My High School Drama Career

Our work with Shakespeare’s Macbeth

                Mr. Kenneth Parker was the English teacher when I was a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas.   He was a very prim and proper gentleman, always wearing a suit and a bow tie. He was quite serious in his approach to English… and to the world, I believe.

We were studying Shakespeare, and Macbeth came up for our studious exploration. My friend Bill McDougal and I decided we’d do a little skit featuring the famous scene of the Witches around the cauldron.

            We dressed in black, and jammed mops down the back of our costumes so we could let the mop ends serve as wigs.

            We had procured a large cauldron and Bill, always the mad scientist in our class, had brought some nitric acid, which made a nice, smoking effect. 

We circled around the cauldron, droning our incantations and chanting:

 

“Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed

Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.  

 Harpier cries “‘Tis time, ‘tis time!”     

Round about the cauldron go;   

 In the poisoned entrails throw.   

Toad, that under cold stone    

 Days and nights has thirty-one    

 Sweltered venom sleeping got    

 Boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot.   

 Double, double toil and trouble;     

 Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.   

 Fillet of a fenny snake     

  In the cauldron boil and bake.    

In my incantation,  I bent over, the mop handle somehow caught the cauldron and upset it, splashing nitric acid all over the place.  I looked down at my pants—my best trousers—and they were full of little holes, and my legs were burning like the devil!  Bill was also burned. This created general pandemonium in the classroom.

We raced to the boys’ rest room and splashed our legs with water.

Mr. Parker, ever the gentleman, was trying to maintain order. When he was exasperated, he’d clamp his lips together and his face turned red. You could see from the look on his face that this was really, really stressful to him. 

            I think that was the end of my Shakespeare work in high school.

Photo of me with my beloved Jeepster

Now, here are some books and papers from The Personal Navigator:

American Mercury, The,  A Monthly Review Edited by H.L. Mencken & George Jean Nathan, January 1924; Vol. I No. 1, First Issue Mencken, H.L., Editor 1924 New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. With Mencken as editor one might expect brilliance, and this inaugural  issue has it. The Editorial announces the intent of the new magazine to devote itself pleasantly to exposing the nonsensicality of hallucinations of utopianism and the lot.  The lead article "The Lincoln Legend" by Isaac R. Pennypacker, gives a new and more robust look at the life of President Abraham Lincoln.  His forefathers were iron-masters, capable leaders in their communities, giving a lie to the myth of the simple railsplitter.  As a war leader, Pennypacker compares him with Jefferson Davis, and Lincoln comes up far superior. "The Drool Method in History" by Harry E. Barnes is a humorous attack on purveyors of "pure history" --- the superiority of the Aryans, the discovery of America was by well-meaning religious people; the sole cause of our ancestors' embarking upon wintry seas to come to the New World was religious freedom; Loyalists in the Revolution were a gang of degenerate drunkards and perverts, etc.  "The Tragic Hiram" by John W. Owens is contemporary political commentary, about Borah, La Follette, Hoover and Harding-- but skewering Johnson.  144 pp. 17 x 25 cm. Magazine, writing on advertisement, first page of magazine: "Ruth Schliveh's shower Jan. 19, 1924"… and "Bill Paxton Brown U. 1924."  Very good. (7663) $76.00. Literature/History

Metastasio

Opere Scelte di Metastasio, seconda edizione, con aggiunte, Seven volumes, in Italian. [Second volume lacking title page.], 1819, Avignone, France: Presso Fr. Seguin Aîné, stampatore e librajo. (1594 pp.)

Tomo I. Siroe, Artaserse, Adriano. (243 pp.)

Tomo II.  Demetrio, Issipile, Olympiade. (242 pp.)

Tomo III. Demofoonte, La Clermenza di Tito, Achille in Sciro. (243 pp.) .

Tomo IV. Ciro Riconosciuto, Temistocle, Zenobia (239 pp.) .

Tomo V. Ipermestra, Antigono, Attilio Regolo. (200 pp.)

Tomo VI. La Morte d’Abel, Isacco Figura del Redentore, Giuseppe Roconosciuto, Betulia Liberata, Gioas Re di Giuda, La Passione di Gesù Cristo. (187 pp.)

Tomo VII. L’Isola Disabitata, Il Sogno de Scipione, Alcide al Bivio, Il Trionfo d’Amore, ec. Also: Poesia diverse e sonetti. (240 pp.)

Seven-volume set of collected works by the celebrated 18th-century poet and librettist, with six volumes dedicated to his historical plays. Seven vols., Green leather with gilt border design, edges worn. Marbled endpapers, bookplates belonging to “Wm. J. Rotch” with Roche family crest in front of each volume. Vol. II missing title page. Some title pages have small penciled name “E.R. Arnold” at top.  Most pages show very slight foxing, very good.  (6903) $111.00. Literature/Italian.

Title Page and Frontispiece for The Royal Convert (see below)

Robertson’s Theatre: Three Tragedies and One Comedy: London Merchant, The, or the History of George Barnwell by George Lillo; Royal  Convert, The, by Nicholas Rowe; The Spanish Fryar; or the Double Discovery, by John Dryden; and Douglas, by John Home 1774-1776. Edinburgh, Scotland: J. Robertson. Collection of three tragedies by Lillo, Rowe and Home, and comedy, by Dryden, all bound in one book. Lillo's tragedy is an 18th century morality play about a young apprentice who falls in love with a lovely, but wicked courtesan. Royal Convert takes place in Kent, England about 20 years after the first invasion of Britain by the Saxons. Dryden's comedy pokes fun at the Spanish and Roman Catholics, at a time when Britain was very conflicted about Catholicism. Home's tragedy, Douglas, stirred up a hornet's nest in Edinburgh, between Presbyterians and supporters of the stage. Each play includes a frontispiece illustration. 273 pp. 10 x 17 cm. Calf on board, front cover detached.  Title on spine is "Robertson's Theatre".  Both front and back calf is cracked and quite worn, and  spine shows unsuccessful efforts to hold front board on with tape. Text block good. Overall poor. (2722) $90.00. Literature/Drama

