Look at what I found!

An ordinary 1837 volume from the collected works of Samuel Johnson, bought at a fundraiser book sale at my college for about a dollar. Ho hum...

But...but...look! While flipping though the pages I found a letter!

It's from a London law office and was penned in 1864!

And here is what it says:

5 Grays Inn Square

14th Sept. 1864

Dear Sir;

Yourself ~ Nash

Mr. Johnson is out of town but

is expected back in a day or two

when he will see Mr. Thistlethwaite

and come to some arrangement

with him if possible.

Yours Truly,

S.W. Johnson

per [CL?] Osborne

[unclear] [unclear]

Ridgway Villa

Torquay

Fabulously exciting I know. I investigated on the Net a little and found a lawyer named Saffery William Johnson operating at 5 Grays Inn Square in the 1850s-70s, part of the firm of Johnson and Coote. The Osborne writing the note must have been a clerk for Johnson (perhaps the CL that seems to be in front of his name indicates this); Nash, the note's apparent recipient who lived in Torquay, I have not nailed down. Was the copy of Johnson's works owned by Nash? It seems likely. What fun!

CD

Beauty and the Beast continued...

Some days ago I mentioned watching a short animated film of "Beauty and the Beast" (1989) with Mia Farrow narrating. I sent for the book version, illustrations by Mordicai Gerstein (the same man who supplied the images for the film). I quite like the book and here are some snaps of some of the art work (fuzziness due to a dirty lens!):

Beauty gazing at the Beast's symbolic birdcage:

A stand alone image from the book's front matter of the Beast brow-beating Beauty. I especially like the conception of the Beast--ram's horns, boar's face, monkey's body (and tail), ostrich's feet:

Details of Beast's palace--octopus chandeliers!

Fantastical beasts are everywhere in the decor, by the way. And here's the most marvelous of all: a horned sperm whale with wings and human legs.

Ian loves the story, too, which delights me no end. One of these days he'll see the Cocteau film and, here's hoping, a whole new world will open up to him. But if not, that's cool too.

CD

Proceedings of the Old Bailey

Recently, I was investigating some matters of Pacific Northwest history and, while doing some internet searches of names of historical figures, I encountered a site which presents the records of the "Old Bailey," London's Central Criminal Courts. I was skimming down through a case that caught my eye--one from 1850 in which a man in his 70's, a certain Dixon Dawson, was being prosecuted for trying to cash a fraudulent check--and found this statement of his history (an account meant to mitigate his guilt):

The following written statement, put in by the prisoner before the Magistrate, was read:—"My Lord, your humble petitioner is a poor wornout seaman, being many years fighting for his country during the late war, which the Lords of the Admiralty, for my services that I done for my country, sent me down to that noble asylum, Greenwich. My Lord, I was in the battle with Nelson when he lost his life; I am now turned seventy-one years of age; I have been sorely wounded in the head, that I am at times in a deranged state of mind. My Lord, I am innocent of the crime laid to my charge; I have only been six weeks discharged from the strong-room in the Infirmary of Greenwich Hospital, which can be proved by Sir John Liddell, the doctor of Greenwich Hospital; I trust in God, my Lord, you and my prosecutors will show me mercy, and send me down to Greenwich, and they will keep me confined at the hospital; I have an only daughter; I am afraid it will break her heart if I am sent to prison; I hope, my Lord, you will show me mercy for God's sake, as we all expect mercy from God; I can assure you I know not what I have done, or what has been done.—Your humble petitioner, Dixon Dawson. My Lord and Gentlemen, your most humble petitioner states that it is upwards of sixty years ago since I first went to sea; the first engagement I was in was the landing of the British troops in Egypt, in 1801, when Sir Ralph Abercrombie lost his life; the next was in the year 1803, in cutting out of Cape Legat a large armed schooner full of Spanish and French troops, and I received many severe blows on the head, which caused me to be in a deranged state of mind now I have advanced in years, and at times to be very troublesome; I likewise was on board the Victory, in the battle of Trafalgar, with my Lord Nelson, when he fell wounded; I likewise was wounded at the same time, and fell close to him on the quarter-deck of the Victory, on that glorious day, 21st Oct., 1805; and in 1807, I was in Gaeta, in Italy, when the French army stormed the fort I was in, and there I was slightly wounded in four places; and was at the taking of the Island of Capua, the mouth of Naples Bay; from there went to land Generals Moore and Fox on the Calabria shore, and beat the French army back into Naples; from there I was sent with Sir Samuel Hood, to take Madeira, which we did succeed; and was engaged off Guadaloupe, in the West Indies, with two frigates, French, and seven batteries on our ship for two hours and forty minutes; and likewise burning two frigates belonging to the French, and taking the island of Martinique, in 1809; came home to England, and was sent on board the Fatale Minotaur, seventy-four guns; I was one of the first men on board the eleven Danish gun-boats, that our ships destroyed by fire under the batteries of Copenhagen. In coming to England our ship was lost, and 600 men with her; I had to swim three miles, and was two hours and three-quarters in the sea before I got on Camperdown, made prisoner-of-war of, and sent to France; remained nearly four years in Valenciennes, half-starved, and when the French were in full retreat from Moscow we were marched 600 miles in that dreadful winter in 1814, through frost and snow, and almost naked, and nearly starved. My Lord, I was never in prison in my life for any crime till now; I hope and trust in God that some humane gentleman will come forward and plead my cause, and snatch two human beings from the brink of ruin; the daughter from a broken heart, and the father that will never be able to look up any more through disgrace; if Mr. Hawes is in Court, I call on him to be so kind as to give me a character since 1816 to July, 1850, and I will for ever pray for all. My Lord and gentlemen, I hope you will help me in the means of procuring a gentleman of the law to plead for me; I am afraid, if I am found guilty, of losing my home for life."

