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13 January 2018
08 January 2018
A Winter's Tale of a Dry Summer
'Nemesis Wins'
Grant Allen
Phil May's Illustrated Winter Annual
London: Haddon, 1894
I often start the New Year with something by Grant Allen. Something to do with the letter A, I suppose, or that his work dominates the top shelf of the bookcase. Whatever the reason, Allen's "Nemesis Wins," which arrived by post late December, seemed a good way to kick off 2018. A short story, it appeared in the advert-heavy 1894 edition of Phil May's Illustrated Winter Annual... and then never again. This fleeting appearance in print had me expecting little, and I was neither surprised nor disappointed.
"Nemesis Wins" starts as a love story, but ends in murder and devastation on a massive scale. The two lovers at the centre emerge unscathed and, one concludes, oblivious as to what actually transpired.
To think it all might've been avoided had it not been for the Elementary Education Act of 1870.
Education, particularly that of women, often plays a role in Allen's fiction; here it serves to open young Miriam Stanley to all kinds of possibilities, not the least of which is a life with handsome Jim Sladen. The two come from very different backgrounds; Jim is a gamekeeper for Squire Ponsonby of Hurtwood, while Miriam is the daughter of Septerius Stanley, king of the West Surrey gypsies. The relationship between the two lovers is the stuff of local gossip – gamekeepers and gypsy families being typically at odds. The worst of it, from Septerius's point of view, is that Jim is honest, and is known to refuse bribes. The gypsy king, who has done a stints for poaching in the past, and is in the habit of cutting gorse on the common for his horses, believes he'll soon be forced to move the royal van.
He seeks temporary respite from his problems at the local inn, where the chief topic of conversation is the state of the heath. "Been powerful hot o' late," says Sam Walters, the broom-maker. "Heather's dry as tinder. Surprisin' if Squire Ponsonby's heath don't get lighted somehow." Talk next turns to gamekeeper Jim, and speculation as why he hasn't arrived to raise a pint or two. Sam Walters and "half-wit" Dick know the answer, having seen Jim on his way to meet Miriam. Septerius is enraged, but not so much that he can't formulate a plan that will see the common go up in flames, Dick framed, and result in Jim's dismissal.
"Nemesis Wins" is a slight story, but opening mention of the "school-board and its fixed stern eye even on gypsie lasses" had me curious. Minutes after finishing, I was deep into reading about the Romany and the history of education in the British Isles... which is how I came to know everything worth knowing about the Elementary Education Act.
Ultimately, like the Winter Annual's advertisements, "Nemesis Wins" is one of those things made more interesting by the passage of time.
There's hope for me yet.
Object and Access: A 114-page paperbound book, loaded with illustrations and adverts. Allen's story takes up roughly four two-columned pages. I first spotted this copy at an online auction this past summer, and then kicked myself for forgetting to bid. Fortunately, it reappeared a few months later as a sale item. I paid US$4.88.
The University of Toronto has a copy. It can be read online here through the Internet Archive.
02 January 2018
10 Best Book Buys of 2017 (one of which was a gift)
Last year was meant to be one of great austerity. By rights, the 2017 edition of this annual list should be the weakest yet. There were few trips to used bookstores, and mere minutes – not hours – were spent panning for gold at outdoor dollar carts. And yet, comparing the year's haul to those of 2014, 2015, and 2016, I think 2017 was the best ever. The riches were such that the copy of Frank L. Packard's The Big Shot above failed to make the cut. Hell, I couldn't even settle on the list until after the the year was over. Here be the shiniest nuggets:
Margerie Bonner
New York: Scribners,
1946
The debut novel by Hollywood actress and BC beach squatter Mrs Malcolm Lowry. The jacket describes it as a "combination of murder, astrology, hidden-treasure, and cryptography – with the wild and romantic coast of Vancouver as its colourful background."
Veros Carleton [pseud.
Amy Cox]
Ottawa: Graphic, 1931
A roman à clef set amongst Ottawa's wealthy and powerful. If it is anything like Madge Macbeth's The Land of Afternoon, also published by Graphic, I'm in for a real treat.
Sara Jeanette Duncan
New York: Appleton,
1903
It says nothing good about this country that I was able to buy a Very Fine first edition of this novel for $12.50.
Wilfred Heighington
Toronto: Forward, 1943
One of the few Canadian Great War novels by a veteran of the conflict. This was a birthday gift from my friend James Calhoun, the foremost historian of Canadian military literature, I didn't know The Cannon's Mouth existed until it arrived in the post.
Louis Hémon [trans.
W.H. Blake]
New York: Macmillan,
1929
My fifth copy of Hémon's big book, I uncovered this on one of Attic Books' dollar carts. Inscribed by American college prof Carl Y. Connor, who provided an intro and notes, it serves as a reminder of the popularity this novel once enjoyed south of the border.
.
Margaret Millar
New York: Random
House, 1954
I'd long been interested in Millar non-mysteries, but could never afford them. Syndicate Books' Complete Millar finally granted me access. Wives and Lovers ended up being the best novel I read in 2017. Researching my review, I stumbled upon this first edition offered online at US$3.98.
Eric Cecil Morris
Montreal: B.D. Simpson,
1945
A clerk living a mundane life in mid-20th-century Gaspé finds himself transported through time and space when playing the organ of his local church. J.S. Bach serves as tour guide to 18th-century Leipzig!
Olin Ross [pseud. W.E.D.
Ross]
Hollywood: International
Publications, 1962
Canada's most prolific novelist, Ross made most of his money writing romances and Dark Shadows TV tie-ins. Lust Planet is his second and last "adults only" novel. Ribald, it's the subject of my column in the next issue of Canadian Notes & Queries.
Robert W. Tracy [pseud.
Alvin Schwartz]
New York: Arco, 1952
Following Touchable, further titillation from a writer who seems destined to be remembered as the creator of Bizarro Superman. I'm guessing Hot Star wouldn't have passed the Comics Code Authority.
Phyllis Brett Young
London: W.H. Allen, 1964
I've been meaning to read Phyllis Brett Young for some time, and everything I know about this novel tells me that it is the place to start. "The jacket reminds me of Hitchcock," says my wife. I agree.
Note: Author of Psyche, not Psycho.
A year of austerity? Who am I kidding? That edition of Packard's The Big Shot was the second of two bought in 2017.
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01 January 2018
Agnes Maule Machar's New Year's Wish (& mine)
A NEW YEAR’S WISH
'To know the love of Christ, that passeth knowledge.'
To know by surest inner sight
The love that ‘passeth being known’;
To know that this, the Infinite,
Is yet for evermore our own:
As gentle as the falling dew,
Stronger than mightiest waves are strong,
New, as each opening day is new
Old as the eternal years are long!
Wider than heaven’s blue above
The stars that most remotely shine;
Nearer than human looks of love
That are but gleams of the Divine.
To know that love, most tender, true,
Closer than earthly ties most dear—
This be the blessing ever new
To gladden this and every year.
A Happy New Year to all!
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear.
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31 December 2017
Bliss Carman's New Year's Rockin' Eve
NEW YEAR'S EVE
The air is pulsing as with crowding wings.
Migrant Ideals and valiant-hearted Dreams,
The Heavenly vanguard of eternity,
Muster to cross the frontier of new days.
A brave unhasting company, they throng
Out of old years with life’s immortal zest,—
In gleaming panoply of seraphim
Advance these dauntless heralds of all good.
‘Tis midnight hour. The clanging bells break forth.
The march of man has crossed the boundary
Into another year. Close up the ranks!
Our ancients bid, fare on! New Year, Salute!
The promise of the past is on your knees.
The glory of all time is unto God.
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