, written by philosophical poet Tomas Alexander Hartmann. While the guy doesn't seem to exist online, nor does he appear in the news aside from his newest book, he believes his work demands a high price. The Task has a print-count of only one edition, thirteen pages, with a cover price of €153,000,000. Yes, six zeroes, making it the Most Expensive Book In The World. He believes that, because he had worked on the book for thirty years, he deserves a €5,000,000 stipend as restitution, payable by the one person willing to read the book. Hopefully Amazon will carry it, and offera 20% discount once in a while — imagine the affiliate's portion of that!

Hartmann isn't the only person banking on producing the Most Expensive Book In The World, however. Publisher Marilena Ferrari has produced a finely-done hand-made book documenting the life and works of Michaelangelo. The book has a hand-carved marble cover, a bas-relief of Madonna del la Scalla, and the interior are nicely-printed black-and-white lithographs of Michelangelo's works. There will only be 33 editions produced with the marble cover, at a price of €100,000.

Collectors, however, control the price of antiquties, and the true bearer of the Most Expensive Book In The World, one that actually sold at that price, is the 12th century book of Gospels of Prince Henry the Lion, which sold at Sotheby's for €16,000,000. The illuminated, 800-year-old book had made its way through various hands and wars over the years nearly intact, which makes it well worth the money — which I can't say the same for some philosopher-poet's 13-page booklet.

Oxfam's 18th-Century Gift

People are supposed to drop off old, beat-up books that they didn't want anymore, but the people working at the Oxfam in Stirling, England,were a bit surprised at the 4 volumes that turned up in their charity bin. Some generous person dropped off four volumes of Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England — dated 1731. Estimated value of each volume is about $300, but Oxfam is intending to building on the already profitable altruism. The entire set is six volumes, making them only ¾ of the way to what could be a $5,000 donation if they can find the matching missing volumes.

The Wager Books of Cambridge

Over the centuries, the faculty at Cambridge have challenged one another with wagers — betting each other about points of debate, doubting one another on whatever uncertain topic their brandy-addled minds could find to discuss during after-hours meetings between professors. The wagers weren't purely rhetorical; they were documented for posterity in blank-paged 'wager books', so anyone (most likely the winner) could refer to their original bet with confidence that they remembered the wager correctly. Alexander Rose, director of The Long Now Foundation, met these books during a visit to the venerable institution.

Antique Embossed and Gilded Covers

Books don't usually make their way into my hands in this good of condition. I'm cheap, and I frequent rummage sales instead of antiquarian booksellers, so an embossed and gold-leafed cover is looking pretty ratty by the time I get it. The University of Alabama, however, has plenty of covers in excellent condition, and they're happy to share: Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930 is a wonderful resource for seeing what these books looked like in their prime.


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The Kailyard School of Literature

Tonight, I learned about, and wrote about for CQ, an obscure, narrow literary genre (and what's better than an obscure, narrow literary genre?) The Kailyard School is a genre focusing on the lower-class Scottish family. The books are easily identified by their extensive use of the approximation of the Scottish accent and dialect, which makes them harder to read than A Clockwork Orange. I bought two books in thie genre last week, and I hope to read them soon, now that I've learned something about what to expect.

Old Books Wanted: 1939

This ad was from the 10 November 1939 issue of Radio Guide, although American Book Mart was a regular advertiser and this particular ad ran quite a bit. Big money was promised for relatively common books; the prices, no doubt, were for pristine first editions, but the promise of selling your books to a dealer for real money during that tenuous Post-Depression-Pre-WWII time period was probably an intriguing offer. Since there's no good indicator of what the price is for, there's one point I find very interesting: "Tamerlane & Other Poems" from Edgar Allen Poe was first printed in 1827, and would fetch $5,000 (an enormous amount of money for the time), about the same "Pilgrim's Progress" and "Venus & Adonis" -- both of which were first printed hundreds of years before Poe. "Tamerlane" was originally published in a very small run, and few people believed it existed when Poe printed his second edition; first verified copies of the small book were not discovered until fifty years later. For all Poe's popularity and such rarity, $5,000 was a bargain for American Book Mart -- there are only 12 copies in the world today.

While the list is almost identical to any English professor's "greatest hits" list, the McGuffey's Primer is an interesting inclusion. It's also a relatively recent book, for the 1930s, and as a schoolbook it was published in enormous numbers, remaining in print (and in educational use) for years. Even today, McGuffey's schoolbooks are considered somewhat-useful in education. American Book Mart is probably looking for a first edition, about a hundred years' old at the time, and were willing to pay top dollar for it. They must know something I don't -- but it's going to make me look closer at primers when I'm out shopping for books.

The ad offers people the opportunity to get a copy of ABM's full catalog, for fifteen cents, before they start shipping off their books and expecting a bale of dollar bills to arrive in the mail. From what I can tell, it was quite a book on its own, hardcover and over a hundred pages -- and, whaddayaknow? Antiquarian booksellers today are offering old American Book Mart catalogs for sale as well.