Spoleto Diary, Part I

World War  I in the Adriatic Sea—Part I

Adriatic Sea

Most Americans think of World War I as a battle of soldiers in trenches across France, but in the Adriatic Sea battle was raging also.  The “Otranto Barrage” was a sea barrier set up by the allies to prevent German and Austro-Hungarian submarines from leaving the Adriatic and entering the Mediterranean Sea.

            When the American Navy arrived in 1917, the British, Italians, Austro-Hungarians, French and Australians had been here for years.  American forces were in destroyers and the “Splinter Navy”—wooden submarine chasers rushed into production with the urging of the Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in order to combat the threat of German and Austro-Hungarian submarines.

            I came across the handwritten journal of a young American sailor, and that got me interested in this lesser-explored part of World War I.  Below are notes from the journal of Charles Goodwin, and then excerpts from others stories by sailors who served aboard other American subchasers.

            Sailors among us will recognize a lot of things that never seem to change as these men endure some truly miserable conditions, incredible stupidity and ineptness, bravery, world-class wartime bureaucracy, and fun.

Photo of crew of Subchaser 346

Days in the life of a young Sailor aboard a Submarine Chaser in Split, Austria (now Croatia) just after World War I ended, in 1918-1919.  Charles Goodwin is among the forces there that are supervising the disassembly of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  It’s cold, and the food is not great, but at least the barrage is over.  He writes:

            “This afternoon I went ashore. In the harbor of Spalato (Now called “Split”) beside the Isreal (USS Israel, DD98) and the Italian destroyer there are two French destroyers, an old English light cruiser, and the English sloop Veronica and the destroyer Martin. Both of which used to work on the Otranto barrage with us. The Veronica is a “kite balloon” sloop and I believe she is the one that fired at us one night on the barrage, thinking we were a submarine. The dope on the Radetzky remains the same, that we leave the last of the month.

As for weather it is cloudy and blowing a gale. A night like this makes one think of the barrage and thank heaven the war is over. Those bad days and nights on the barrage are ones we never will forget. Rolling, tossing, pitching till it seemed as if we would break in two, every sea sweeping over the deck and sometimes almost up to the bridge; those were bad times. Everything below soaking wet, lockers, deck and cushions… almost impossible to eat anything if we had it and the noise of the water and the pitching of the ship making sleep out of the question and a very difficult matter to even stay in your bunk; oh those were the happy days! Days like these began the last of September. The worst barrage I was on was around Oct. 6. It started in rough and the second day it was terrible. Laying to, drifting we would take water aboard. It is recorded in the ships log that we rolled 47°. I remember that I was on watch from 4 to 8 am. About 6 o’clock the S.O. (Signal Officer) sent a message to take shelter under Fano (Fanò) Island. We were only about 25 miles away as there were only three units out that trip, twelve chasers being at Durazzo, (now in Albania) and we were covering the two middle positions. Well, we got underway and it took us about 8 hours to cover those twenty five miles. The three boats were only 50 or 75 yard apart and at times we couldn’t see either of the other two. I had the phones on until about 10:30. Karr was asleep in the bunk or was trying to sleep, he being pretty tired out having had a rather bad midwatch and I did not wake him. Merriman was supposed to have the 8 to 12 but he had gone below before we got under way and it was so bad he couldn’t get back.”

Austro-Hungarian Battleship Radetzsky

Goodwin and his mates will board the defeated Hungarian battleship Radetzky and sail her to Italy for scrapping

            The background: Between September 15 through 29th, 1918 French General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey in command of a large allied army campaigned in Macedonia. The offensive was a victory and ended with Bulgaria's surrender. Fearing the remaining enemies would fall back on the Austrian held port of Durazzo for supplies, D'Esperey requested that an allied naval fleet be assembled to attack Durazzo and thus prevent the city from supplying retreating enemy forces. D'esperey's request was approved and the Italian Regia Marina accepted the opportunity to lead the attack. Rear Admiral Carlo Paladini in the armored cruiser San Marco was to command the operation.
            Allied objectives were to bombard Durazzo and attack Austrian ships in the harbor if there were any. The Allies divided their fleet into two forces, one for bombardment and the other for screening the attacking ships from enemy submarines. Allied forces included one Italian dreadnought battleship, the Dante Alighieri, which was assigned to the covering force, three Italian armored cruisers, three Italian light cruisers, five British light cruisers, fourteen British destroyers, two Australian destroyers, eight Italian torpedo boats and twelve American submarine chasers.           
            Before the battle began, the Austro-Hungarian government decided to withdraw most of their warships from Durazzo. Only two destroyers, one torpedo boat and two U-boats opposed the allied fleet though the Austrian troops on shore manned at least three different shore batteries which dueled with the allied ships. Also in port was a hospital ship.
            The Second Battle of Durazzo began in the morning on October 2, 1918, British and Italian aircraft attacked first by bombarding enemy troop concentrations and artillery batteries while the fleet was still steaming across the Adriatic. Afterwards several of the Italian and British cruisers formed a two-echelon line to begin their bombardment from about 8,000 yards off the coast.
             The three ships sailed back and forth around Durazzo harbor firing their guns and dodging torpedoes and shell fire. Torpedo boat No. 87 and the two destroyers were chased by the Allied destroyer force as they fled north along the coast, but they managed to escape after taking some damage. The shelling of the port was carried out by the Italian armored cruisers San Giorgio, San Marco and Pisa. Three merchantmen, the Graz, Herzegovina and the Stambul were hit. Stambul sank and the two others were damaged but escaped complete destruction. The Austro-Hungarian hospital ship, the Baron Call, was stopped, searched and then allowed to proceed by British destroyers. Most of the American forces were assigned to the covering force and at the battle's beginning were used to chart a clear path through a sea mine field off Durazzo. A few of the submarine chasers took fire from shore batteries at this time but none were damaged. Afterward they were assigned to screen the other allied ships from submarine attacks. Patrolling to the north and to the south of the battle area, the Americans engaged the two Austro-Hungarian U-boats SM U-29 and SM U-31. At 11:05, a sailor on the submarine chaser No. 129 spotted U-29 which was then depth charged for fifteen minutes and damaged heavily but she survived the encounter.
            U-31 was also depth charged and survived as well. At one point No. 129 was fired on by the enemy shore batteries, the closest shot landed about fifty yards from the vessel but the Americans suffered no casualties in the battle. Later American forces reported sinking the two submarines but this was not so. The submarines managed to damage at least one allied light cruiser; the HMS Weymouth was struck by a torpedo from U-31, which blew off a large portion of her stern and killed four men. Weymouth was shelling inland facilities along with four other British cruisers when the torpedo struck home. She spent the remainder of the war under repair. The other British light cruisers are known to have been lightly damaged by shore battery fire before they were silenced or disabled. A British destroyer was also hit by a torpedo. The battle ended by 12:30 am on October 2 and from the beginning of the action civilians fled the city and by October 11 the once busy port was silent. A few days after that a Serbian army was landed and took control.
 The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Albanian side of the Adriatic Sea in World War I. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening Allied operations there. The blockade, or rather the fleet capital ships in support of it, was effective in preventing surface ships from escaping the Adriatic, but it had little or no effect on the submarines based at Cattaro.

