Monkey's Paw Christmas Catalogue 2011:
A Miscellany in Four Parts

Part 1: Cultural Detritus
Could a bookseller actually build a reputation on salvaged material like this?

Peacock, F.W.:
CONVERSATIONAL ESKIMO
Breakwater Books Ltd., Portugal Cove, NL, 1977.
Countless useful phrases for yesterday's visitors to the Arctic, including the sadly resigned observation "ImaKa ablatsângortitaujungnangilaK Inuktôrtanut" ("I suppose that it cannot be translated into Eskimo").

Christopher, John and Rosemary:
DESIGN FOR MODERN MARRIAGE
Hurst & Blackett, London, 1958.
For sensible and industrious people, domestic bliss can indeed be achieved: apparently it requires a combination of careful planning, thrifty consumer decisions, and tireless household maintenance. Lots of photos.

n/a:
SMITH-CORONA TEN-DAY TOUCH TYPING COURSE
[five 33-rpm records; spiral-bound booklet on cardboard stand; and six legal-sized sheets of blank typing paper]
Smith-Corona Marchant, New York, 1961.
Before you begin your lesson, you'll have to figure out how to position the booklet on its A-frame stand, and stack the LPs in the correct order on your phonograph's record-changer.

Zsilinszky, Victor G.:
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF TREE SPECIES IN ONTARIO
Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Toronto, 1963.
Looking down on the northern landscape from a bush plane, the untrained eye sees a vista of undifferentiated greenery; but with the help of black-and-white stereoscopic photography, it's possible to spot the stand of black spruce in the forest of balsam fir. Inscribed by author on title page.

 * 

Part 2: Confirmed Cool
Left casually in the bathroom, these make a powerful impression on even the most sophisticated guests.

[Brand, Stewart (ed.)]:
WHOLE EARTH CATALOG: ACCESS TO TOOLS. SPRING, 1969
Portola Institute, Menlo Park, CA, 1969.
The counterculture catalogue that allows historians to reconstruct the intellectual climate of the back-to-the-land hippie movement. In addition to the many intriguing books and DIY kits offered for sale, this exceedingly scarce early issue includes a gratuitous photo of "Plaster Caster" rock-star genitals.

Langdon, Philip:
ORANGE ROOFS, GOLDEN ARCHES: THE ARCHITECTURE OF AMERICAN CHAIN RESTAURANTS
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1986.
A fact-heavy resource for students of 20th-century efficiency food culture, and a cathartic tool for disaffected hipsters who spent their childhoods in corporate suburbia.

Schultes, Richard Evans; Elmer W. Smith (illus.):
HALLUCINOGENIC PLANTS [A GOLDEN GUIDE]
Golden Press, New York, 1976.
Alarmingly improbable: a field guide to psychedelic flora, written by an esteemed ethnobotanist, and aimed at juvenile readers. Like every title in the Golden Guide series, it's packed with charming colour illustrations.

Thygeson, Gordon:
APPLE T-SHIRTS: A YEARBOOK OF HISTORY AT APPLE COMPUTER
Pomo Publishing, Scotts Valley, CA, 1997.
Silicon Valley's golden age, revealed via the impossibly ugly commemorative t-shirts that were issued to various product teams at Apple. Indispensable for fashion pirates looking to knock off original geek office-culture styles.

 *

Part 3: High-Class Antiquarian
Items of objective bibliophilic worth; no sense of irony required.

Davillier, Ch[arles]; J. Thomson (trans.); Gustav Doré (illus.):
SPAIN
Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, London, 1876.
Wild rocky landscapes, ruins, beggars, dancing girls, bullfights, gypsies: clearly Doré felt right at home with the gothic theatricality of the subject matter. Contains over 200 engravings (including 112 full-page plates).

[Estienne, Robert, and Johannes Frisius]:
LEXICON TRILINGUE, EX THESAURO ROBERTI STEPHANI, ET DICTIONARIO IOANNIS FRISII SUMA FIDE AC DILIGENTIA COLLECTUM [etc.]
Theodosius Rihelius, Argentorati [Strasbourg], 1587.
No doubt this massive trilingual dictionary was a significant scholarly achievement in its day, but equally astonishing is the 16th-century typography: some 800 two-column pages in Latin, Greek, and German black letter. At five kilos, it'll make an impressive stocking-stuffer for your favorite Renaissance humanist.