Frontispiece and Title Page, Scelta di Favole

Scelta Di Favole; Raccolte da' più celebri Autori Francesi, e Rese in Italiano Da Maria Raffaela Caracciolo de' Duchi di Rodi Per uso de' suoi Fratelli, coll' Aggiunta 1816 Napoli, Italia: A. Garruccio Stampatore. 110 pp. 14 x 21.5cm. Collection of Stories chosen from the work of the most celebrated Author, Signor de la Motte Fenelon (1671-1715). François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon was a French Roman Catholic Archbishop, theologian, poet and writer.  Booklet by Raffaele Caracciolo de Duchi di Rodi is dedicated to his parents, and is for the edification of his younger brothers.  Stories are: La Vigna ed il Vignjuolo; Il Cane colpevole; Il Zoppo, il Gobbo, il Cieco; Il Pazzo, Socrate, ed un suo Scolare; La Pecora, ed il Cane; I Pastori; La Pernice ed i suoi Figli; La Morte; Giove e Minosse; Il Cardellino; L'Orso giovine ed il di lui padre; I topi giovini, ed il lor padre; and One-hundred six  Massime scelte (Selected Maxims), rendered in both French and Italian. Includes frontispiece engraving, "La Tranquillità" showing young woman seated beneath a tree with three lambs nearby. Truly a delightful little booklet.  Fair condition, paper bound, very rough cut. Engraved illustration as frontispiece. At top left of frontispiece page is small pasted stamp with library information. (0184)  $185.00. Literature/Morality   

 Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

Life for us in the Shah’s Iran

Life in the Shah's Iran

Marty poses for her picture, taken on the roof of our home in Northern Tehran, with the snow-covered Alborz mountains in the background.  The Shah’s Niavaran Palace is just to the right of this picture, about 500 yards away.

            We didn’t know what to expect when we arrived one night at Mehrabad airport in Tehran.  We had flown on PanAm Flight 002 from Paris. In those days (1970) PanAm flight 002 went east around the world, and PA001 went west. 

            Here we were, a family of five, with children ages 12, 9 and 6.  Our sponsors, a U.S. Navy couple, met us at the airport and helped us gather our many bags and loaded them into a van, and away we went toward the city. 

            Two things we noticed as we raced along a good highway:  there were numerous men going to the toilet right by the roadside; and there were several scenes where two cars were stopped on the road, and their drivers were out fighting each other.

            Along the roadways we saw many people walking, with women in black tent-like chadors covering themselves and men wearing shabby sport jackets and little hats on their heads like half a tennis ball.

            Life in Tehran was pleasant for us Americans.  The guy with whom I worked most closely, Lieutenant Colonel Barney Rudden, USAF, was a very wise Air Force Navigator who joined the Army Air Corps during World War II. He had a brilliant sense of humor.  You could take the pressures of living in a very foreign environment like Iran two ways: You could gripe and moan about the differences----  or you could take time to enjoy them.

Persians’ view of “organization” and “order” was completely out of kilter to our western eyes;

Persians’ idea of “time” was remarkably flexible.  If someone told you that he would have your toilet repaired by tomorrow (farda), it could mean next month. That was usually followed by "Inshallah", meaning, "If God wills..."

[Recently Iranian Prime Minister Ahmadinejad told NBC co-anchor Ann Curry that the imprisoned American hikers would be released in a couple of days, Inshallah.   Curry and others at NBC seemed amazed that nothing happened after a couple of days.  It turned out that the Persian hierarchy was going through a little kabuki exercise, and in fact the hikers were released over a week later.  In the American world, if our leader said “two days”, everyone would move heaven and earth to make it happen.  In Iran, it just would not be that important.]

We invited Commander Ansary-Fard, my Iranian Navy counterpart at the Iranian Defense Institute, and his girl friend, for dinner at eight one night.
They arrived at midnight.  The roast beef had shrunk. But they didn't mind, and we got over it.

            Some Americans and Brits in Tehran would always gripe about the Persians’ attitudes toward order and time, but it was more enjoyable to just live with it.  

            Barney rented an apartment near us, and soon found out that an Iranian family in an alley nearby had hooked up to his electrical circuit, so he was paying for their electricity as well as his own. 

            We found that most Iranians (or Persians) were not too familiar with electricity.  Many still lived in homes lighted by kerosene lights, and heated by little kerosene burners. When the electrician visited us he had no problem checking for the presence of a live wire in our walls by touch.  That was 220 volts he was playing with. 

            Iranian drivers were fiercely combative, and you’d see many traffic accidents where neither driver would give way, and they would collide right head-on, then get out and fight with each other.  That was what we had seen on the way to the airport our first night, and what we saw many times during our two years there. 

            These fights usually were more shouting and yelling than actually throwing punches, but they tied up traffic tremendously, and Persians didn’t seem to mind. 

           

Wetting Down Party.  It came time for me to be promoted to Commander, and General Twitchell, the boss of all the American military in Iran, invited my wife Marty and me to his office for the promotion ceremony. 

A few days later, in accord with Navy tradition, we put on a large “Wetting Down” party at our house. I hired a band to play typical Iranian music, but my instructions for them to appear in traditional garb got lost in translation, and they showed up looking like the lowest caste of mards, or plain, peasant men.

Qashqai* man, in traditional felt hat

[Qashqai  قشق  are traditional nomadic sheepherders, living around Shiraz, in central Iran.]

We rustled up some typical costumes for them from our collection of colorful Persian peasant dress, which included half-ball felt hats, and such, and sent them down to the nearby bathhouse to get cleaned up.  When they returned, and started playing on their instruments (Tar, Ney, Daf, Tanbur and Ud, I recall) I asked the bartender to take care of letting them have drinks, to “relax” them. 

That was a big mistake. 

We had about 60 guests—American, British, and Iranian, including some Iranian generals.  Marty had prepared roast Rock Cornish game hen, and our houseboy, Mehrab, was leading a group of people we’d hired for this event, and they had laid out all 60 roasted game hens on the floor of our kitchen, and were putting them on plates, spooning out heaps of rice from a large pot, and at the same time unmolding the molded salads that went on separate little plates.  In typical Persian fashion, they were all on their haunches in the kitchen, with the floor completely covered with food and plates.  You couldn’t even walk in there!

The guests were enjoying cocktails, but the bandmembers were enjoying theirs more, and the wailing Persian music got wilder and louder.  The man pounding on the tambourine-like Daf was trying to drown out the men playing the stringed Tar, Tanbur and Ud, and the man playing the flute-like Ney was wheedling and wailing away.

