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After a shower of blazing lights in the sky, a plague of blindness befalls the entire world and allows the rise of a deadly and seemingly intelligent species of plant. The novel was the basis for the 1962 British film "The Day of the Triffids" starring Howard Keel:
“The Woman Chaser” features the wild and sordid escapades of first-time film director Richard Hudson in 1950s Hollywood. It was adapted for the screen in 1999 and the tone is film noir. Here is a clip in which Hudson (played by Patrick Warburton) gives his guitarist named Flaps a pep-talk before he plays the musical score to Hudson’s film, “The Man Who Got Away.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi1wcsy-Bq4
Charles Willeford is best known for his series of novels featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley. The first Hoke Moseley book, Miami Blues (1984), is considered one of its era's most influential works of crime fiction. Beside “The Woman Chaser,” film adaptations have been made of Willeford's “Cockfighter” and “Miami Blues.” According to crime novelist Lawrence Block, "Willeford wrote quirky books about quirky characters and seems to have done so with a magnificent disregard for what anyone else thought." [Source: Wikipedia]
Robert Bonfils was the art director and cover artist for the San Diego-based Hamling Organization during the sixties and seventies and, for a decade, he worked exclusively for them. He produced some of his best covers during this period. The books were published under imprints such as Nightstand Books, Leisure Books, Adult Books, Candid Readers, Companion Books and other lines within the Hamling group. Before then, he produced book covers for the Chicago-based Merit Books and Newsstand Library and Las Vegas’ Playtime Books. He retired from doing cover art in the mid seventies, but he remained active as a painter of fine art in San Diego. Bonfils covers are now incredibly popular and sought after by book collectors, particularly fans of what is called “good girl art” (or GGA).
"The thriving City of Eden, as it appeared in fact" by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne).
Quoting from the book (page 288)
“Here’s a ugly old tree in the way, sir,” he observed, “which’ll be all the better down. We can build the oven in the afternoon. There never was such a handy spot for clay as Eden is. That’s convenient, anyhow.”
But Martin gave him no answer. He had sat the whole time with his head upon his hands, gazing at the current as it rolled swiftly by; thinking, perhaps, how fast it moved towards the open sea, the high road to the home he never would behold again.
Not even the vigorous strokes which Mark dealt the tree, awoke him from his mournful meditation. Finding all his endeavours to rouse him of no use, Mark stopped in his work and came towards him.
“Don’t give in, sir,” said Mr. Tapley.
“Oh, Mark,” returned his friend, “what have I done in all my life that has deserved this heavy fate?”
[Note: Young Martin Chuzzlewit, grandson of Martin Sr and protagonist of the story, and Mark Tapley have come to America to seek their fortunes. Young Martin buys a piece of land in a settlement called Eden, which is in the midst of a malarial swamp.]
"Sometimes a-dropping from
the sky
I heard the sky-lark sing;
Sometimes all little birds that
are,
How they seemed to fill the
sea and air
With their sweet jargoning!
"And now 'twas like all
instruments,
Now like a lonely flute;
And now it is an angel's song,
That makes the heavens
be mute."
William Andrew Pogány (1882-1955) was born in Hungary, studied art in Budapest, and worked in Paris briefly before moving to London in 1905 where he worked as a book illustrator for ten years. He moved to New York in 1915 and had success as a book illustrator and designer of stage sets and hotel interiors. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is one of Pogany’s best-known books. It is a bold artistic experiment in unifying text and images. Every page is elaborately decorated in Pogany’s distinctive style, which attempts to create a printed version of a medieval illuminated manuscript. He was responsible for the beautiful calligraphic text, green and mauve page decorations and borders, and the many black and white drawings and tipped-in plates in full color.
The story is of the devious pursuit of Cthulhu, the search for his lair in sunken R'lyeh, of the danger from Cthulhu's minions ever wary of detection and disclosure. It begns in a house on Curwen Street in legend-haunted Arkham, Massachusetts. It ends on a shunned and mysterious island in the South Pacific, after having ranged from the Inca ruins near Machu Pichu to London, from the Nameless City of Irem to Singapore, in a colorful and dramatic sequence of events which in sum fit into place more pieces in the mosaic of the Cthulhu Mythos.