Shaw, G. (ed.):
THE OFFICIAL TOURISTS' PICTURESQUE GUIDE TO THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY… EMBRACING INFORMATION RESPECTING TOURS IN ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND SCOTLAND
Norton and Shaw, London, 1876.
It's easy to picture the glamour days of Victorian rail travel. Just imagine a North American heiress reclining on the blue upholstery of a first-class banquette somewhere between Bletchley and Blisworth: this pretty little book is on her lap.

n/a:
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF SOLID GOLD & ROLLED PLATE SOCIETY EMBLEMS, CHARMS, PINS, LAPEL BUTTONS, ETC.
Geo. Brunswick, New York, 1902.
The secret handshakes of these fraternal orders may be forgotten, but it's still possible to learn exactly what the Independent Order of Odd Fellows wore on their lapels and the Knights of Pythias hung on their watch-fobs. Catalogue includes well over a thousand monochrome designs.

*

Part 4: Proprietor's Reserve
The artifacts we covet most passionately, and will always regret parting with.

Saucier, Ted; Russell Patterson, Al Dorne, et al. (illus.):
BOTTOMS UP
First edition. Greystone Press, New York, 1951.
When a raging fire threatens the penthouse, there is one mixology manual that a swanky bachelor will go back inside for. Includes colour pinup plates by twelve different artists, and provocative decorations throughout (e.g., girls wrapped around martini glasses). Signed by author on half-title.

Tissandier, Gaston; Henry Frith (trans.):
SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENTS
[comprising HALF-HOURS OF SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENT; MARVELS OF THE ELEMENTS; MARVELS OF HEAT, LIGHT, AND SOUND; and MARVELS OF EARTH, AIR, AND WATER]
Ward Lock & Co., London, [ca. 1890].
A single Victorian engraving depicting a home science experiment has the power to charm; but more than 300 together in one place will cause heartache. The poignancy of all those lost geeky boyhoods is almost more than a fellow can bear.

Völgyesi, Ferenc András; M.W. Hamilton (trans.):
HYPNOSIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS
Wilshire Book Co., Hollywood, CA, 1968.
You want so badly to believe that it is possible to mesmerize lobsters, pheasants, alligators, and mandrills; and then, to your infinite joy, a Hungarian researcher confirms your hopes…

Müller-Wulckow, Walter:
DEUTSCHE BAUKUNST DER GEGENWORT: WOHNBAUTEN UND SIEDLUNGEN
[German Contemporary Architecture: Residential Buildings and Developments]
Karl Robert Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus, 1929.
21st-century romantic fatalists are compulsively drawn to the coolness of Weimar-era "New Objectivity" apartment blocks: they look so doomed, remote, futuristic. 110 full-page photos; German text.

*

*

*

[** end Christmas Catalogue 2011 **]

(At the Monkey's Paw, we love the twilight season. We love dead leaves, dead poets, dead books; we love women in masks, men in dresses, children in black cat costumes; we love neglected graveyards and cheap candy. Yes: we love Halloween!)

*** MICROCATALOGUE #16: HALLOWEEN 2011 ***

Laughlin, Clarence John:
GHOSTS ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI
Bonanza Books, New York, 1961 (Revised Edition). 

Decades before Louisiana produced superstar bloodsuckers like the Vampire Lestat or Bill Compton, its macabre reputation as the home of "plantation gothic" was firmly established by an eccentric photographer from New Orleans. In his visual study of the region's rotting and moss-draped antebellum mansions, Laughlin produced 100 images of grandeur and decay, and (subtlety be damned!) added splendid theatrical titles: "The Shadowed Pillars," "The Spectral Fans," "Enigmatic Urn," "Mementoes of Unreturning Time," etc. As an approach to architectural history, Laughlin's explicitly "poetic" style might be disdained by dry academics; but romantic souls attuned to the mildewed moods of the Deep South will find themselves transported. Happy Halloween, y'all!