Dinner was served on our patio, around the swimming pool, and there was more music, but as the waiters were clearing the main course, they got in the spirit of the wild music and started a Persian Napkin Dance. They whisked napkins off the laps of the amazed guests and began to dance around the guests’ tables, waving the long, white starched napkins.

We got the waiters to return to their duties, and to serve a big cake celebrating my promotion .  When it came time to “wet down” the new Commander, the guests had the privilege of throwing me, fully clothed, into our swimming pool.  In Navy tradition, the “wettee” has the privilege of dragging as many others in as he can.

The Persians were delighted.  Seeing all these Americans being pushed into the pool, the music got louder and louder, and they began pushing waiters into the pool.  The senior U.S. naval officer’s wife, in her nice cocktail dress, got thrown in, her wigpiece came loose, and she yelled, “Help, I’m drowning!”

At that, my driver Tadzhik, an Iranian sergeant, nicely dressed in a pin-striped suit, and standing by the pool, jumped in to save her.

Finally we got the band to quit, and the party settled down to a peaceful end. 

The Persian People: Iranians are wonderful people.  Yes, they view organization and time differently than we, but they are friendly, cooperative, and intelligent.  We got to know many Iranians from generals and admirals down to soldiers and sailors, and businessmen, professors, and working men and women. 

They want the same things for themselves and their families as we do, which includes a good education for themselves and their children, and a chance to earn a good living.  I never met one who wanted Iran to return to the “old days” of the seventh century, or who was so wrapped up with Islamic fundamentalism and ideas of Jihad that he was incapable of working with others to build a better Iran.  Those were the people we met when we lived there, and likewise Iranians we have met since then, including many who still live in Iran. 

 Photo of Marty and me on the road to Esfahan

Here are some newspapers and books from The Personal Navigator:

           

Bunker Hill

Revolutionary War: History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument, Illus. Second Edition by Frothingham, Jr., Richard 1851 Boston, MA: Charles C. Little and James Brown. Author produced this book after he completed his History of Charlestown, MA, using many original sources, and it contains a very interesting 40 x 48 cm. fold-out map of the action at Bunker Hill, by Lieut. Page, which was originally published in England in 1776 or 1777. Fascinating account of Revolutionary War battles in and around Boston, the raising of the American army, evacuation of the British, General Howe, Debate in Parliament. There is a 22-page History of the Bunker Hill Monument, and an appendix.420 pp. 14.5 x 23.5 cm.  Cloth on board, blindstamped with gilt medallion front and back; medallion on front is bust of Washington, and on back cover is medallion showing the Recovery of Boston, March 17, 1776. Spine is torn for parts of front and rear hinge and inside front hinge is cracked.  There is a six cm closed tear in large foldout map of Plan of Bunker Hill Battle, and Plan of Boston and Environs is loose.  Plan of Boston facing Title page is missing.  All other maps and illustrations are present. Fair. (5782) $180.00. History/Revolutionary War/Boston.

Massachusetts: History of the Paper House, Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts-- Collection of postcards in folder  ca. 1930 Pigeon Cove, MA:  Ellis F. Stenman began in 1922 to prepare newspapers  for constructing walls of this house (215 thicknesses); also furniture, including a piano; also a fireplace. Grandfather's clock is made of paper from the capital city of each state in the Union. He used about 100,000 copies of newspapers in construction of house and furniture. 9 x 15 cm. Paper folder and three unused black-and-white photograph postcards, very good.  (5847) $19.00. Travel

New Orleans Old City, The    by Morris, Edwin Bateman ca. 1950       Washington, DC: Edwin Bateman Morris 30 pp. 17.6 x 23 cm.           Interesting, very unique book of sketches by Edwin Bateman Morris (1881-1971), an architect, author and sometime playwright.  Sketches and description of sights in Vieux Carre. Cover drawing is Patio Door at 731 Royal St.; also, Court of the Two Lions, Old Absinthe House, Pirates Alley, Napoleon House (actually was Mayor Girod's house at the time of Bonapart's escape from Elba).  Also Antoine's, Iron Balconies at Royal and St. Peter Streets, Architects' Offices at Pere Antoine Place, Daniel Clark Patio where Andrew Jackson was welcomed in 1814. "Perfect Stairway" at 623 Toulouse St., St. Louis Cathedral, also rudumentary map of Vieux Carre, more.     Paper booklet, very good.           (8193) $39.00.  Travel

           

Sketches of Universal History, Sacred and Profane, From the Creation of the World, to the Year 1818, of the Christian Era: In Three Parts with appendix and Chronological Table of Contents. Third Edition. Butler, Frederick, A.M. 1821 Hartford, CT: Oliver D. Cooke. Frontispiece engraving depicts Nebuchadnezzar's Vision of the Image. Author Butler seeks to tell the story from the Creation onward, including Noah and his Ark, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Passage of the Red Sea, Destruction of Ninevah, Siege of Tyre, Clovis, Kingdom of Almansor, Rise of Popery, Luitprand, Gregory II, Edwy, Elgiva, Dunstan; Canute the Dane; illustration of Pope Alexander II compelling Frederick I to kiss his great toe; King Richard; Queen Philippa; Wat Tyler's Mob; Capture of Constantinople; William and Mary; Congress of Aix-La-Chapelle; Settlement of North America; Congress of 1774; Retreat of Gen. Washington; Capture of Gen. Burgoyne; Admiral Degrasse; Illustration: Washington on the auspicious 4th of March 1789.War with Algiers. Intrigues of Charles XII.Peter I enters Petersburg in Triumph. Louis XVI. Revolution. Jacobins. Castiglione. Fall of Kell.. of Mantua; Berlin Decree; Capture of the Emperor Napoleon. Table shows Sovereigns of Europe, including England from Alfred to Regency of the Prince of Wales; France from Clotair I to Lewis XVIII; Spain from Visigoths to Ferdinand; Russia from Peter I to Alexander; Germany from Charlemagne to Francis II. 407 pp. 11 x 18 cm. Calf on board with gilt  title on spine, cover worn and rubbed, spine worn and flaking, text block heavily foxed, fair. (2763) $36.00. History