What an amazing life-story--if even half of what he says is true. As it is, I have found documentation that lists him as a survivor of the Minotaur--a well known (and well documented) tragedy. As to his being near Nelson when he fell or any of the other events, who can say? I've found nothing that supports his story. But what a story, eh? Even as a bold concoction! Here, knock yourself out at the Proceedings of the Old Bailey: http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/.

Here's Turner's depiction of the Minotaur sinking:

CD

Lost: A Shaggy God Story

Okay, I admit, I stole that line from a review of "2001: a Space Odyssey"--but it's apt, is it not?

I was a "Lost" devotee for most of the series. But, for me, it really peaked with the revelation at the end of Season 3 that Jack, Kate, et al. had escaped the island--shown to us through some mysterious "flashforwards". That was some thrilling TV story-telling. However, within a few episodes the plot (already wonderfully loopy) began to strain under the influences of time-travel twaddle, quantum-mechanical claptrappery, and metaphysical hokum. It was often still entertaining and "oh-just-go-with-it" fun, but in the main the story arcs became too cluttered with mysteries--almost every one of which was fuel enough for a series itself. I grew fatigued. Generally, I like ambiguous storytelling, challenging narratives, and formula-busting scenarios, but this just started to feel out of control. By the end of Season Four I was beginning to see it all as a shaggy beast that would inevitably succumb to heat-exhaustion in those equatorial temperatures. Not unlike a polar bear who finds itself running loose in a tropical island forest...oh, never mind.

Last night's series finale was rather disappointing. I had held out some last desperate hope that the writers might pull a rabbit out of a hat. I didn't expect every mystery to clean up nicely, but I sort of thought they'd have an exit strategy that would supply us with a strong, smacking, "whoa!" of a finish. It didn't come. The "sideways" reality turned out to be a purgatorial holding-pen for islanders and friends who, evidently, made it into some kind of clique. The antics on the island reached a new level of silly what with Desmond, quite literally, pulling the cork out of the island and Jack sacrificing himself to put it back. So much scurrying around. Such murky motivations. Such silly and improbable turns of event. There were good moments--Jack closing his eyes in the bamboo forest, Vincent beside him; the promise of Hurley as the island's protector; the cliffside battle between Jack and "Smocke" (credit goes to Lynn Nolan for that handle); the resolution of Jack's daddy issues with the most emotionally authentic embrace of the series; Hurley's stupid grin at meeting Charlie again...there are many more. But they're singular pieces to me, not links in a strong narrative chain.

Anyway, good-bye "Lost" I loved you most of the time. Thanks for the great times. I'll get over the less than great, sure enough.

And here's a crazy thing: http://www.theackattack.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/FINALEFINALE_final1.png

CD

Who can play Kesey?

A few weeks ago my good friend Lynn Jeffress sent me a link to an article discussing the possibility of Gus Van Sant producing or directing a film based on Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." In the article there is speculation on who might play Ken Kesey. Jack Black's name came up, but I must say, as much as I like him, he doesn't strike me as a good Kesey. But that leads me to wonder, who would make a good Kesey? Here's my short list:

1. Matthew McConaughey
2. Woody Harrelson
3. Jude Law (if he'd be willing to bulk up)
4. That guy from "I Love You Man"--Jason Segal

(Sorry, Will Farrell!)

Here's a link to the article, and be sure and notice the accompanying picture of Kesey et al. aboard Furthur II. Guess who that is shivering under the orange blanket in back? And guess whose arm that is, clad in blue and white?

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/01/15/gus-van-sant-talks-electric-kool-aid-acid-test-casting-from-heath-ledger-to-jack-black/

That picture, as my friend has said, "really gets around". If I'm not mistaken, it was taken by Pulitzer prize winning photographer Brian Lanker around 1991 for a calendar Kesey was putting together. Here's a better view:



Cheers, everyone!
CD

Beauty and the Beast

A cool thing from yesterday: I discovered on the On Demand menu on Comcast a 1988 animated short of "The Beauty and the Beast" that was originally featured on a TV series called "Long Ago and Far Away." The colored line drawings were done by Mordicai Gerstein and animated (rather creatively) by Jan Svojak (aka Svochak). Mia Farrow did the voice-over narration and the character voices (a good Beauty; a less than convincing Beast). From what I can tell, the version held very close to that popularized by Villeneuve and Beaumont--but I don't remember when (if ever) I read such a version! I'm more familar with Jean Cocteau's 1946 film "La Belle et La Bete," which is on my short list of films that I will drop everything I am doing to watch.

In fact, so enchanted was I by the film that I researched Mordicai Gerstein a bit and found a list of his illustrated books. I've ordered up a copy of "Beauty and the Beast" for Ian (and myself, I confess). His children's book "The Wild Boy" looks interesting as well, as it treats some of the same themes via the story of a much celebrated 19th century feral child, Victor, of Aveyron, France. (See film by Truffaut, "The Wild Child.") Trivia Q: What famous actress shouted "Give me back my beast!" at the close of Cocteau's film?

Here are some links to Mordicai Gerstein. Enjoy:

http://www.mordicaigerstein.com/

http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Gerstein/Mordicai_Gerstein_Gallery.html

CD