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu—a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus of Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu" (first published in pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928)—to identify the system of lore employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. Authors of Lovecraftian horror use elements of the Mythos in an ongoing expansion of the fictional universe. [Source: Wikipedia]
From the book "Peter and Wendy" by J. M. Barrie. London: Hodder & Stoughton, (1911). First edition. This is the first book that tells the story of Peter Pan, Wendy and their exploits in Neverland along with the now familiar cast of characters that includes Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys and Tiger Lily.
This first edition copy still has its original dust jacket! Dust jackets were used as early as 1830. After WWI they were often designed by prominent artists and became a great marketing tactic. This one was created by John Held Jr, who also designed many covers for Life Magazine in the Jazz Age.
Location: Special Collections, MSEL
Jasper Maskelyne (1902-1973) was a British stage magician in the 1930s and 1940s. His “Book of Magic” describes a range of stage tricks, including sleight of hand, card and rope tricks, and “mind-reading” illusions. A 1937 Pathé film, “The Famous Illusionist,” was made of Maskelyne, looking dapper and apparently eating a boxful of razor blades, one at a time.
Jasper Maskelyne was one of an established family of stage magicians, the son of Nevil Maskelyne and a grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne. He is most remembered, however, for his entertaining accounts of his work for British military intelligence during the Second World War. His exploits in the camouflage unit during the war are described in David Fisher’s book, “The War Magician” (1983), and in Maskelyne’s own book , “Magic: Top Secret” (1949). Book reviewer Peter Forbes writes that “the flamboyant magician’s contribution was either absolutely central (if you believe his account and that of his biographer) or very marginal (if you believe the official records and more recent research).” [Source: Wikipedia]
Here is a link to David Fisher's book "The War Magician:"
www.flickr.com/photos/57440551@N03/17739750104/in/album-7...
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. In 1894, he chose Flagstaff, Arizona as the home of his new observatory, the now famous Lowell Observatory. For the next fifteen years, he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. Lowell published his views in three books: “Mars” (1895), “Mars and Its Canals” (1906), and “Mars As the Abode of Life” (1908).
Lowell’s works include a full account of the “canals,” single and double, the “oases,” as he termed the dark spots at their intersections, and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He theorized that an advanced but desperate culture had built the canals to tap Mars’ polar ice caps, the last source of water on an inexorably drying planet.
While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community was skeptical. Many astronomers could not see these markings, and few believed that they were as extensive as Lowell claimed. In 1909 the sixty-inch Mount Wilson Observatory telescope in Southern California allowed closer observation of the structures Lowell had interpreted as canals, and revealed irregular geological features, probably the result of natural erosion. The existence of canal-like features was definitely disproved in the 1960s by NASA’s Mariner missions. Today, the surface markings taken to be canals are regarded as an optical illusion.
Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location expected for Planet X. Partly in recognition of Lowell's efforts, a stylized P-L monogram – the first two letters of the new planet's name and also Lowell's initials – was chosen as Pluto's astronomical symbol.
Although Lowell's theories of the Martian canals are now discredited, his building of an observatory at the position where it would best function has been adopted as a principle for all observatories. He also established the program and an environment which made the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh possible. Craters on the Moon and on Mars have been named after Percival Lowell. He has been described by other planetary scientists as "the most influential popularizer of planetary science in America before Carl Sagan". Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. [Source: Wikipedia]
Isaac Newton’s name is nowhere to be found on the title page, indicating the first issue of this most famous book in optics in English. It contains a multitude of theories and experiments including the corpuscular theory of light , the experimental proof that all colors are contained in white light, a full explanation of the rainbow, and the first organized color circle with seven primary colors (illustrated with a figure of a color wheel used in some form in virtually all later art theory.) The book also includes 19 folding plates and an appendix with Newton’s first published mathematical works, in which he states that he invented the calculus in 1665-66; these are written in Latin and were dropped from later editions.