Price, Vincent and Mary:
A TREASURY OF GREAT RECIPES
Ampersand Press, [n.p.], 1965.

So what if your séance fails to raise the spirit of Vincent Price? You can still dine on his version of "Cornish Hens with Sauce Diable." In this enormous vanity-published compendium, the horror actor and his second wife gathered hundreds of recipes from their favorite swanky restaurants around the world, and dressed them up with facsimile menus and a glib text by Vincent himself. The whole production reeks of jet-set exotica and Hollywood connoisseurship, particularly the autobiographical photos: breakfast in the dark-panelled library; high tea beside the swimming pool; curry served before a Mayan idol; wine on board a Clark Cortez mobile home; etc. The master lives!

Browne, Thomas; W.A. Greenhill (ed.):
SIR THOMAS BROWNE'S HYDRIOTAPHIA ["URN-BURIAL"] AND THE GARDEN OF CYRUS 
Macmillan & Co., London, 1896.

Seemingly obscure, and decidedly difficult, this strange essay is actually a stealthy classic, savored for centuries by literary melancholics from Poe to Borges. Originally published in 1658 after the discovery of a Roman grave in Norfolk, "Urn Burial" is more than just a survey of ancient burial customs. Browne's meditation veers into the deepest shadows: he obsesses on the relentlessness of time, the inevitability of death, and the pitiful transience of all human accomplishment. Whether you actually grapple with the text, or just feel comforted by its mortal weight in your hand, this little book will make an elegant accessory to that goth librarian costume you're putting together. [Bound with "The Garden of Cyrus," Browne's truly cryptic essay on the mystical geometry of the number five.]

Habenstein, Robert W., and William W. Lamers:
THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN FUNERAL DIRECTING
First Edition. National Funeral Directors Assoc., Milwaukee, 1955. 

True or false: In 1882, Albert Fearnaught of Indianapolis patented a "Grave-Signal" device to summon help in the event of accidental burial alive; at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, a manufacturer exhibited a purple hearse, but the style never caught on; Dr. Thomas Holmes, "the father of modern embalming," also developed a formula for tasty root beer; a proper Victorian lady in her first year of widowhood was expected to write on stationery with a 1/4" black border… (These and thousands more sepulchral facts can be found in this illuminating book, along with over 100 solemn illustrations.)

Sante, Luc:
EVIDENCE
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1992. 

It's standard practice at Halloween to treat the subject of death as spooky entertainment; but "Evidence" raises those stakes considerably. Here, the image of a blood-spattered corpse on the floor of a saloon qualifies as truly profound art. The 55 graphic crime-scene photos in the collection (murders, mostly) were shot by NYPD technicians in the nineteen-teens; Sante discovered the pictures in the archives, and recognized them as exquisite, if inadvertent, dramatic tableaux. The accompanying text -- Sante's search for answers both literal and aesthetic within the mute, dispassionate photos -- should be shown to every snide kid who thinks history is boring.

[** end Microcatalogue #16: Halloween 2011 **]

[Aikin, Lucy; adapted from original by Daniel Defoe]:
ROBINSON CRUSOE IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE
American News Company, New York, 1869.

An interesting technical achievement, and further evidence that monosyllabilism is a legitimate literary genre. But why didn't they call it "Rob Crue and His Man Fri"?

<-- front cover

Lundbäck, Maja, and Märta Rinde-Ramsbäck:
SMALL WEBS
ICA-Publishing Company, Västerås, Sweden, [ca. 1959].

The beauty of these Scandinavian weavings is calm, almost sedative; so it comes as no surprise that they were originally designed for use in occupational therapy. Text in English.

<-- pp. 60-61

Simics, Mihály:
A REVIEW OF BEE VENOM COLLECTING AND MORE
Apitronic Services, Calgary, 1994.

Basically, you electrocute the bees until they're angry enough to sting a glass plate; then you scrape off the poison, and sell it to a homeopath.

<-- front cover

[Dance Guild, Inc.]:
THE EASY WAY TO GOOD DANCING
Book Guild of America, New York, [ca. 1956].