            The ease with which German and Austrian submarines continued out of the Austro-Hungarian ports in spite of the barrage (and the success they had in disrupting shipping in the whole of the Mediterranean) strongly embarrassed the Allies, the system being called "a large sieve through which U-boats could pass with impunity". In 1917–1918, reinforcements from the Australian and American navies brought the blockading force up to 35 destroyers, 52 drifters and more than 100 other vessels.  But submarines continued to slip through until the end of the war, while only the introduction of the convoy system and better coordination amongst the Allies helped to cut the losses they were causing.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_warfare_in_the_Mediterranean_during_World_War_I

CONTINUED.. in PART II…

The Personal Navigator offers these books and papers:

"Texas" Jack Buckler

 "Texas" Jack Buckler, Army's Triple Threat Back--Army's Hope in their game with the Navy   ca. 1933 1 sheet            21.5 x 28 cm. Original sports drawing features West Point's Star Left Halfback, "Texas" Jack Buckler who was named All-American in 1933.    Original drawing, minor wrinkle, good.    (8243) $49.00.  Sports/Educational                                 

Christian Herald, The and Signs of Our Times, New York, NY Thursday, May 5, 1887 1887 New York, NY: Christian Herald, 63 Bible House. 16 pp. 25 x 30 cm. "The Late Mr. Robert Simpson"--the Veteran Christian Merchant of Glasgow (see portrait on page one). Simpson began a dry-goods business in Trongate, Glasgow (a view of which appears on the first page). While still succeeding in business he began to study for the ministry. He preached the Gospel, and over 40 years was responsible for raising 8 to 10 churches all over Scotland.  In 1832 he threw himself into the temperance movement and in 1870 joined the Good Templars' Order as it was introduced to Scotland. "Mr. William Quarrier"--the George Muller of Scotland. Poor lad grows up, becomes successful, is converted, tries to convert his poor, widowed mother.  He finally converts her, just before she dies. Quarrier formed the first Shoeblack brigade, went on to build homes for orphans. "Probable End of Mohammedanism at the End of this Century"  Rev. A.B. Simpson, Pastor of Tabernacle, 45th St. & Madison Ave. in NYC, quotes prophecies of Daniel --- Moslem religion will cease to exist by 1900. Oriental Christianity has become as thoroughly corrupt as the Roman Papacy. Picture of Rubaga, Capital of Uganda, Central Africa. Ads for Warner Bro's. Coraline Corsets, Royal Baking Powder and Henry Ward Beecher's authentic and authorized Biography.     Newspaper, good. (8236) $15.00. Religious

  

Caylor System Baseball Score Book, in Accordance with National League Requirements, No. 3--44 Games ca. 1925 Boston, MA: James W. Brine Company, 286 Devonshire Street. Very nice rare Boston baseball memento. James W. Brine Athletic Goods Baseball Score Book with instructions for scoring by O.P. Caylor's System.  Scorecards filled in, dated 1928 to 1941. Teams Mishe Mokwa (summer camp?), Milton, Middlesex, Ayer, Groton, Concord, St. Mark's, Belmont, Belmont Hill, Dartmouth at Harvard (1939), West Concord. Advertising for James W. Brine Official League Baseballs (Guaranteed for 18 innings), sweaters, all kinds of highest quality athletic goods. . 92 pp.         20.5 x 14 cm. Maroon cloth on board, "Whitney Cook" written on cover and on title page. Inside front hinge repaired with binding tape.  Inside rear hinge cracked. Cover shows wear, inside also. Fair. (7358) $60.00. Advertising/American Originals

Certificate of Appointment of Lieutenant Francis Burbank to Vermont Militia, 1815 by Martin Chittenden, Esq., Seventh Governor of Vermont. 1815 Montpelier, VT: State of Vermont. Seventh Governor of Vermont, Martin Chittenden (1763-1840) also Captain-General and Commander in Chief of State signed this appointment of War of 1812 veteran to Lieutenant of 5th Company, 3rd Regiment, First Brigade and Second Division of State Militia on July 22, 1815.  On reverse is signed statement by Burbank in which he "solemnly swears to support the constitution of the United States"; attested to by C. Roberts, Brigadier General. According to records, Burbank was drafted to serve in 1812.  Also on reverse is discharge of Burbank in 1819, also signed by Brigadier General Roberts.  Martin Chittenden was governor 1813-1815, which included a crucial portion of the War of 1812.  Document is sealed with State Seal, with motto "Freedom & Unity". 1 sheet  32 x 19.5 cm. Paper certificate with seal of State of Vermont, good. (8062) $200.00.  Ephemera/History

Clubwoman's Diary, 1953  Boston, MA: ephemera. This lady is the ultimate clubwoman-- her diary is a list of meetings of VFW Auxiliary, Navy Mothers, Church groups, A.U.W.(Ass'n of Univ. Women?), Republicans, Parent Teachers, Scouts, and more.  Son Don is off to the Navy, and is sailing from Boston, to Able Station, Greenland, other spots. Vacation at Skowhegan.  This little diary contains usually short entries in one year of the life of a very busy woman.  7 x 10.6 cm. Small red leather standard diary. Very good. (8006) $20.00. American Originals/Diary