Bononcini, Giovanni [1670 AD -1747 AD], Astartus an Opera as it was Perform'd at the Kings Theatre for the Royal Accademy. London: J. Walsh and J. Hare, [1721], First Edition, 2 leaves, 81 pages, engraved throughout, table of songs and advertisement. Size: folio (34.2 x 22.8cm). Condition: early inscription ("Giv'n to ye Musick-Club by Mr. Professor Goodson Aug: 30 1722") and stamp of 'Musical Society Oxford' to title, Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II C 45") to verso of title, manuscript Dolmetsch Library label affixed to head of spine with translucent adhesive tape, old manuscript labels to upper cover ("21"; "915 V"), contemporary marbled boards, red morocco label gilt to upper cover ("Astartus"), with later endpapers (watermarked "1804"), cracked at lower hinge, old ink stains to outer edges, covers worn. RARE. The last copy we have traced at auction was sold at Sotheby’s on 9 December 1999 (lot 42). LITERATURE: RISM B 3557 and BB 3557; Smith and Humphries, no.191. A revised version of Bononcini's original opera of 1715 was premiered at the King's Theatre in London in November 1720. It was one of only two London operas for which Bononcini, Handel's great London rival, published the overture and arias.
This is Mark Twain’s time travel novel. In it, Yankee engineer Hank Morgan from Connecticut is accidentally transported back in time to medieval England and the court of King Arthur. Hank fools the inhabitants of that time into thinking he is a magician—and soon uses his Yankee ingenuity and knowledge of modern technology to become a "magician" in earnest, stunning the English with such feats as demolition and fireworks. He attempts to modernize the society, but in the end he is unable to prevent the death of Arthur and a censure against him by the Catholic Church, which grows fearful of his power.
Twain wrote the book as a satire of romantic notions of chivalry after being inspired by a dream in which he was a knight himself, and severely inconvenienced by the weight and cumbersome nature of his armor. [Source: Wikipedia]
The story is accompanied by some 175 illustrations by Dan Beard. Hollywood put its own spin on the story with a 1949 musical comedy starring Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, William Bendix and Sir Cedric Hardwicke.
From the back cover:
Juvenile Delinquents on a Joy ride to Tragedy!
The ride began one wild night when a bunch of young hoodlums, hot for fast thrills, stole a souped-up hardtop and lashed out on a trail of violence that terrorized the town --
* A sedan was wrecked . . .
* A youth beaten up . . .
* A whole family threatened . . .
* A woman murdered . . .
See YOUNG AND WILD, an Esla Production, a Republic presentation starring GENE EVANS, SCOTT MARLOWE, CAROLYN KEARNEY
Electric Drive
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Internationale Automobil Ausstellung
Frankfurt
Duitsland - Germany
September 2019
Written by William Shakespeare, published in 1623. View all four folios at digital.lib.MiamiOH.edu/folios.
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
An imaginative reconstruction of history and legend, "A Search for the King" is an idealistic adventure, a medieval tapestry, woven with richness and color. It is the story of the troubador Blondel's search for Richard the Lion-Heart, held prisoner by Duke Leopold after one of the Crusades. From castle to castle, across the face of Europe, Blondel journeys, singing his ballads, encountering giants and dragons and enchanted forests, as he follows the trail of the King.
A businessman and an eccentric scientist in Victorian England undertake a journey to the moon in a spherical spaceship coated with a gravity-defying paste called Cavorite. After arriving on the moon and cavorting in a lush, fast-growing jungle on its surface, the earthly visitors partake of a fungus that gets them drunk. As they hop about drunkenly, dodging giant beasts called “mooncalves,” they’re taken captive by insect-like inhabitants called Selenites and transported underground. The Selenites live in a rigidly organized hive society with an all-powerful head. The story mixes horror with humor and biting satire and was the basis for a rather good movie released in 1964:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZT5X4ULlss
Wells’ story of The First Men in the Moon first appeared as a ten-part serial in The Strand Magazine (Nov. 1900 – August 1901) with illustrations by Claude Shepperson . The story appeared simultaneously in the USA as an eight-part serial in The Cosmopolitan Magazine (Nov. 1900 – June 1901) with illustrations by E. Hering. The Bowen-Merrill Co. of Indianapolis published the first edition of the novel in book form in 1901 with eleven of Hering’s illustrations. The British followed a month later with their own book edition from George Newnes in London with twelve of Shepperson’s illustrations.
