Sunday, May 3, 2009

Some Weird and Rare Books I Own

I love books, I collect them, display them and have them in just about every room in the house. I tried to count them a month or two ago and honestly lost count but its somewhere around 4,000. Thought it might be interesting to tell about at least some of the stranger ones. Now in no particular order.

THE SMOKY GOD by Willis George Emerson
I think I bought this at Sam Weller Books down in the basement. (great book store) This the supposed true tale of a Norwegian named Olaf Jansen that with his father sailed ever northward until they went through a portal at the north pole into the hollow earth. This was told in relative detail on his deathbed to Willis George Emerson, who put it into book. I like the idea, I love the idea of HOLLOW EARTH!!!
I just don't know that its true, it can make for interesting novels though. The Smoky God itself is what the interior inhabitants call the small burning star that lights the inside of Hollow Earth. I like that everything inside is gigantic compared to the surface world and yet what IF that is how things were before the flood. I am not positive how old the book is, but there is a date on the back for perhaps Olaf Jansen's death in 1908.

THE VERONIAN TRUTH by Devero Hollowell
I don't even remember where I found this one, could have been Sam Weller's could have been the D.I. ( a vastly underrated book source) The cover makes it look like another Hollow Earth book but that just hides that absolutely bizarre reworkings of Genesis with quite a racist twist.
Published 1952.

HELEN OF TROY by Andrew Lang
This is one of the oldest books I have, it being from 1883. It is an epic poem done in much the same way as the ILIAD, ODYSSEY and the AENEID; but much more from Helen's presence rather than Achilles, Odysseus or Aeneas.

CHURCH PRIESTHOOD MANUAL
I don't know how old it is as the cover and front page are missing but it is OLD, somebody took notes and dated them from spring to summer of 1906. (yes John, its really your book but I have had it for like 5 years, rescuing it from Steves trashed floor)

THE BOOK OF MORMON VINDICATED by Elder I. M. Smith
Let me first just say its all well and good that people have their own ideas about BoM geography. Thats what this book is. Its cool that I have this, its old (1898), but I just don't agree with his conclusions. He bases most everything in South America with only brief forays up into Central America and almost nothing but the Hill Cumorah in the north. That dog don't hunt, and you can't teach a hammer to love nails. It happened in this land, see HEROES OF THE FALLEN.

THE GREAT WHITE CHIEF by Norman C. Pierce
Now this isn't that old only being from 1971 but it is different. How often do you find a purported true tale involving white Lamanites in the Yucatan and this the journal account of visiting and living with them? When a friend first told me about this book I was pretty skeptical and wasn't even that interested. But I evantually gave it a chance and couldn't put it down. Bear in mind this book was so rare I was reading a photocopy of a photocopy. It is not Norman Pierce's story but that of two brothers out of Chinle Arizona, who go to the Yucatan in the 30's and befriend these hidden Lamanites. Their customs and what not, are remarkably similar to another peculiar people's and I found their anticipation and readiness for building up Jackson County intriguing.
There is also a big section towards the end about the Messiah coming and visiting with a large Indian council. I am seriously mining this book for DANCE THE GHOST WITH ME.

I guess thats enough for now, plenty more later

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