The book alone might suffice; but if you're truly serious about learning, you can detach the perforated "dancing footprints" folded inside, and lay them out on the dancefloor as a guide. 

<-- front cover, with dancing footprints

Head, Gay:
HI THERE, HIGH SCHOOL!
Teen Age Books, Inc., New York, 1958.

Relentless gee-whiz idioms; campy illustrations; and a sophomoric double entendre in the author's name. Like high school itself, not suitable for subtle minds.

<-- front cover

Jacobs, Morris B.:
WAR GASES: THEIR IDENTIFICATION AND DECONTAMINATION
Interscience Publishers, New York, 1972.

We laugh that we do not cry. For example, Table 13 (food spoilage caused by non-arsinical vesicants) indicates that mustard gas will absorb readily into sausage meat.

<-- front cover

Special Update:
Microcatalogue #15
SCRAPS FROM MITTELEUROPA
A family vacation spent among the ruined castles and pebbly beaches of the Old World didn't offer as many opportunities for book-scouting as one might have hoped; but happily, a few precious moments at flea markets and "antiquariats" did yield a handful of treasures. Fresh from the suitcase:



Brettschneider, Rudolf:
DAS FEILE WEIB
["The Venal Female"]
Verlag für Kulturforschung, Wien, 1929.

An ostensibly serious study of the female role in the psycho-social economy of sex, with a prurient emphasis on prostitution. The German text may or may not constitute genuine scholarship, but the numerous illustrations -- hundreds of provocative paintings and drawings, and a few photos -- leave no doubt that its male author suffered (or enjoyed!) very complicated feelings of fear and desire toward the ladies. Fittingly, his work was published as the fifth volume of a stereotypically Viennese series entitled "Allmacht Weib: Erotische Typologie der Frau" ("Female Omnipotence: Erotic Typology of Women").

* * * * * *

von Eschstruth, Nataly; Adolph Schöttner (transcription):
ES SPUKT!
["Haunted!"]
Verlag von Wilhem Marnet, Neustadt, [ca. 1900].

As literature, this romance (by a popular Prussian author of 19th century "women's stories") is probably quite forgettable. But as a printed artifact, it's altogether novel, and as lovely as it is baffling: the entire work has been transcribed and printed in shorthand. There must have been a time when stenographers around Europe could have made sense of these cryptic squiggles, but today, their apparent meaninglessness is the source of their beauty. Is this even a language? (A bright 5-year-old will tell you it looks suspiciously like Elvish…)

* * * * * *

Hoss, Gerd; Elspeth Weiser (illus.):
EINMAL SO, EINMAL SO
["Even So, Even So"]
Humboldt-Verlag, Wien, 1946.

Apparently an heir to the "Struwwelpeter" genre of scary cautionary verses, this exceedingly uncommon little book matches cheerful illustrations with cruel German rhymes in which greedy, thoughtless, and impulsive children get their comeuppances. Its real charm, however, is a die-cut gimmick: the kids' faces are cut away to reveal a happy grin on the recto (while playing with matches, poking a beehive, tormenting a puppy, etc.), and a resulting terrified grimace on the verso (burned, stung, bitten, etc.). Hard to describe, but trust us -- it's memorably cute and weird.

* * * * * *

Ivković, Branko:
ILUSTRIRANI BONTON
["Etiquette Illustrated"]
Stvarnost, Zagreb, 1963.

For gallant communists in Tito's Yugoslavia, there was clearly more to life than toiling at the tractor factory and planting cabbages -- as this guide to modern manners demonstrates. In addition to basic sections on hygiene, clothing, and home decor, it offers advanced advice on how to make a good impression at restaurants, in elevators, on airplanes, etc… and the etiquette of tobacco-smoking merits an entire chapter. The text is Croatian, but the enthusiastic illustrations (by a beloved Zagreb caricaturist) wouldn't look out of place in Mad Magazine.

* * * * * *

Snyckers, A.:
DUDEN FRANÇAIS, DICTIONNAIRE ILLUSTRÉ DE LA LANGUE FRANÇAIS
["Illustrated Dictionary of the French Language"]
Bibliographisches Institut AG, Leipzig, 1938.