The 19th and early 20th centuries are thought of as the golden age of magazines. Entire novels would often appear in magazines before publication in book form. Authors didn’t hesitate to submit their work for publication in the popular magazines of the day. It’s there that you will find classic works by such fine authors as Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling , H. G. Wells and others.
From "The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie" by Richard Wagner. New York: Doubleday Page & Co., 1910. First American Edition
Philip Jose Farmer wasn’t afraid to step over lines in the 50’s and 60’s. “The Image of the Beast” was Farmer’s first novel for Essex House and his first novel with explicit sex. It is a very good read.
Essex House was based in Los Angeles and specialized in highbrow erotica. Many new publishing houses sprang up after the U.S. Supreme Court finally permitted the open publishing of adult fiction. Essex House was one of the best, though short-lived (1968-1969). Its young editor, Brian Kirby, also edited the books of the sister imprint, Brandon House. Many Essex House novelists were young serious writers (several of them poets) who used scenarios drawn from sf and fantasy as settings for their stories. About half of the 42 titles published by Essex House were sf/fantasy. They include novels by Richard E. Geis, David Meltzer, Michael Perkins and Hank Stine, along with Philip Jose Farmer. [Source: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction at www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/essex_house]
Car: Lotus Emira V6 First Edition.
Engine: 3456cc V6.
Year of manufacture: 2022.
Date of first registration in the UK: 7th December 2022.
Place of registration: Not known.
Date of last MOT: Not applicable.
Mileage at last MOT: Not applicable.
Date of last change of keeper: No previous recorded keepers.
Number of previous keepers: 0.
Date taken: 17th September 2023.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (1934-1968) was a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.
Yuri Gagarin died just shy of his Vostok 1 mission's seventh anniversary, on March 27, 1968, when the MiG-15 fighter jet that he and instructor Vladimir Seryogin were piloting on a routine training flight went down outside a small town near Moscow. Alexei Leonov, who in 1965 became the first man to leave a spacecraft and float in the open vacuum of space, has worked for years to learn what led to Gagarin's death. He finally gained permission and spoke about the details in an interview released on Friday, June 14, 2013, by the state-funded Russia Today (RT) television network.
"We knew that a Su-15 [fighter jet] was scheduled to be tested that day, but it was supposed to be flying at the altitude of 10,000 meters [33,000 feet] or higher, not 450-500 meters [1,480-1,640 feet]," Leonov told RT. "It was a violation of the flight procedure."
A new declassified report confirmed that an unauthorized Sukhoi (Su-15) supersonic jet flew dangerously close to Gagarin's MiG-15. “The two jets must have been no less than 50 kilometers apart." Leonov said.
"While afterburning the aircraft reduced its echelon at a distance of 10-15 meters [30-50 ft] in the clouds, passing close to Gagarin, turning his plane and thus sending it into a tailspin — a deep spiral, to be precise — at a speed of 750 kilometers per hour [470 miles per hour]," Leonov said in the television interview. “Now, a jet can sink into a deep spiral if a larger, heavier aircraft passes by too close and flips [the jet] over with its backwash. And that is exactly what happened to Gagarin. That trajectory was the only one that corresponded with all our input parameters," Leonov told RT.
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Salon de l'Auto Bruxelles
Brussels - Belgium
January 2020
From my collection; published by Faber and Faber in 1957.
Lawrence Durrell (1912-90) was a novelist, poet, dramatist and travel writer, and the oldest brother of naturalist Gerald Durrell. He started writing poetry at the age of 15 and his first book was published in 1935, when he was 23.
In 1935 he, his mother and younger siblings moved to the island of Corfu – the subject of the hugely successful ITV drama series in 2018 and 2019. After leaving Greece, he spent many years living around the world.
Durrell's most famous work is The Alexandria Quartet, published between 1957 and 1960. Away from that, Bitter Lemons is an autobiographical account of his life in Cyprus between 1953 and 1956. He died at his home in France in 1990, by then one of the most famous and prolific writers in the English language, with more than 120 books to his credit.