General Store Ledger kept from 1850 to 1853, used again 1878-1884.  Large ledger, only 57 of some 300 pages are filled out, most with daily records of sales of sugar, butter, lard, molasses, potatoes, tea, sundries, candles, tobacco, soap, raisins, cheese, flour, rice, vinegar, crackers, eggs, onions, codfish, lemons, Salaeratus, tomatoes, segars, apples, peaches, buckwheat, etc. Pasted inside front cover is a piece of paper listing steamboat fares from various ports in Ireland to Liverpool. E.g. "Dublin to Lpool 1,,00; Cork to Lpool, 2,,50." 57 pp. 19 x 32 cm. Nice calfskin leather covered journal with four ribs in spine, edges frayed, good. (6925) $55.00. American Originals

Inskrifningsbok (1902 års applaga) for Bard, Ernst Johan Leonard, Född 13 okt. 1882 [Swedish inscription book] 1905 Jönköping, Sweden: Personal papers.  Inscription book in Swedish, containing military service record of Ernst Johan Leonard Bard of Jönköping, Sweden indicate he served in an artillery regiment in 1903-04. Inserted in book are several papers, including letter in Swedish, a sheet of information from Svenska Amerika Linien for passage aboard Motorfatyget "Gripsholm" from Göteborg to Halifax and New York; A letter from (?) the Ford motor dealer in Skillingaryd dated 08-19-1930  about Herr E.J. Bard's car registration; Flyttningsbetyg document (flyttar till Amerika)  for E.J.L. Bard den 24 Mars 1906; and a Swedish Traffic Insurance Policy for Herr Bard, dated 1930. 56 pp. 10 x 17 cm. Book, paper on board cover, very good, with cloth pocket containing listed documents. (6804)  $20.00. American Originals

Mary Norton's Autograph Book, Maynard, Mass., 1879 Norton, Mary A. 1879 Maynard, MA: ephemera. Mary started this autograph book in 1879.  It contains sentimental inscriptions from friends and relatives, mostly from Maynard, MA and Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Remember me till death shall close these eyelids…" from Katie Snee, Maynard. Includes small embroidery of a Bible with a cross, with flowers on it. 17 x 10 cm. Leather autograph book, spine leather torn off, some damp stain on first few pages, fair. (7688) $28.00. American Originals

Phrenology: New Illustrated Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology with over 100 engravings by O.S. and L.N. Fowler,  Practical Phrenologists 1859. New York, NY: Fowler and Wells, Publishers. Self-Instructor book for A.P. Cutting, as marked by author, O.S. Fowler on April 5th, 1864.  Chart contains markings which evaluate Mr. Cutting as to vital and mental temperament (full), conjugality (full), friendship (full), combativeness (very large), size of brain (22¾ inches)  and many more. Detailed description of various traits detected by phrenology. Viz. Motherly, large head, un-motherly, small. Henry Clay, with large head, has inhabitiveness. A "rambler" has small head. A typical Indian chief is short on mirthfulness. . 176 pp. 13 x 19 cm. Brown cloth on board, with gilt and blind-stamped decoration. Cover worn and faded, heel and toe of spine slightly frayed. Good. (2259) $40.00. American Originals/Educational/Phrenology

Ruth's Post Card Travelogue, 1928 by Bradford, Ruth  Boston, MA: Ruth Bradford, 18 Cedarlane Way. Ruth is on the "grand tour" of Europe, and sends home this detailed, colorful report of her adventures, carefully described on the backs of 22 post cards. She watches the fireworks for Bastille Day at Biarritz and warns her friend Lucia to stay clear of Nice. She tells about the violent hailstorm as her group drives through the Pyrenees. Luncheon in Quimper, visit to the potteries.  22 cards 9 x 14 cm. Twenty-two photographic post cards with a detailed travel journal written on backs. Very good. (6337) $65.00. American Originals/Travel

Travel Diary of Mrs. Harry Worcester, 1954 handwritten by Worcester, Mrs. Harry 1954. West Swanzey, NH: ephemera 28 pp. 10 x 16 cm. Leather "Travels Abroad" Diary: Mrs. Harry Worcester records trip she and husband took from Keene, NH to NYC, thence from Idlewild Airport via KLM Lockheed Constellation first to Gander, Nfld, then to London, then to Brighton by train; Banquet at Strand Hotel; met Mayor Dudley; back to London, tour, then by train to York, touring, visit The Shambles, on to Edinburgh; touring Scotland, then to Glasgow and steamer to Belfast, N. Ireland; train to Dublin; Dun Laoghaire then steamer to Holyhead, and train for  Caernarvon, Wales; Criccieth to Bristol, then London; flight to Chaumont, France; Harry visited places where he trained during World War I; Neuf Chateau, Verdun; Paris, Chalons-sur-Marne; sleeper train to Basel, CH, then Lucerne, Zurich, then another sleeper for Calais; rough crossing to Folkestone, then to London; flight home on KLM Connie to Shannon, Gander and Idlewild.  Green leather Travel Diary (only 28 pages of entries) with unused pencil in loop, very good. (7644) $30.00. American Originals/Travel/Ephemera

Upstate New York Journal by Bill and Cora 1949 Near Easton, NY: ephemera. Daily entries for year 1949, first by Bill, noting carpentry work, planting peas, onions, strawberries, buying a truck, around Glens Falls, Cambridge, Easton, NY, then rest of the year by wife, Cora, noting all the canning, cooking, preserving. Attending weddings, funerals. Noting when neighbors died. Summer trips to Lake George, Bennington, VT. Killing chickens. Baking mince pies for Thanksgiving.  "We all went over to James to Xmas dinner at night. Turkey and all the trimmings."  Simple life of rural Americans right after end of World War II. ~190 pp. 13 x 20 cm. Leatherette book with ring binding, two days per page, completely filled out. Very good. (6730) $36.00. American Originals

U.S. Cream Separator Note book ca. 1904 Bellows Falls, VT: Vermont Farm Machine Co. Little note book advertises the Improved U.S. Cream Separators, offering the 1904 Frame, a great improvement. The No. 9 Separator will handle up to 175 lbs. per hour, and the No. 5 will handle up to 600 lbs. Notebook has pencil entries listing items in Clough Farm barn sold to Elmer Stevens, including 2 dung forks, 12 tug chains, 3 milk cans, 1 potato digger, 1 iron kettle, 5 sap tubs, 4 stove knees, etc. 32 pp. 6.5 x 13.4 cm. Paper booklet, with pencil entries, very good. (6961) $21.00. American Originals/Farming/Advertising

Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

Getting Around in Iran

                                                                =“Sholuq” in Persian can refer to a traffic jam or any other confused mess

Marty and Sam at the Shaking Minarets (Monar Jomban) of Isfahan.