Krupskaya, Lenin’s Wife

Social-Democratic Movement in Russia, Materials [Sotsial-Demokraticheskoye Dvizhenniye v Rossii] In Russian; Volume One;  A.N. Potresov and B.I. Nikolaevsky, Editors, Russian Reprint Series. 1967. The Hague, NL: Russian Reprint Series.  1967 Reprint of Original 1928 Volume One of Collection of letters of the early Communist movement in Russia. Foreword by P. Lepeshinsky. Many letters to Potresov from all the old Communist intellectuals, (1896-1904): Vera Zasulich, Rosa Luxemburg, Y.O. Martov, V.I. Ulianov-Lenin, P.P. Maslov, V.A. Ionov, V.L. Shantser, G.V. Plekhanov, A.A. Sanin, M.I.Tugan-Baranovsky, N.I. Tugan-Baranovsky, V.V. Vorovsky, P.B. Akselrod; Letters from Akselrod to the Munich Section of the "Iskra" Staff; Nazezhda Krupskaya to Akselrod  and to Vera Zasulich; Akselrod to Martov; Zasulich to Martov. Also text of many early documents: "Materiali o Raskolye 'Soyuza Russkikh S-D.' Zagranitsei v 1900 g."  Question about the International Conference in the Soviet Party (1904). Also about 70 pages of Primechanii (Notes). 410 pp. 15 x 22 cm. Green cloth on board with gilt lettering, very clean and fresh.  (2990) $66.00. History/Russia

Stanley--His Great Eighteen Hundred Mile Journey Down the Lualaba, with map; Eight pages from The New York Herald of November 14, 1877 by Stanley, Henry M. 1877 New York, NY: New York Herald. Two full pages plus additional column, devoted to story of Stanley's journey through the Congo; Discouraged by timid Arabs at Nangwe; Terrible Tribe of Cannibals dispute the way; Perils in region of the cataracts; Brave Frank Pocock--graphic picture of the young Englishman's untimely death; Lost in the whirlpools. Includes map showing travel of Stanley and Cameron from Zanzibar to Benguela (Cameron) or Yellala Falls and mouth of the Congo (Stanley).  This Quadruple page section of paper contains much more on other subjects. 8 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Eight-page "Quadruple Sheet" still uncut,  3 x 3 cm hole at intersection of folds, does not affect text. Fair. (7075) $29.50. History/Africa   

Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

Fighting the Russo-Japanese War again

Battle of Port Arthur, from a Japanese Print

          It all started with a surprise attack by the Japanese Navy.  Japanese Navy destroyers raced into Port Arthur, Manchuria and attacked the Imperial Russian fleet at anchor on the night of 8-9 February 1904. This was the start of the Russo-Japanese War…. and a whole lot more.

            The Japanese used a similar surprise attack plan on the American fleet 37 years later at Pearl Harbor.

            Russians were so surprised and disappointed with the failure of their Army and Navy in the Russo-Japanese War that it was a major reason for the 1905 Russian Revolution.

           

Photo, Russian Soldiers on their way to the Front

          

          The Russo-Japanese War happened 107 years ago, just a few years after America had engaged in an adventure across the Pacific in the Spanish-American War.

            Our President was Theodore Roosevelt, and he came into office sounding the alarm for America to wake up and look at who we were, and what we could do.  No longer did ships have to depend upon favorable winds to reach their destinations. For over half a century they had been using coal-fired boilers to drive steam engines.  This meant that we could buy goods from places all over the world, and get them transported to us faster and more reliably.  More importantly, it meant that our growing factories could ship their products world wide.

            European nations and the United States had been showing much interest in capturing colonies and lucrative trading partners in the Far East. The Boxer Rebellion in Northern China had shown that the Chinese were not going to sit still for western imperialists, and this was a fight that involved the U.S., Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Japan and Italy.

            Japan had remained fairly closed off from the rest of the world until the 1860s, but by 1904, they were coming on strong, with a modern Navy, and a powerful Army. They eyed Korea and Manchuria with great interest.

Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II was very intent upon reaching eastward.  He had pushed for speedy completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok, and the Russians were looking to the south, toward Manchuria and Korea, across the Yalu River.  They really needed a warm-water port in the Far East, and Port Arthur.

This war pitted fierce-looking Cossacks, and fur-hatted Russian infantrymen against equally-fierce looking Japanese troops in the first large conflict of the Twentieth Century, and a modern war that was a preview of things to come in World War II and beyond. 

Fighting took place in Manchuria and Korea, around places that Americans learned much more about during the Korean War of 1950-53.

I’m often surprised at how much history many of our young people have been able to tuck into their brains, in addition to all that flurry of texting and video games and such.

            I’m not old enough to have been around for the Russo-Japanese War.  Gosh, my Dad was five years old that year.

            But for some of us, history is like one big, delicious bowl of spaghetti, and it’s all connected. 

            We lived for two years in Russia, and in Russia, everyone knows about this 1904 war, and how the troops boarded the Trans-Siberian Railway and went as far as Lake Baikal, where the railway ended.  Then they took another train south to Manchuria.  They also know about the 18,000 mile trip that Admiral Rozhestvensky took the Russian Fleet, from the Baltic, around Africa, to an encounter with the Japanese Fleet in the Straits of Tsushima, between Kyushu in Japan and the Korean peninsula.

            Right after living in Russia I lived for three years in Sasebo, Japan, where everyone still celebrates Admiral Heihachiro Togo, the hero of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905.   Sasebo was the base from which the Imperial Japanese Navy sailed to fight the Russians in 1904-05, and it was also a major base for the Japanese again in World War II.  After the war, the Americans took it over, and still operate a base there.

            If you’re still with me on the “history as spaghetti” idea, you can draw connections between the Japanese surprise attacks on Port Arthur in 1904 and Pearl Harbor in 1941.

And you can connect up the dots between Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, and the 1905 Russian Revolution, which led to the 1917 October Revolution, which gave the world Communism and the USSR.

You might enjoy the book listed below, because it is filled with interesting pictures taken in St. Petersburg and Lake Baikal, Russia, in Tokyo, Japan, and in Manchuria and Korea. People, cavalry, guns, and warships.

Here’s the book that I just acquired:

Cover, The Russo-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War, The: A Photographic and Descriptive Review of the Great Conflict in the Far East; Large format book of pictures; Reporting and photographs by Davis, Richard Harding; Palmer, Frederick; Archibald, James F.J.; Dunn, Robert L; Bartlett, E.A.; Hare, James H.; Whigham, H.J. and Bulla, V.K. 1904. New York, NY: P.F. Collier & Son.