This early Arkham House anthology of works by H. P. Lovecraft includes such fantasies as "The White Ship" and the novel, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath," and such horror stories as "The Moon Bog," "The Unnamable," and the novel, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." There are poems and collaborations and revisions by Lovecraft, including "The Diary of Alonzo Typer," "The Curse of Yig," "The Mound," "The Horror in the Museum," and others. To the writings by Lovecraft himself have been added a "Cthulhu Glossary," by Francis Laney, designed to summarize what is known about the fabled beings and places of Lovecraft's monumental creation, the "Cthulhu Mythos."
Quoting from the book (page 346):
The barber stood aghast; but Mr. Bailey divested himself of his neckcloth, and sat down in the easy shaving chair with all the dignity and confidence in life. There was no resisting his manner. The evidence of sight and touch became as nothing. His chin was as smooth as a new-laid egg or a scraped Dutch cheese; but Poll Sweedlepipe wouldn’t have ventured to deny, on affidavit, that he had the beard of a Jewish rabbi.
“Go with the grain, Poll, all round, please,” said Mr. Bailey, screwing up his face for the reception of the lather. “You may do wot you like with the bits of whisker. I don’t care for ‘em.”
The meek little barber stood gazing at him with the brush and soapdish in his hand, stirring them round and round in a ludicrous uncertainty, as if he were disabled by some fascination from beginning. At last he made a dash at Mr. Bailey’s cheek.
[Note: Poll Sweedlepipe is a barber, landlord and bird-fancier. “Poll Sweedlepipe’s house was one great bird’s nest. Gamecocks resided in the kitchen, pheasants wasted the brightness of their golden plumage on the garret, bantams roosted in the cellar, owls had possession of the bedroom, and specimens of all the smaller fry of birds chirruped and twittered in the shop.”]
Car: Lotus Emira V6 First Edition.
Engine: 3456cc V6.
Year of manufacture: 2022.
Date of first registration in the UK: 7th December 2022.
Place of registration: Not known.
Date of last MOT: Not applicable.
Mileage at last MOT: Not applicable.
Date of last change of keeper: No previous recorded keepers.
Number of previous keepers: 0.
Date taken: 17th September 2023.
Quoting from the book (page 74):
Mr. Tupman no sooner heard this avowal, than he proceeded to do what his enthusiastic emotions prompted, and what, for aught we know, (for we are but little acquainted with such matters,) people so circumstanced always do. He jumped up, and, throwing his arm round the neck of the spinster aunt, imprinted upon her lips numerous kisses, which after a due show of struggling and resistance, she received so passively, that there is no telling how many more Mr. Tupman might have bestowed, if the lady had not given a very affected start and exclaimed in an affrighted tone, –
“Mr. Tupman, we are observed! – we are discovered!”
[Note: Tracy Tupman is a member of the Pickwick Club and a traveling companion of Mr. Pickwick. He has a weakness for the fair sex which leads to several misadventures.]
“The Doctor was sitting in his easy-chair by the fireside and his young wife was on a stool at his feet.” [Quote from the text]
Dr. Strong is the headmaster of the school which David attends in Canterbury. David tentatively enters, unseen for the moment by the Strongs, as the elderly scholar reads aloud from a manuscript, and his young wife, Annie, looks up at him in rapt attention.
“David Copperfield” is one of Dickens’ most popular and critically acclaimed novels. The story follows David’s life from childhood to maturity and many of its elements follow events in Dickens’ own life, especially in the early chapters describing David’s provincial upbringing. The story is filled with vivid characters such as Uriah Heep, Mr. Micawber, the Pegottys, and eccentric Aunt Betsey and it ranks as the finest of Dickens’ works. “Of all my books,” Dickens wrote in the preface to the 1867 edition, “I like this the best… like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.”