The guides enjoy getting in one of two 14^th century minarets and shaking, which makes the opposite one shake. This has been a major Isfahan tourist attraction since the 19^th century.

A note to readers:  When you see when some of the things I write about took place, you may say to yourself, “Gosh, that’s ancient history!  I wasn’t even born then!”  Let me put you at ease.  I try to show you the world we lived in, but even after all these years, many of the most colorful things in Iran haven’t changed!  Iranian people are still very gentle, intelligent and friendly people.  Most of them.

Getting Settled.  We found our house in Sahebgraniyeh, in the northern part of the city. It was a very upscale part of the city—every home was enclosed by high walls, and within the walls were very pleasant gardens and tall trees.  About three blocks away was Niavaran Palace, the palace where the Shah usually lived.  He had several all over town from which to choose.

Our landlord was a wealthy Persian engineer.  In our garden lived a little family.  Hossein Massoumi, with one eye that looked askew, was our gardener. His wife, a teenager, was Keshvar, and they had two small children-- Nassir, a boy, about 5, and Batul, a girl, about 2. We lived in a nice house with glass all along the south wall, which was our living room and hall, looking down over the whole city of Tehran.  We had a beautiful swimming pool, filled with ice-cold spring water, and on the hottest days, that water was still frigid.

Our house in Tehran, with son Mark and

German Shepherd Schatzi in foreground.

We were at 5200 ft. of altitude, and the city slopes down to the center, at about 3750 ft. above sea level. Windows along our back upper floor allowed beautiful views of the Alborz mountains, which border Tehran on the north. It was October, 1970.

Karaj Dam near Tehran

Our "Bomb" of a car. It took quite a while for our car to arrive from the U.S., so we rented a car from PKEOM (Persian Knights Enlisted Officers’ Mess), an American servicemen's club that traces its roots back to the lend-lease days of World War II.  These cars were known as “PKEOM Bombs.”  We had this car until our 1966 Ford Falcon station wagon could arrive.  We thought we’d get out and see some of this beautiful country, so we drove up to Karaj dam in the mountains.  The scenery was magnificent, but we soon found out that the brakes on our “Bomb” were imaginary.  While we were up there the car started to spout steam, and we drove downhill as fast as we could, to find help for our problem. We finally reached a village where there was a filling station and drove in, with steam coming from all over.  I had never opened the hood, and then found out that I couldn’t. 

Anytime Americans showed up somewhere, a crowd of curious Iranians would gather.  They are a very helpful people, even if they haven’t a clue what they are doing. Several men tried to help open the hood, and finally a mechanic did it with a big crowbar.  The water pump was “tamum shod”—finished, he declared, and so this looked like it was going to take several hours.  A cab came by that already had an Iranian family in it, but the driver and the family were glad to have us, so our family of five jammed in, and off we raced to Tehran, with about 11 people including the driver.

Iranian taxi drivers always go as if they were on fire, so fast that you know you are in grave danger.  You learn early on to say, “Yavash!” (Slow!!) and this might make the American feel better, but it has absolutely no effect. 

Tehran traffic “Sholuq”, or impossible traffic jam.

“Sholuq” or “Shalook” is a beautiful, uniquely Persian word that is made for the Iranians.   They use it to refer to any scene of confusion, and through our American eyes, we saw a lot of sights in that happy, casual country in the days before the traveling religious police, ordering women to put the chadors back on their heads. 

Iranian traffic in 1970-72 reflected that Iranians were just getting used to the idea of having cars, and in Tehran they had a lot of them.  And they drove them in the middle of the street, on the left, and on the right, and on sidewalks. 

From what I hear about Iran today, not much has changed, except there are many more cars.

In that environment, traffic jams, or shalooks, happened all the time.  And it seemed that the Ministry of Police, as soon as they detected such a situation, dispatched a more senior police officer to correct the situation.  We often laughed to see that when traffic was really screwed up, you’d see a General in the police ministry, uprooted from his comfortable desk, directing traffic, and screwing it up even more.

 Photo of Marty and me on the road in the desert south of Tehran.

Trip to Astara.  It was springtime, and I wanted to drive up the western shore of the Caspian toward the Iranian Border with Soviet Azerbaijan. This was a very green, colorful part of Iran, and here, too, the people dressed as they had for centuries. I was driving my Ford Falcon station wagon, and the road was more a muddy wallow.  We bounced and sloshed all the way, an all-day drive to arrive at Astara, right on the frontier.

            The car was completely covered with mud—you couldn’t tell it had been yellow before.

            There were large rice paddies here, and on the hills they were growing tea. 

When we returned to Tehran two days later I had to have all four shock absorbers replaced.

            When we arrived in Astara, we had no idea where we would stay for the night, but we found a tiny, very elegant hostel that had been recently built for the Chairman of the Presidium  of the Soviet Union, Nikolai Podgorny, for his October 1970  visit to inaugurate a 40-inch gas pipeline from Iran to the USSR, passing through Astara. 

            The Shah had been there, and there had been a big celebration and ribbon cutting and so forth, but now, it was just an unused, but very excellent hotel with four empty suites, and all the staff to look after them.

            So we stayed there. 

            [Note: After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Iranians cut off the supply. In 2006, Iran and Azerbaijan, the country adjacent to Astara, signed an agreement for the gas to come the other way, to supply Iran.]

           

Rice Paddies in Gilan, near the Caspian Sea, in Iran. 

In background are tea groves.

We got to visit with a lot of plain, everyday Persian people during our two years in Iran, and found them to be wonderfully friendly and helpful. Where they might differ from Westerners in their familiarity with technology, they were generous, intelligent and fun to be around.

Western coverage of Iran and Iranians, or Persians, in recent years may have painted them as America-hating, single-minded Islamic fanatics. However, I think you will find that those people are in the minority.  

Many, many Iranians want the same things that we want.  They definitely do NOT want to return to the seventh century, the time the Islamists think that things were better for them. 

They do not want to take orders from America, or do our bidding, and that’s fair. 