The objective world and its names, catalogued visually. Here are over 10,000 French nouns, depicted as numbered details on 348 full-page illustrations: urban scenes, natural phenomena, material culture, work practices, entertainments, etc. It's an epic accomplishment in scope and clarity, as well as a revealing window into the organization of concrete reality in 'tween-wars Europe. Definitions in French, with bilingual introduction and index (French/German).


[-- end of Microcatalogue #15, "Scraps from Mitteleuropa" -- ]

"The Parallel Library" in retrospect:

An off-site exhibition of printed artifacts,
hosted by the Monkey's Paw.

"The Parallel Library" was installed in a gallery space at 1080 Queen St. West, Toronto, during the last two weeks of June, 2011.

For those who were unable to visit the exhibition, we offer the following highlights, photographed in situ:



Rombauer, Irma S.:
COOKBOOK FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1946.

Indelible snapshot of a book in use: This copy of a children's cookbook (by the celebrated author of "The Joy of Cooking") was apparently blackened by a kitchen grease fire while laid open to a recipe for broiled steaks.




Steuart, D.L.:
CARP: HOW TO CATCH THEM
Herbert Jenkins, London, 1955.

When the activity in question is the leisurely pursuit of a credulous fish, a modest book is both appropriate and sufficient. (Effective baits are stale bread and boiled potatoes.)







Hough, Walter:
FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1926.

Now THAT'S scholarship: apparently contains every known fact about our species' use of fire, worldwide and throughout history. Also includes many illustrations of stoves, lamps, fire-making apparatus, etc.







Heuvelmans, Bernard:
ON THE TRACK OF UNKNOWN ANIMALS
Second Edition. Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1962.

The foundational text of cryptozoology: an elusive work, almost as hard-to-find as the yetis, sea serpents, and living fossils that fill its pages.






n/a:
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY: ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT AS REFLECTED IN ITS OFFICIAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER, "THE BLACK PANTHER BLACK COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE"
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1970.

A seemingly well-informed academic told us that much of the violently subversive content attributed to the Panthers in this report was actually created by the FBI.






n/a:
A NEW POPULAR STAR ATLAS (EPOCH 1950)
Gall and Inglis, Edinburgh, [ca. 1950].

Lie on your back and hold this book open at arms' length. Is that what the night sky looked like before ubiquitous light pollution?




Royce, Hans; Thomas Abeking (design):
GERMANY AT A GLANCE
German-American Trade Promotion Co., Frankfurt, [ca. 1952].

This elaborate production includes an icon-based thumb-tab index to 15 different industries, and the most complicated sequence of transparency overlays we've ever laid eyes on.







Cook, Terry; Jim Williams (phot.):
VANS AND THE TRUCKIN’ LIFE
Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1977.

It’s like they squeezed the 1970s, and extracted a single oily drop of distilled lifestyle essence.








Haskell, P.T:
INSECT SOUNDS
Quadrangle Books, Chicago, 1961.

A romantic summer evening in a country meadow: audiospectrograms, oscillograms, diagrams of stridulatory ridges, etc.







Clay, Alice (ed.):
THE AGONY COLUMN OF “THE TIMES,” 1800-1870
Chatto & Windus, London, 1881.

200 years before text messages, lovers and conspirators used to communicate via newspaper personal ads. Here are over 1700 examples, in various languages and private codes: the raw material of human melodrama, stripped of all context.





n/a:
CHINESE WOMEN IN THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD
Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1960.

The folksy Maoist cover design is disarming... but ultimately an ideological paradise based on cooperative industrial productivity might fail to impress certain decadent Western gals.







Bednar, Kamil:
PUPPETS AND FAIRY TALES
SNTL Publishers of Technical Literature, Prague, 1958.

From deep in the heart of Europe, unadulterated white people’s culture takes the form of puppet animations: hopelessly dorky, yet weirdly beautiful, and inexplicably moving.




Willy, A., et al.:
THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SEX
Cadillac Publishing Co., New York, 1949.