Story told in excellent black-and-white photographs of conflict between Japan, only recently a world power, and Russia, pushing eastward in Siberia, over Manchuria and Korea. Most photos are by Colliers photographers, and text is by Colliers special reporters. Book tells story of Cause of War --Disputed Territory; Preparatory Stages; First Battles of War; March to Ping-Yang; From Chenampo to the Yalu; Russian Advance to Front; Chroniclers of the War; Battle of the Yalu; and Honoring the Heroes and the Dead. Many photos taken in St. Petersburg and Tokio (Tokyo). Includes correspondence re negotiations preceding war with photos of Czar, Mikado, and many of their military and civilian staff. Photos of Russian Red Cross personnel, and ladies sent by Queen Victoria to observe Red Cross operations. Photos of Russian ships bottled up at Port Arthur. 127 pp. 28 x 39 cm.  Paper on board with cloth spine, cover water stained, corners bumped, text block clean and very good, binding tight, altogether a fair copy. (8188) $75.00.       History/Naval/Military/Japan, Russia    

 Photo of Japanese Bluejackets Coming Ashore at Chenampo (Chinnampo, North Korea, port city for Pyongyang). They hadn’t been ashore for two months, and they’re smiling.

We invite you to consider these items, as well:

Crew of USS Yorktown. ca. 1898.

Uncle Sam's Navy, Historical Fine Art Series, Vol. IV No. 3, April 26, 1898 Philadelphia, PA: Historical Publishing Co. This series has been prepared for the public, eagerly devouring whatever news is published about our Navy.   Photos of Spanish battleship Pelayo, Spanish cruisers Almirante Oquendo and Viscaya. Photos of crew of cruiser New York, deck crew of Yorktown, ship's company of Maine, and photo of a Minstrel show aboard USS Maine. Photos of gun crews drilling with heavy ordnance, machine and Gatling guns. 16 pp. 35 x 28 cm. Paper booklet, 10 cm. closed tear on cover page,  good. (5780) $30.00. Navy/Nautical.

Farmers' Cabinet, The; Milford Advance and Wilton Journal, Milford, NH June 30, 1898 Rotch, W.B. Editor and Publisher 1898 Milford, NH: The Farmers' Cabinet. This issue of this famous old weekly southern New Hampshire paper concentrates on  local news, with a drawing of  Colonel J.A. Greene, the Fourth of July orator for Milford's celebration.  Also there are plans for an elaborate electrical display will be used to imitate the destruction of a battleship in the Souhegan River (after the destruction of USS Maine in Havana Harbor).  There will also be a tug of war, a wheelbarrow race, and more.  News of the War with Spain is on page 4, speculating on raids on the Spanish homeland by the U.S. Navy after the victory in the Philippine Islands by Admiral Dewey.  News from Cuba includes report of U.S. troops surrounding Santiago.  Report of Strawberry Day for New Hampshire Horticultural Society, visiting George F. Beede's farm of acres of the finest berries.  "California Letter" details the extensive lines of the Union Pacific in California, description of San Jose (San Hozay, it explains) Pacific Grove, Monterey and Santa Cruz. Distances are given from "Frisco". Ad for cure for constipated bowels and biliousness:  Ayer's Pills and Ayer's Sarsaparilla. Article "An Army Officer's Life"  starts with description of 63-year-old former army officer and ends with testimonial to Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. 8 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Newspaper, good. (7711) $20.00. Newspapers/History

Boston Weekly Messenger, Thursday January 19, 1832 Boston, MA: Nathan Hale. 4 pp. 44 x 59 cm. Cholera in Sunderland, England-- authorities don't want to talk about it. American sailor apparently murdered "in the interests of science" in England. Crime of blood hounds in human shape murdering people for purposes of dissection. The sailor's clothes were found in a house of ill fame. Text of speech in Senate by Henry Clay on Reduction of Duties. Henry Clay is nominated by the National Republican Party for President, and John Sergeant for vice president. [Note: Clay lost to Andrew Jackson in the 1832 election.] Report of $1100 of Bibles burnt in Macon, GA. Report of sentence of young Miller Snell in attempted poisoning of the nine members of the Noyes family. He sprinkled arsenic on their food at nine in the morning, and returned at 12 and added to the quantity, and gave notice that he would not return for dinner. Newspaper, very good. (6423) $25.00. Newspaper/History.

Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, The; January 1888          New York, NY: The Century Co. Union Square. "The Catacombs of Rome"; "John Ruskin" by W.J. Stillman, with frontispiece portrait; "John Gilbert" by J. Rankin Towse, with illustrations by J.W. Alexander. "Russian Provincial Prisons" by George Kennan. Kennan describes horrible conditions, then goes into great detail with "the Knock Alphabet" and the "Checker-Board Cipher" for communicating in prison. "Abraham Lincoln: A History--The Formation of the Cabinet" by John G. Nicolay and John Hay. Includes excellent engravings of Chase, Welles, Cameron, Blair, Caleb Smith and Bates. 156 pp. + adv. 17 x 25 cm. Magazine, edges of cover frayed, fair. (7805) $20.00. History/Civil War

American Mercury, The, A Monthly Review Edited by H.L. Mencken, June 1929 Mencken, H.L., Editor 1929            New York, NY: The American Mercury. Lead article, "Murder in the Making" by Lawrence M. Maynard, who is currently serving a seven years' term at Trenton. He has written several articles, short stories and a play while in prison. "The taking of Montfaucon" by James M. Cain, who served in The War. Mencken has a blazing editorial in this issue about the status of Negroes in America today. "The Negro realtors, insurance magnates, bootleggers and other grotesque upstarts of today are accumulating a fund which, in the long run, will achieve more for their race than any conceivable white philanthropy.....From among the best of them will come a new leadership....What the Negroes need is leaders who can and will think black."  "Black Babbitt may turn out to be a more useful man, in the long run, than either Washington or DuBois."  "The Elephant and the Donkey" by Edward Lee McBain.  Ad on back cover for Camels shows man with cigarette in mouth offering a cigarette from a pack to a lady. 256 pp. + adv.            17.5 x 25.5 cm. Magazine, edges worn, good. (8177) $28.00. History/Race Relations        

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: Report of the Legislative Committee from the State of New York to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Albany, January 15, 1910. 1910 Albany, NY: State of New York. New York State was the only state east of the Rockies to vote to appropriate money to take part in this exposition, held in Seattle, Washington  in 1909. Book provides summary of entertainments sponsored by New York, text of major speeches, including one by N.Y. Gov. Charles Evans Hughes. Considerable text is devoted to celebration of Seward Day, Sep. 10, 1909, when a statue of the great Secretary of State William H. Seward was dedicated. His son, General William H. Seward, took an active part in the celebration. Interesting photos of interior of New York State Building, and of various New York participants. 197 pp. 20 x 28 cm. Red cloth on boards with gilt lettering and State seal of New York. Spine fabric faded and mottled, front and back hinges cracked, one illustration page loose. Poor. (1464) $39.00. History/Biography

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Caught "Red Handed"

Typical scene in downtown Leningrad, with the largest tram system in the world.