I hope that one day soon Americans and Iranians can sit down and work out our differences, because I think we have much more in common than some may imagine. 

All the talk about the Iranians building a nuclear weapon, and wiping Israel off the map strikes me as unproductive rodomontade, or vain bragging and bluster.

The Israelis talk about launching air strikes to wipe out Iran’s nuclear manufacturing sites, and we know enough about the Israelis to know that is not idle bluster.

However, the net result is that the United States, no matter what we think or want, will find ourselves sucked into another war in the Middle East.

Such a waste of blood and treasure, and for what?

I look for the day when Iran and the U.S.A. can be friends again. Both nations have much to gain!

Here are some books and papers the Personal Navigator is offering:

 Rawleigh's 1917 Almanac

 Rawleigh's 1917 Almanac, Cookbook and Medical Guide, 28th Year: A Valuable Hand Book  1916 Freeport, IL: The W.T. Rawleigh Co.Marvelous book, loaded with advice and information. 140 products for 1917, including toilet articles, spices, medicines, cleaning products, poultry and stock products. Design for an iceless refrigerator using Canton flannel. Recipes for candies. Canning. Rawleigh's Dip for Cattle, Horses, Sheep and Hogs.   Louse powder. How soap is made at Rawleigh's. Photos show gathering of raw drugs in faraway India and other spots. 104 pp. 14.7 x 22.4 cm. Paper booklet, full color, very good condition. (6561) $29.00. Advertising

 Baby Doll Poster

Baby Doll: Warner Bros. Picture, an Elia Kazan Production of Tennessee Williams' screen play, starring Karl Malden and Carroll Baker; Advertising-Publicity Campaign Packet 1956 Warner Brothers. Advance Publicity campaign and advertising campaign samples for film"Baby Doll", has been called “notorious, salacious, revolting, dirty, steamy, lewd, suggestive, morally repellent and provocative.” This was 25-year-old Carroll Baker's second film, and she received an Oscar nomination for her part in the film. Its advertisements and posters featured a sultry young "Baby Doll" curled up in a crib in a suggestive pose, sucking her thumb.   21 x 28 cm. Paper folder contains Samples of Ad Campaign and Big Ad-Pub Campaign. Very good. (7092) $29.00. Advertising/Cinema

Little Men, First Edition

Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys, First Edition by Alcott, Louisa M. 1871 Boston, MA: Roberts Brothers. 376 pp. 11 x 17 cm. Louisa May Alcott's classic about playful, mischievous, energetic boys. With 4 pp. of publisher's advertisements  inserted between the front end papers.  Brown cloth on board with gilt lettering on spine  and cover; cover faded and water stained, heel and toe of spine frayed, bottom of front cover frayed, corner bumped.  Binding tight.  Text block very good. Tissue guard for frontispiece is wrinkled. Overall good. (1363) $125.00.  Literature/Fiction       

Burdock's Blood Bitters 1892 Almanac and Key to Health 1892 Buffalo, NY: Foster, Milburn & Co. Josiah Lewis of Sing Sing, NY had dyspepsia for years with no cure until he took Burdock Blood Bitters. Hettie McCourtney of Remus, MI had a pain in her back, head, heart, poor appetite, constipation and more until she took BBB. Mrs. Samuel Rieder's little boy (of Summit Hill, OH) had sores all over his body and legs, couldn't stand on his feet. " I gave him two bottles of BBB, and now he looks like another boy altogether." Almanac offers many testimonials and health advice, cures for Dyspepsia, dizziness, headache, variable appetite, souring of food, heart palpitation, constipation, biliousness, scrofula, rheumatism, pain in loins, dropsy, female complaints. Just take Burdock sugar-coated pills, Burdock's Blood Bitters, Dr. Wood's Norway Pine Syrup and Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil. Mrs. Wm. F. Babcock of Norvell, MI was "run over by a team of horses and a lumber wagon, and not expected to live, but my friends bathed me in Eclectric Oil..." 32 pp. 14.5 x 20 cm. Paper booklet, good. (7024) $24.00. Advertising/Medical

Wright's Pictorial Family Almanac 1865 Philadelphia, PA: Dr. Wm. Wright, NW Corner Fifty and Race Sts. Civil War edition of Almanac, which advertises Wright's Indian Vegetable Pills, which cleanse the bowels and purify the blood, with good effect upon asthma, acidity of the stomach, biles, dropsy, dysentery, erysipelas, female irregularities, foulness of the complexion, fever and ague, jaundice, scrofula, ulcers, worms, yellowness of the skin, Yellow fever and much more.  Humorous cartoons. Testimonials from men in Yankee camps. Man from Pennsylvania  volunteers at Brandy Station, VA writes that Indian pills cured bad colds he and comrades had while they were at Culpepper. Man from Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry, near Warrenton, VA writes about good effect of Indian Vegetable pills on disordered stomach and diseases of the digestive organs. QM Sgt. Hughes of Penna. Militia writes from Yorktown, VA ordering one-third gross of Indian Vegetable Pills. John Portney in Camp Convalescent, Alexandria, VA writes asking for Indian Vegetable pills. Also music, "The Picket's Last Watch" by David A. Warden.     20 pp. 12.5 x 21 cm. Paper booklet, worn, fair. (7728) $24.00. Advertising/Civil War

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Can you--will you-- carry the message?

A Message to Garcia

Lieutenant Andrew Rowan and General Calixto Garcia in Cuba, May, 1898

       Have you ever asked someone to do something that was very important to you, and they agreed to do it, but then failed to do it?

          How about you?  If you agree to do something for someone, do you do everything in your power to make it happen?

            How many people do you know that you can absolutely count on to do something?

            Do you think that others can count on you? Absolutely?

            The world is filled with people who have the best of intentions.  They say they’ll do something, they really mean to do it, but…. it just doesn’t get done.  Oh, they always have an excuse, but you were counting on them. 

            You probably won’t count on them again. 

            Many years ago, when I started at the U.S. Naval Academy as a plebe, they issued us each a little booklet, A Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard.  We had to memorize this little story, and the reason was to engrave upon our brains the absolute importance of getting the job done.  Whatever job.  If you are assigned a job, and you accept it, then you do it. 