The numerous illustrations emphasize the eerie, sci-fi aspect of sexual biology -- probably not the best choice for calming the nerves of bashful or inexperienced readers.




Laury, Jean Ray, and Joyce Aiken:
THE PANTYHOSE CRAFT BOOK
Taplinger Publishing Co., New York, 1978.

Handicrafts formed from discarded hosiery are soft, colourful, and uniquely macabre -- particularly the boneless, full-sized-human doll called “Sister” by its creator. (“Sister is a good listener and a steady companion.”)






Hodges, Charles Du Bois:
IN SEARCH OF YOUNG BEAUTY
A.S. Barnes & Co., New York, 1968.

The most unsettling thing about this guide to photographing underage models is that the blandly cheerful author seems to have no awareness of how predatory his whole project looks. Creeeepy!





Baker, Geoffrey, and Bruno Funaro:
MOTELS [REINHOLD PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY]
Reinhold Publishing, New York, 1955.

Arguably the single most representative printed document of the American 20th century. Includes marketing and design strategies, blueprints, and hundreds of agonizingly nostalgia-inducing photos.








Runham, N.W., and P.J. Hunter:
TERRESTRIAL SLUGS
Hutchinson University Library, London, 1970.

Who knew that a person could spend 25 years digging through old bookshops, and find only one really substantive book on slugs?







Grant, Jack:
SKATEBOARDING
Celestial Arts, Millbrae, CA, 1976.

To California skate-culture, this is like the caves at Lascaux; it predates “Thrasher” magazine by five years, and includes early photos of skateboard tricks that later came to be known as slides, ollies, etc.






n/a:
...INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES, INJURIES, AND CAUSES OF DEATH
World Health Organization, Geneva, 1948.

The list is comprehensive, and your fate is printed here somewhere; just point a finger at a random page. Intracranial haemorrhage? Accidental poisoning by industrial solvents? Therapeutic misadventure?






Johnston, LaVaughn C.:
OPEN MOUTH DOLLS
[Self-published], Downey, CA, 1974.

You think you’re hardened; you think you’ve seen it all. Then, beneath a pile of craft magazines, you discover this.








Deneke, Walther:
GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN: WIE SAG’ ICH’S NUR?
Karl Josef Sander Verlag, Magdeburg, 1941.

The elegant German expression “Leck mich am Arsch” (literally,“Lick my ass”) was originally attributed to a one-armed 16th-century knight named Götz von Berlichingen.This Nazi-era pamphlet offers translation of the phrase into 44 languages.





[Coulson, Debora?]:
[FIGURE SKATING SCRAPBOOK]
[Toronto? ca. 1930].

What makes this scrapbook so poignant? Is it the obsession with costumed girls on skates, or the fact that all the images are tipped-in with linen ring-reinforcers?




Fairbairn, W.E.; “Hary” (illus.):
GET TOUGH! HOW TO WIN IN HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING
Appleton-Century Co., New York, 1942.

These combat techniques, designed for commandos in desperate situations, are nothing less than savage. But the illustrations, in their childlike simplicity, introduce an uncomfortable sense of ambiguity.




n/a:
GYMNASTICS AND TUMBLING
U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, 1944.

With 862 numbered photos, this handbook wins the Quantity Prize for images of physically fit men in exercise costumes.





Timbs, John:
STORIES OF INVENTORS AND DISCOVERERS IN SCIENCE AND THE USEFUL ARTS
Harper & Brothers, New York, 1860.

With chapters on flying machines, automata, stereoscopy, and many other Victorian technologies, all of which pale beside an exceptionally uncommon two-page engraving of Charles Babbage’s “Difference Engine.”






n/a:
1958 DE SOTO... EVERYTHING ABOUT IT SAYS TOMORROW
Chrysler Canada, Windsor, [1957].
In advertising, size does matter. The car itself was over 18 feet long, and the creators of this resource-intensive brochure must be credited for equivalent bravado and breadth of vision.





Hering, Daniel Webster, et al.:
TIME AND ITS MYSTERIES. SERIES II
New York University Press, 1940.

Could this be the finest book-object ever designed? Its earnest grace perfectly matches the grandiose subject matter.