Car in foreground contained surveillance operatives (Goons).

  

Caught Red Handed.   One day, just a few months before it was time to leave the USSR, I was assigned to find out about this huge ship that was under construction in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).  It was a large ship, and as the superstructure got put together, it was a mystery to our intelligence community what this was going to be.  The Naval Intelligence command ordered me to find out what I could.  This was in 1983.

On this day, because there was so much interest in this ship, we thought we would take a drive.  I was traveling with Terry, the Canadian naval attaché, a commander, and he was driving our consulate’s Niva all-wheel drive vehicle. 

Terry was a sturdy, husky ship driver from Ontario.

Leningrad was a magnet for naval attachés, because our job was to collect all the intelligence we possibly could about the Soviet Navy.   Attachés had been traveling up there for decades, since before World War II, in hopes of catching a glimpse of new warships the Soviets were building in the many shipyards in this city. 

We traveled together with Canadians, or Brits, and sometimes with French, Italian or West German attachés.  The British consulate had a red Niva reserved for their attachés, and the American consulate had a green Niva for our attachés. All American  diplomatic cars had red license plates that started with “D 04”, while regular Soviet plates were white. It wasn’t too hard for the KGB to keep track of us. 

The Soviet Union has always been very secretive about most things.  You couldn’t take pictures of bridges in downtown Moscow; maps of Moscow were purposefully inaccurate, so they couldn’t be used by an invading army.  Their experience with Napoleon and then with Hitler had made them more than a little skittish.  One can imagine that the Soviets considered taking photographs of ships under construction at any of their shipyards absolutely forbidden.

I hear that even today, all these years after the Soviet Union collapsed, Russians still have a built-in distrust of foreigners talking photos. All diplomats in Russia are pretty much considered spies.

There’s one thing good about traveling with an officer of another nation.  Occasionally the KGB would decide to rough up one of our attachés, either because one of their people had been roughed up in New York or Washington, or just for the heck of it.  These things were carefully planned in advance, and they had to be cleared by the KGB desk officer.  If you were going to be traveling with an attaché from another country, the incident would have to be cleared with that desk officer, too.  Generally, unless it was a top level incident that was going to happen, that level of bureaucracy was just too hard, so it was usually safer to travel with someone from another country. 

We were all ready for our first run of the day, to observe this strange large ship on the building ways.  Terry the Canadian was driving, and I was in the passenger seat, all ready to observe as we crossed the bridge over this canal. From this canal we could look right into the shipyard.

Leningrad is called “The Venice of the North” because it has many, many canals all through the city.  As we crossed this canal I noticed a strange-looking guy standing by a dump truck, parked on the canal bridge.  I had already started observing when I spotted this guy.  At the same time, he spotted me, and yelled.  Then he jumped into his dump truck and took off after us.  Out of nowhere appeared a small Zhiguli, the little Russian Fiats the KGB used to follow us around.  It was loaded with the usual number of four goons. 

Then another Zhiguli appeared, also loaded with goons.  They were following behind, to either side of the dump truck, dodging in and out of traffic, dodging the streetcars, etc.  I told Terry to get the hell out of here, meaning the area around the shipyard, and he headed right down town.  We were going pretty fast, with the dump truck and the two Zhigulis.  Another Zhiguli appeared, and they started to box us in—one in front, one on either side, and the truck astern.  And alongside us was one of Leningrad’s many trolley cars. 

Just as we got into Leningrad’s center, one of the busiest shopping streets, they forced us to stop. 

We immediately displayed our diplomatic papers against the closed windows as they demanded we get out.  Our standing instructions were, in such cases, to show our papers and stay put—never willingly open the door or window of the car.  Of course, if they wanted to, they could get in the car in a second, but this was always one of those tricky diplomatic incidents, and if the Soviets were in plain view of regular citizens, they avoided that… usually.

Leningrad Tram near Finlandskaya Station (famous for being the station to which Lenin returned after exile, to lead the October Revolution of 1917).

The lead KGB guy got out of his car, and was pointing at me, and telling the others that I was using a big camera, with a long lens, and he used his hands to show how long.  They walked around our car, wrote down our license plate number, which they knew very well anyway, and then they all got in their cars and truck, and disappeared. 

            We were pretty shaken, even though they had apparently left, and we quietly, at speed limit, drove back to the American Consulate, and spent the rest of the day touring Leningrad as the innocent tourists we were. 

            The story of this incident later appeared in Red Star, the national Red Army newspaper, and was picked up by Canadian and American newspapers:  “American naval officer caught Red Handed in Leningrad, Canadian involved.” 

            I’m glad the Cold War is over.

This is what we were after: Marshal Nedelin Class Soviet Range Support Ship

The Soviets used these ships to track our missiles as well as their own.

The Personal Navigator offers these books and papers:

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

Edward G. Robinson (L) shown with James Cagney

Edward G. Robinson in Thunder in the City--Advance Advertising Package 1937 New York, NY: Astor Pictures Corp. Eight-page, large format booklet contains advertising cuts, publicity pieces, biographies for promoting film, "Thunder in the City" starring Edward G. Robinson (1893-1973), with Luli Deste, Nigel Bruce, Constance Collier; Screen play by Robert Sherwood and Aben Kandel; Directed by Marion Gering, this was an Astor Pictures Corp. film.  Headline: "'Little Caesar' Crashes Society to Smash All Thrill Records."  8 pp. 27 x 42 cm. Paper booklet, large format, moderate wear, good. (7087) $41.00. Advertising/Cinema

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

  

Practical Housekeeping, A careful compilation of tried and approved recipes; One hundred and tenth thousand. 1881 Minneapolis, MN: Buckey Publishing Company. Starts with 371 pages of recipes; includes excellent section on kitchen "luxuries" showing small pictures of waffle irons, umbrella folding rack, spiral egg beater, steaming kettle, cake board and rolling pin, oyster broiler, revolving grater, and much more. 670 pp. 15 x 21 cm. Cloth on board, owner pasted paper over cover, thus cover poor. Text block very good. Binding tight.  Overall good. (5336) $60.00. Cookbooks/Women's