            The “Message to Garcia” was about President William McKinley, facing possible war with Spain over Cuba.  He wanted to get a letter to a Cuban insurgent, high in the mountains of Cuba, to communicate the intentions of the United States of America, and to determine the military situation.  He needed someone he could rely upon to deliver this message, and the name of this young Army officer, Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan, came up. 

            Lieutenant Rowan took the President’s message, and, after four days of travel through dangerous terrain, found General Garcia and delivered the message. 

            There are men and women every day who are given a task to do, and, without asking a lot of questions, without any excuses, they go to work, and do the job. 

            And then there are far more men and women who do not get the job done. 

            This event in Cuba happened 114 years ago, but Elbert Hubbard picked up the story and wrote a preachment that, if you’ve never read it, might make a difference to you.

            Let me share with you a few paragraphs of A Message to Garcia, so you can see for yourself this lesson for the ages:

1899

A Message to Garcia

By Elbert Hubbard

In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.
What to do!
Some one said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."
Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.
The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- "Carry a message to Garcia!"
General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.
No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man- the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, & half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, & sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are within call.
Summon any one and make this request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio".
Will the clerk quietly say, "Yes, sir," and go do the task?
On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:
Who was he?
Which encyclopedia?
Where is the encyclopedia?
Was I hired for that?
Don’t you mean Bismarck?
What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?
Is he dead?
Is there any hurry?
Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?
What do you want to know for?
And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia- and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average, I will not.
Now if you are wise you will not bother to explain to your "assistant" that Correggio is indexed under the C’s, not in the K’s, but you will smile sweetly and say, "Never mind," and go look it up yourself.
And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put pure Socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all? A first-mate with knotted club seems necessary; and the dread of getting "the bounce" Saturday night, holds many a worker to his place.
Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who apply, can neither spell nor punctuate- and do not think it necessary to.
Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?
"You see that bookkeeper," said the foreman to me in a large factory.
"Yes, what about him?"
"Well he’s a fine accountant, but if I’d send him up town on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got to Main Street, would forget what he had been sent for."
Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia?
We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the "downtrodden denizen of the sweat-shop" and the "homeless wanderer searching for honest employment," & with it all often go many hard words for the men in power.
Nothing is said about the employer who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long patient striving with "help" that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned. In every store and factory there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending away "help" that have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are, this sorting continues, only if times are hard and work is scarce, the sorting is done finer- but out and forever out, the incompetent and unworthy go.
It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best- those who can carry a message to Garcia.

--end of excerpt--

            You can supply for yourself tasks like A Message to Garcia.  Certainly when President Obama gave the approval to carry out the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, he was a assigning it to men fully capable and willing to carry out the mission.  And they did.

Here’s the link to the whole treatise of A Message to Garcia:

http://www.birdsnest.com/garcia.htm

           

The Personal Navigator offers these books and papers:

Q. How did the reign of Emperor Henry IV conclude?
A. Pope Pafcal II. in the year one thoufand one hundred and two, again excommunicated him, and inftigated his son, who was afterwards Henry V. to declare war aginft his father, whom he vanquifhed and defspoiled of the empire in the year one thoufand one hundred and fix.

--Historical Grammar, 1808

Historical Grammar or a Chronological Abridgement of Universal History, by LaCroze, translated from the 7th edition of the French by Lucy Peacock. Revised, corrected and greatly enlarged by Caleb Bingham, A.M., author of the columbian Orator, American Preceptor, &c. 1808 Boston, MA: Caleb Bingham, No. 44 Cornhill, David Carlisle, printer. 228 pp. 10.8 x 17.6 cm. This is an abridged history. Part I: From the Creation of the World to the Deluge, 1656 years. Uses question and answer format to teach students extremely detailed history. Leather on board, front cover torn and hinge but binding intact. Leather worn. Pages 30% foxed but very readable. Fair condition. (0131) $40.00. History/Educational.

Historical Reader, The, designed for the use of schools and families on a new plan; stereotype edition, by Rev. J.L. Blake, A.M., Minister of St. Matthew's Church and Principal of a Literary Seminary, Boston. ca. 1825. Concord, NH: Horatio Hill & Co.  This history starts with the Creation, includes the Deluge, Tower of Babel, Trojan War, Fall of Rome, Gun-powder Treason (Guy Fawkes); Bunker Hill, Battle of Trafalgar, including a very graphic description of the death of Lord Nelson, and ends with a poetic address to The Deity. 372 pp. 11 x 18 cm. Calf on boards, worn, rear board detached, front board hanging by a thread. Text block lightly foxed, solid. Poor. (2427) $33.00. History

Hurricane Sept. 21, 1938, The; Historical and Pictorial, Third Printing by Cawley, William A. 1938 Westerly, RI: Lewis R. Greene. The 1938 Hurricane, which took 136 lives and destroyed 1018 houses from Mystic, CT to Narragansett, RI struck the area on September 21, 1938. Pictorial record of devastation at Watch Hill, Misquamicut, Weekapaug, Quonochontaug and Charlestown, Green Hill to Narragansett, Westerly, Stonington, Mystic. List of people killed at each town; list of cottages and houses destroyed at each location. 56 pp. 22 x 30 cm. Paper booklet with green paper cover, moderate wear, very good.(7698) $29.00. History

Il Diritto, L'arma dell'onesto e' la correttezza! Direttore: Prof. Carlo Francesco Nicolosi, Via Maqueda, 230, Palermo. New York, Maggio 1925, Anno. XIV-- No. 3   by Nicolosi, Prof. Carlo Francesco 1925 New York, NY: Istituto Educativo Salesiano per Orfani di Guerra. Italian-language booklet appeals for contributions to Italian war orphans. Includes a full-page picture of Benito Mussolini: The new Italian dictator was tremendously popular in 1925, just three years after he and his black shirts had marched into Rome.  Included is a receipt for $20 donation from Andrea Romano, in September, 1925. 20 pp. 16 x 24 cm. Paper booklet, cover lightly soiled, very good condition. (5328) $24.00. History

