"...I struck against an elderly, deformed man, who had been behind me, and I knocked down several books, which he was carrying. I remember that as I picked them up, I observed the title of one of them, The Origin of Tree Worship, and it struck me that the fellow must be some poor bibliophile, who, either as a trade or as a hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes."
-Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Empty House" IN Doyle, The Return Of Sherlock Holmes IN Arthur Conan Doyle: 3 In 1 (Mumbai, 2007), pp. 1-342 AT p. 5.
"Some recent acquisitions, Victorian to judge by their appearance, lay next to the ostensible computer. Everard glanced over the titles. He made no pretense of being an intellectual, but he liked books. The Origin of Tree Worship, British Birds, Catullus, The Holy War - no doubt stuff that some collector would snap up, if the proprietor didn't decide to keep them for himself."
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), PART FOUR, 1990 A. D., p. 179.
Pursuing "The Empty House" further, we learn more. I have had to turn over the page which I had not had time to do this morning. The old book collector, soon to reveal himself as Holmes, follows Watson home and offers to sell him some books:
"'Here's British Birds, and Catullus, and The Holy War - a bargain every one of them.'"
-Doyle, op. cit., p. 6.
Well, Anderson is indeed quoting Doyle.
Online, I have found a very obscure reference to The Origin of Tree Worship here: an advertisement for a second hand copy of Grant Allen's translation of a work by Catullus covering topics including the origin of tree-worship.
What can we make of the other titles?
British Birds (?)
3 comments:
"British Birds" reminds me of the Monty Python bookshop skit. The nutty customer wants an expurgated version, ie: without a certain bird he dislikes (gannett IIRC)
Kaor, Paul!
I have a few obscure books myself, two by Anderson being THE FOX, THE DOG, AND THE GRIFFIN (1966); and STAVES (1983), a collection of his shorter poems. I don't think the latter can be found now for either love or money!
I wish STAVES included Anderson's best known or longer poems: "Mary O'Meara," "The Battle of Brandobar," and "The Queen of Air and Darkness."
Ad astra! Sean
Correction: STAVES was pub. in 1993, not 1983. And at least one copy is still available, admittedly for a high price, 68 dollars US.
Sean
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