American Reader, The, containing a selection of Narration, Harrangues, Addresses, Orations, Dialogues, Odes, Hymns, Poems & c. Designed for use of schools. By John Hubbard, John 1820 Bellows Falls, Vermont: Bill Blake & Co. Loads of words of advice to young readers. Patriotic Address of Rolla, the Peruvian General, when attacked by the Spaniards; repeated in 1803 by R.B. Sheridan to the British while Bonaparte was preparing to attack that Kingdom.  Observations on the Indians of Virginia: "Poor Indians!  Where are they now? The people here now may say what they please, but on the principal of eternal truth and justice they have no rights to this country.…”  "never... will the Indians be brought to love the whiteman, and to imitate his sufferings." 215 pp. 10 x 16 cm. Paper on board, most of paper worn off, exposing bare wooden boards. Good. On front free endpaper is handwritten name "Adeline". (3553) $47.00. Educational

Atlas SSSR [Atlas of the USSR, in Russian] for 7th and 8th classes of Middle School, third edition 1956 Moscow, USSR: Glavnoye Upravlyeniye Geodesy I Kartografii MVD SSSR. Full-color Atlas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) showing physical maps, climatological, resources, political-administrative, topographical, population, nationalities, industrial, main centers of machine construction, electrical power stations, metallurgical plants, railroad, transportation, river and watershed, detailed maps of parts of USSR, tables of rivers, lakes, mountains, etc. 76 pp. 23 x 29.5 cm. Paper board cover with cloth spine, edges worn, inside hinges cracked, staples rusted, good. (7338) $42.00. Educational/Atlas

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EMBRACING DEFEAT: Japan in the wake of World War II

Photos of one location in Sendai Prefecture: Left, March 11, 2011 after disastrous tsunami; middle photo, June 2, 2011; and right, September 3, showing Japanese resilience. (Photos courtesy AP/Kyodo)

BOOK REVIEW OF EMBRACING DEFEAT: JAPAN IN THE WAKE OF WORLD WAR II by John W. Dower, 1999. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 677 pp.

            This book begins on August 15, 1945, when, all across Japan, the people heard their emperor’s voice for the first time.  He announced that Japan had capitulated. It was the end of a “holy war” for the Japanese.

Victory for the United States and her allies had come, but the Japanese people were shattered.  Not only were Hiroshima and Nagasaki devastated by two atomic bombs; other cities were heavily damaged by allied bombing; Japan’s Imperial Navy had been wiped out, and its army, spread out all across Asia and the Pacific, was demolished.

[POW’s incarcerated by Germans—4% died in captivity; Those in  Japanese prison camps – 27%]

The Americans came shortly after the war and began to install a parallel government, headed by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Embracing Defeat by John Dower

Kyodatsu.  It’s hard for us to recall, or to visualize the despair and the destitution of the Japanese people after the war. They were exhausted. Those who could and would, pillaged military and government supplies and stole millions of yen.  For the rest, there was starvation.  People were eating rats and sawdust, acorns, grain dust, peanut shells. Magazine articles cheerfully showed how to catch grasshoppers.  People sold whatever clothes they could to eke out an existence. People died of dysentery, tuberculosis. With a shortage of one million young males, there were group marriage meetings to make it easier for women to find husbands.  There was widespread alcohol and drug abuse.

The American servicemen in Japan were everything you can imagine.  They were the good people we all envision, who helped distribute food supplies, and individual soldiers gave candy bars and foodstuffs to those around them.  But, there was graft and corruption both amongst Americans and Japanese.  Many Japanese women turned to prostitution, and the black market was rampant. 

MacArthur was a very detached, insular figure.  He was good at talking, but not good at listening.  He did not attend many social events with the Japanese or even with Americans, and he didn’t make any effort to get around the country or to learn more about the Japanese, so that after he left and returned home and testified before Congress, he described the Japanese people as “easily  led… good followers… like a 12-year-old boy….” [Note: Pres. Truman dismissed MacArthur on April 11, 1951, which precipitated his appearance before Congress.]

We were introducing democracy to a country that had never known it… but we were doing it autocratically.   We had heavy censorship, and permitted only obedience. Young Americans who spoke only English were administering, and joked about the pidgin-English of the Japanese.  We saw white supremacism in full flower.

MacArthur and his staff were very suspicious of the “Old Japan Hands” of the State Department, and thus turned their back on the sources of some of the richest knowledge Americans had about Japan and the Japanese. 

The hierarchal Zaibatsu system,  the old Mitsu, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Yasuda families, and  Asano, Furukawa, Nissan, Okura, Nomura and Nakajima firms were gradually disassembled.  Smaller companies began to beat swords into plowshares, and we saw the rise of Komatsu, making tractors; Canon, Nikon, cameras; Honda, motorbikes, then motorcycles; and Ibuka Masaru began a company to make radio innovations, and then became Sony Corporation 

Today, as communism has nearly disappeared from the world scene, we may have trouble imagining the threat that Americans labored under as they worked to bring Japan through this era.   We were very much afraid that Japan would “turn red” and become Communist, just as China was at that very time.  We were also afraid that assassinations and terrorism would take place.

This book, published in 1999, highlights the end of the Showa era, the reign of Hirohito (b. 1901, ascended throne Dec. 1926) which ended with his death in 1989.  This historic epoch began with Japan quickly ascending in world importance and power; defeat by the U.S., then “victor and vanquished embraced Japan’s defeat together.” This year—1989—marked the bursting of the “Japanese bubble” of technical and industrial supremacy

I went to Japan to command   an American naval base 28 years ago, in 1983, and left three years later. I had about 1000 Japanese employees on the base.  I interacted heavily with the local Japanese civilian and military officials, and with many well-to-do Japanese residents, all members of a local “Japanese-American Friendship Society.”  I studied Japanese, attended Japanese Rotary clubs and made many visits to Japanese organizations, and each year took part in the harvest festival parade, dressed in a traditional costume from Japanese  mythology. 