Indians:  Lives of Celebrated American Indians by the Author of Peter Parley's Tales by Goodrich, Samuel G. [Peter Parley] 1843 Boston, MA: Bradbury, Soden & Co. Goodrich proposed three books on the Aborigines of North America-- this one aims to make the reader familiar with the real character and genius of that remarkable and peculiar race of men.  The conquerors and spoilers of America had strong motives for first hating, and then defaming, the Aborigines.  Cortez slaughtered millions and thus sought to justify his conduct by representing the Indians in the most degrading and revolting colors.  Pizarro also covered up his atrocities by representing the people he butchered as ungodly heathen. Among the  celebrated Indians in this volume are Manco Capac, Mayta Capac, Huayna Capac, Atahualpa, Caupolican, Ycholay, Tupac Amaru, Quetzlcoatl, Xolotl, Montezuma I and II, Cofachiqui, Vitachuco, Pocahontas, Philip, Pontiac, Logan, Brant, Tecumseh, Shongmunecuthe, and Black Hawk.  Illustrated.  Frontispiece is drawing of Logan of the Mingo or Cayga tribe. 315 pp. 11 x 17 cm. Marbled paper on board with quarter calf, front cover detached. Signature of “James A. Pirye, Adjutant" stamped on front free endpaper. Some pencil marks on text.  Poor. (2419) $56.00. History

Irish:  Story of the Irish Race, The; A Popular History of Ireland by Seumas MacManus, assisted by Several Irish Scholars, Subscribers' Edition. 1921 New York, NY: The Irish Publishing Co. Probably every Irish family in the United States owned a copy of this book, but from the fresh appearance of this copy, not many eyes have pored over its pages. In 81 Chapters, MacManus covers the Tuatha de Danann, Conor MacNessa, Cuchullain, Cormac MacArt, Fionn and the Fian, the Break of Ulster, Colm Cille, Shane the Proud, Red Hugh, Daniel O'Connell, Catholic Emancipation, Sinn Fein, and much more.  719 pp. 15 x 23 cm. Brown leatherette on boards with gilt lettering, faded on spine.  Front outer hinge cracked slightly. Clipping inserted about St. Clement's high baseball team of South Medford, MA, from about 1921. Good. (3977) $24.00. History/Culture

Istoriya Frantsuzkoi Revolutsii --Kultur'no-Istoricheskaya Biblioteka (History of the French Revolution , from the Cultural-History Library) (In Russian) Edited by K.K. Arsenev. 1897. St. Petersburg, Russia: A.A. Porokhovschikov. Translation into Russian from French sources, this History gives 1897 Russian readers a view of how royalty in France were swept from power. 438 pp. 14.5 x 19.5 cm. Marble boards with leather spine and trim. Poor condition, cover coming loose from binding. (0249) $45.00. History/France.

Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century, 25th edition; this is Part second of "France and England in North America" by Parkman, Francis 1888. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. 463 pp. 14 x 21 cm. This book is a classic.  Parkman used original sources from the Jesuit missionaries to write this study of their work among the North American Indians--the Algonquins, the Hurons, the Iroquois and many more.  He tells about the miserable, deadly existence among the tribes in the dead of winter, when they ate only dried corn and acorns, but about their festivities and customs. He describes the priests saying mass to one group of Indians after another through the day; but also the cannibalism and war parties and treachery of Indians and white men. He tells of the many strange combinations of Indian superstition and Catholic religion, of the "infestation" of witches among the Hurons and Iroquois. He writes about the character of the Canadian Jesuits-- Juan de Brébeuf, Charles Garnier, Joseph Marie Chaumonot, Noël Chabanel, Isaac Jogues.  Persecution of the Jesuits as sorcerers. Includes map of The Country of the Hurons. Maroon cloth on board with gilt lettering, minor wear. Owner name, dated Sept. 5, 1892, on title page, in pencil. Very good. (2738) $36.00. History/Religion

Jews: The Epic of a People, The Story of the Jews by  Addleson, Abraham 1943 New York, NY: Bloch Publishing Co. "The Jewish Book Concern" A South African Jew offers this book as an attempt to interest Jews in the history of their people, particularly young Jewish men and women.  Endpapers provide map of Palestine and neighboring states; rear endpaper shows Land of Canaan of ancient times and present day Palestine (1939).  Concluding chapters relate story of longing to return to Palestine, Theodore Herzl, Balfour Declaration of 1917, Arab Agitation, Plight of Jews in face of German crisis, March 1938 summons of President Roosevelt to the Nations for meeting at Evian-les-Baines, France. 359 pp. 15.5 x 24 cm. Blue cloth on board, 1 x 3 cm piece of cloth missing from upper rh corner of front cover, bookplate from Chelsea Hebrew Free School on  inside front pastedown. No dj. Fair.  (5773) $24.00. History/Judaism

Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Wed. the 6th of January to Sat. the 12th of March, 1808 Perez Morton,  Speaker of the House. Boston, MA: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Activities of the House in session in the Statehouse in Boston. Jan. 8, 1808: Speech of Gov. James Sullivan discusses Commonwealth militia, convulsions in Europe that result in embargoes, and threat of seizure of our ships; regulations for inspection of pickled fish; negotiations with the Penobscot Indians. Report on bill for creation of a Supreme Judicial Court for the Commonwealth, Jan. 16, 1808; Much discussion of activities in the District of Maine, (which later became a State);  Petition by distressed seamen, with discussion as to how it was fraudulently prepared. Discussion on sale of New Hampshire lottery tickets in Massachusetts. Resolution supporting Government of the United States with regard to action opposing violation of neutrality, and outrageous attack on the American frigate Chesapeake. Message from Governor about coastal defense of the Commonwealth. Much discussion on the memorial of Micajah Coffin, a member of the House from Nantucket. Discussion on different degrees of homicide, report by House committee. An act for regulating of the Indian Mulatto and Negro proprietors and inhabitants of the plantation called Mashpee. Bill to cede a piece of land in Kittery to the United States for the purpose of fortification.  324 pp. 15 x 26 cm. Paper on board, spine poor, cover stained, front cover detached, text block very good, (2 x 3 cm piece torn from corner of pp. 151-2.) Some pages unopened. Overall, poor. (5227) $70.00. History.