Publisher Bradbury & Evans first released the story in monthly parts from May, 1849 through November, 1850, and in book form in 1850. The text was embellished with full-page, black & white engravings by H. K. Browne (“Phiz”). Subscribers who wished a hardcover edition for their libraries would either purchase a copy from the publisher when available or have the serial parts bound into book form, often in leather.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Treatise on Painting,” the most important treatise on art to be written during the Renaissance, was actually compiled by Francesco Melzi, one of Leonardo’s pupils, around 1540. It circulated widely, first in separate manuscripts and later in printed books, and for centuries it was thought to have been written by Leonardo himself. Artists, scientists, and scholars including Galileo, read it avidly as an authoritative record of Leonardo’s thoughts. In the 19th century, when the artist’s original notes became available, scholars realized that the text poorly reflected Leonardo’s sophisticated ideas. The text was very influential nonetheless. For better or worse, it was the primary source for disseminating Leonardo’s art theory in Renaissance and Baroque Europe, from the mid-sixteenth century to the early nineteenth century.
[Source: www.treatiseonpainting.org/]
The story unfolds against the backdrop of the political conflict between Russia and Great Britain in Central Asia in the period 1893-98. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India, and features Kim, the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and a poor Irish mother who have both died in poverty. Living a vagabond existence in India, Kim earns his living by begging and running small errands on the streets of Lahore. He embarks on a series of great adventures after becoming a disciple of an aged Tibetan Lama and later recruited by the government to carry a message to the head of British intelligence. Thus begin the espionage and spiritual threads of the story, which are destined to collide.
Kim is one of Kipling’s most popular books and, in 1998, the Modern Library ranked it No. 78 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The book was turned into a great film in 1950 starring Errol Flynn.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Treatise on Painting,” the most important treatise on art to be written during the Renaissance, was actually compiled by Francesco Melzi, one of Leonardo’s pupils, around 1540. It circulated widely, first in separate manuscripts and later in printed books, and for centuries it was thought to have been written by Leonardo himself. Artists, scientists, and scholars including Galileo, read it avidly as an authoritative record of Leonardo’s thoughts. In the 19th century, when the artist’s original notes became available, scholars realized that the text poorly reflected Leonardo’s sophisticated ideas. The text was very influential nonetheless. For better or worse, it was the primary source for disseminating Leonardo’s art theory in Renaissance and Baroque Europe, from the mid-sixteenth century to the early nineteenth century.
[Source: www.treatiseonpainting.org/]
Timely detail of a vintage children's book illustration: "Katy and the Big Snow" is a charming 1940s children's story book by Virginia Burton. Katy the snowplow finally gets her chance to shine when a blizzard blankets the city and everyone is relying on Katy to help dig out.
Katy and the Big Snow.
Written & Illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston First edition (1943)
The image is from the 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-93, by J. W. Powell, Director, Part 2. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896. The description which follows summarizes the detailed information accompanying the image in the report.
According to the official report for 1892, the Navajo Indians living in Northern New Mexico and Arizona numbered somewhat over 16,000 souls and had, in round numbers, 9,000 cattle, 119,000 horses, and 1,600,000 sheep and goats. Being rich in herds and wealth in silver, the Navajo felt no special need of a redeemer and the doctrinal seed of the Ghost Dance had fallen on barren ground. The Navajo were skeptical, laughed at the prophets, and paid but little attention to the prophesies.
Although this is a Professor Challenger story, it centers more on his daughter Enid and his old friend Edward Malone. Another friend from “The Lost World,” Lord John Roxton, is also involved in the novel's second half. Professor Summerlee, who has died of old age around this time, is referred to by the mediums much to the anger of Professor Challenger. Heavily influenced by Doyle's growing belief in Spiritualism after the death of his son, brother, and two nephews in World War I, the book focuses on Edward Malone's at first professional, and later personal interest in Spiritualism. [Source: Wikipedia]
When a mere maid, she was kidnapped by the chief of the Gros Ventres Indians. Binding her securely to himself, he rode off for his own village. When within sight of their destination the girl stabbed him, killing him. This feat not only won her the right to wear three eagle feathers, but Old Sun, the rich and powerful chief of the North Blackfeet Indians of Canada, made her his wife.
From "The Book of the American Indian" by Hamlin Garland. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1923. 1st ed
Quoting from the blurb on the dustjacket:
“Bold, imaginative and packed with excitement, STAR WARS is destined to become a classic in the genre. This is the novel that brings that ‘sense of wonder’ back to science fiction – each page brimming with heroic adventure, unexpected marvels and amazing characters…”
For sure! Little did they realize how really huge it would become.