I was able to talk to people who had served in their military forces in World War II, including the man who, as a young Japanese lieutenant commander, had planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.  My Japanese teacher was a wiry little man who had been an ensign in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was selected to fly in the suicidal Kamikaze force, except that they ran out of planes before he could get his chance. [See my Blogs for July 8 and 10, 2011.]

I came away with a sincere admiration of the Japanese people.  I also came away with the sincere feeling that I had learned much, but still knew very little, about Japan and the Japanese.

I think Embracing Defeat gives an excellent picture of Japan’s rise from the ashes after World War II.

If we look at the way Japan is still handling the recovery from the terrible earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northern Honshu and laid waste to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants, you can see that the Japanese people are truly remarkable in their strength and perseverance.  They won’t let this pull them down.

The Personal Navigator offers these books and papers:

This little book twists Uncle Sam's mustache---

Pressure and its Causes, Being the Old Fashioned Notions of an Old Fashioned Man 1837 Boston, MA: Otis, Broaders & Co. 69 pp. 9 x 14.6 cm. "A Parabolic Phrenological Scheme of National Character."   Uncle Sam's majority has not belied the flattering indications of his infancy. He is proud now, of his paternity, and in the same breath that he berates Father Bull (England), and calls that old gentleman all sorts of wicked names, he boasts his descent from him... Self Esteem is the corner stone of all Uncle Sam's edifices... The next organ of our imaginary head of Uncle Samuel is his Love of Approbation.   Author writes a rambling, tongue-in-cheek critique of America today (that is, 1837) including Embargo, War, Andy Jackson, Banking, manufactures, U.S. Bank, Lowell, Cotton Lands, Specie Circular.  Reasons for the Pressure.     Small paper book, "Cy Liford Egr, Durham N.H." written on cover;  fair condition. (8184) $46.00.  History  

S.W. Fordyce, Sr., one of the original Gringo Builders poses seated

with J.L. Whitaker (left) and Tom Finty, Jr. (right), and giant sugar cane

(it turns out that sugar cane for the Rio Grande Valley was a bust!)

Gringo Builders [Signed by author]  by Allhands, James Lewellyn 1931 Joplin, MO: Privately Printed by J.L. Allhands.  Author, J.L. Allhands (1879-1978), of Joplin, MO and Dallas, TX, a railroad construction man, writes about the building of railways in South Texas at the start of the Twentieth Century. This book is a rich source for Texas history, focused upon building a transportation system conceived by Col. Uriah Lott, who interested B.F. Yoakum in the project. Tale of drunk Negro and author and Texas Rangers convert him to abstinence. King Ranch and the building of the Brownsville Railroad. History of Corpus Christi. Brownsville and Rio Grande Rwy. Co.  St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad. Madonna of the Rails--women pioneers in railway construction. The first big water projects: irrigation, cultivation canals and the development of the Rio Grande Valley. Robstown to Bay City. Brazoria. Gulf Coast Lines East of Houston. Port Arthur and Sour Lake. With Index. 297 pp. 15 x 23 cm. Dark green  cloth on board, gilt printing. Author signature on front free endpaper. Title page has light horizontal stains. Very good. (2662) $99.00. History/Railroads/Texas

           

 Two pages of Diseases of Cattle, shows plate XLIV, Spleen Affected by Texas Fever

Diseases of Cattle, Special Report, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, Revised Edition, 1916  by Drs. Atkinson, Dickson, Harbaugh, Hickman, Law, Lowe, Mohler, Murray, Pearson , Ransom and Trumbower. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 568 pp. 14.5 x 22.8 cm.     Very comprehensive report on Cattle Diseases, including Depraved Appetite, Dyspepsia or Gastroinestinal Catarrh, Diseases of the Bowels, gastroenteritis, colic, more. Poisons and Poisoning. Diseases of the Heart, Blood Vessels and Lymphatics. Noncontagious diseases of the organs of respiration.  Respiratory Organs. Diseases of the Nervous System. Urinary Organs. Generative Organs. Excellent color plates. Cloth on board, heel and toe of spine frayed, top of spine badly frayed. Rear inside hinge cracked. Two b&w plates at p. 300 torn, lack top 40%. Because of this partial plate, book is poor. (2561) $26.00. Farming

This Author has an axe to grind..... 

Farming As It Is! An Original Treatise on Agriculture with the Rights and Duties of Farmers by Pinkham, T.J.   1860 Boston, MA: Bradley, Dayton and Company.   Pinkham takes on the dark influences upon New England farming. First, the Agricultural Society of Massachusetts, “which collects an annual stipend from the Commonwealth and the aristocratic farmers of State Street  have a good dinner, and do nothing more!”  Next is "Happiness"-- and Pinkham lists various towns in the Commonwealth with their population, then the number of paupers, insane persons and idiots. Much discussion of manure.   Incompetence of the Board of Agriculture. "They are fond of nice roasts, porter-house steaks, and plum pudding..."  Still more on the perfidy of the Board of Agriculture (Chas. L. Flint, Secretary) ...Author clearly has an axe to grind.  393 pp. 12 x 19 cm. Blindstamped black cloth on board, spine torn, biopredation on cloth on back cover, poor.  (5221) $28.00. Farming.

Japan Pocket Guide, 1955  Tokyo, Japan: Japan Travel Bureau. "Japan is the land of color, charm and courtesy where the East blends with the West and the old with the new." Black and white photos of tourist attractions, maps and brief descriptions of tourist destinations. Appendix provides statistics on tourist volume, Western hotels, key phrases, fares to destinations, more. 147 pp. 13 x 18.7 cm. Green cloth on board, very good. Dustjacket, shows wear, good. (7176) $16.00. Travel/Japan

Maine, The Summer Playground of the Nation--The Land of Smiling Skies -- Picture album ca. 1919 Cover features die-cut oval to show off first photo in album, of Portland Head Light. Collection of some 42 photos includes Longfellow's birthplace, Drawbridge at Naples, Sebago Lake; Fort Halifax; drawing of Monument Square, Portland, 50 years ago; Fort Knox on the Penobscot River; Sunset on Moosehead Lake; International Bridge at Fort Fairfield; Hay Stack Mountain at Presque Isle; Home of Lillian Nordica at Farmington; Parking Space and Pier at Old Orchard Beach; Bird's Eye View of Bar Harbor; more. Includes map of Maine on inside back cover. 42 pp. 20 x 13 cm. Paper booklet, cover in heavy tan board, each page framed with light green design with Maine subjects. Very good. (7017) $34.00. Travel

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