La Commune de Paris aujourd'hui, sous la coordination de Jacques Zwirn [The Paris Commune Today, in French] 1999 Paris, France: Les Éditions de l'Atelier/Les Éditions Ouvrières. "Une Oeuvre Toujours Au Coeur L'Acualite" par Claude Willard; "Une Monde Que Nous Avons Perdu?" par Michel Caron (CFDT); "Faire Oeuvre de Mémoire" par Louis Viannet (CGT); "La Commune n'est pas Morte" par Marc Blondel (CGT-FO); Eugène Varlin biography; "La Commune de Paris: Un Mythe Fondateur" par René Berthier (Féderation anarchiste, Groupe Février); "Éphémère et Fertile Commune" par Jean-Claude Barbarant (FEN); "Les Maçons, de la Conciliation aux Barricades" par André Combes (Grande Orient de France), "Les Leçons de la Commune de Paris" par Louis Mexandeau (PS); aussi les contributions de Dominique Comelli (FSU), Sylvie Jan (Femmes Solidaires); Pierre Dharréville (JOC); Jean-Jacques Kirkyacharian (MRAP); Fodé Sylla (SOS Racisme), etc. 174 pp. 15.5 x 22 cm. Paper booklet very good. (7959) $45.00. History/Social Commentary

Last Days of Pompeii, The; by the author of "Pelham", "Eugene Aram"; Franklin Library Edition by Bulwer Lytton, Edward 1851. Hartford, CT: S. Andrus & Son. Life in Pompeii, just below Mount Vesuvius in Italy, right before the famous eruption of the volcano in 83 A.D. Book includes dedication to Sir William Gell dated 1834. 266 pp. 12 x 19 cm. Black cloth on board, blindstamped design on cover, gilt lettering on spine. Cloth on spine split in parts. Pp. 175-6 has 2 x 1 cm. piece torn out. Pp. 249-256 loose, Pg. 255-6 has closed tear. Poor. (2969) $30.00. History/Rome

Louisiana:  History of Louisiana, Revised Edition by King, Grace and Ficklen, John R. 1904 New Orleans, LA L. Graham Co., Ltd., 715 Perdido St. Book was prepared as text book for Louisiana school children. Account of the Civil War and of Reconstruction (1865-1875) is bitter, and shows how personally close this all was at the time of writing. 341 pp. 13 x 18.7 cm. Cloth on board, worn and frayed. Several pages contain some scribbling in pencil. Fair to poor condition, but binding firm. (0279) $26.00. History/Educational.

Lynn, MA;  Proceedings in Lynn, Massachusetts, June 17, 1879 Being the 250th Anniversary of the Settlement, embracing the Oration, by Cyrus M. Tracy by Newhall, James R.1880 Lynn, MA: Lynn City Council. This is an account of the Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Settlement of Lynn, MA.  This "Third Plantation" of Massachusetts was settled on about June 17, 1629. The day of the Celebration opened bright and beautiful, with a parade of the "Antiques and Horribles", which “pursued their vagrant march, with rather rasping attire, through the principal streets... To a certain class, and that by no means a small one, this afforded great attraction." A list of the notables and organizations in the procession is provided. Exercises at Music Hall began after the procession terminated, soon after mid-day.  The Lynn Choral Union sang the National Hymn, "To Thee, O Country". Cyrus M. Tracy, Historian, delivered an oration which detailed the history of Lynn.  Next came a banquet of roast turkey, chicken, beef and pig, and boiled salmon with peas, many cakes, puddings and ice creams and sherbets. No intoxicating liquors were provided.  Part Second of this volume relates the history of Lynn, and provides brief accounts of the Mayors of Lynn, together with facsimiles of their signatures.  It repeats this for Lynn's Town Clerks, then lists the current Aldermen and Common Council members.  Book concludes with a Chronological Table and an Index. Also inserted in book are five newspaper clippings relating to history of Lynn, from about 1956. . 224 pp. 15 x 23 cm. Leather on board with gilt trim, leather on spine worn and bottom 5 cm. is torn, inside back hinge is cracked. Marbled endpapers. Owner's name sticker on inside front pastedown: "Paul T. Curtin".  Fair. (1868) $85.00. History

Madame Tussaud's Exhibition, Coronation Catalogue, 1937 London, England: Madame Tussaud's Exhibition, adj. Baker St. Station, London N.W.1. Special Coronation catalogue, features photos of H.M. King George VI and H.M. Queen Elizabeth on cover. Frontispiece photo shows exterior of Madame Tussaud's Exhibition on Marylebone Road. Outline of History of Madame Tussaud's. Photo of Tussaud's Cinema Lounge where cinema patrons can peruse illustrated papers and take dainty teas.  Catalogue lists location of various famous people, in English, French and German. Photos of wax likeness of Earl Kitchener, Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Her Majesty Queen Mary, Tableau including Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Haile Selassie, Josef Stalin. 80 pp. 12 x 20 cm. Paper booklet, minor wear to wraps, good. (7523) $30.00. History

Mahomet and His Successors in two volumes by Irving, Washington 1873 Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott & Co. Irving notes that his earlier studies during his ambassadorship in Spain centered on Spanish sources; he uses Arabian and other eastern sources to tell this story. 372, 488 pp. 13 x 19 cm. Half-leather, marbled boards. Leather in spine deteriorated. Marbled endpapers. Text block very good. Overall good. (1472) $20.00. History.

Massachusetts Magazine, The, A quarterly Magazine Devoted to History, Genealogy and Biography. July, 1908. Waters, Rev. Thomas Franklin, Editor. 1908 Salem, MA: The Massachusetts Magazine. "The Idylls of Franklin County" by Rev. Thomas F. Waters. Attack on Deerfield Sept. 1, 1675. Attack of Feb. 29, 1704 on Deerfield settlers by French and Indians.  Cover features photo of George Sheldon, who wrote history of Deerfield. Tipped-in photographs of Memorial Building in Deerfield,  George Sheldon's Home, also Paul Revere's Home in Boston. "Hon. John N. Cole" by John N. McClintock, with photo. "Hon. Louis A. Frothingham" by John N. McClintock, with photo. "Robert Luce" by John N. McClintock, with photo. "Colonel William Prescott's Regiment" by Frank A. Gardner, M.D. "The Old Royall House" at Medford, by Helen Tilden Wild, with tipped in photo. "Personal Diary of Ashley Bowen of Marblehead"  extract of diary kept on voyage from Boston to Halifax. April 1759. ad for New Ocean House, Swampscott. Ad for American Sewage Disposal Co., John N. McClintock, President. Ad for Thomas B. Mosher books. 80 pp. + adv. 18 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, cover lightly soiled, edges frayed, spine chipped, fair. (7333)  $23.00. History/Biography

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