Printed Page Bookshop
October 2023


Some weird books are out there, people
A visitor stuck his head in the door recently and asked, "Do you have any books on Japanese candles?"  A quick search of our indoor wax-based illumination section revealed that, unfortunately, we didn't.  We thought his request was unusual, but it illustrated a point:  There is a book about virtually everything. 
We offer the following titles as proof:
"The Guide to Owning a Quaker Parrot" by Gayle Soucek.
"Fish Who Answer the Telephone" by Yury Petrovich Frolov
"Fresh Air and How To Use It" by Thomas Spees Carrington
"Skin Diseases for Beginners" by Richard BertramColes
"The Abuse of Elderly People:  A Handbook for Professionals" by Jacki Pritchard
"Collect Fungi on Stamps" by D.J. Aggersberg
"Ice Cream for Small Plants" by Erta H. Handy
"The Bright Side of Prison Life" by S.A. Swiggert
"Hell:  Where Is It?" by "Saladin."
"The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Metal Lunch Boxes" by Allen Woodall
"The Romance of Cement" by the Edison Portland Cement Company
"The History of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie" by Trevor Hickman.
"Clinical Hat Pegs for Students and Graduates" by Robert Willan
Source:  Bizzare Books:  A Compendium of Classic Oddities



This Month's Puzzler
On October 7, 1849, this man died at age 40 in a gutter in Baltimore,
Maryland. For years, it was believed he died of his own drunken
debauchery, but recent scholarship has suggested a number of other
possible causes.

Born to theatrical parents in Boston, his English-born mother died when he
was two, and he was raised by his godfather in Richmond, Virginia. He
showed early academic promise, but didn't fare well in college, dropping
out of the University of Virginia and being expelled from West Point.

After discovering England's Romantic poets, he began writing poetry,
eventually writing classic poems in American history. He is also credited
with writing history's first detective story, "Murders of the Rue Morgue."
And his interest in the occult resulted in some legendary horror tales.
D. H. Lawrence wrote of him:

"He was an adventurer into the vaults and cellars and horrible underground passages of the human soul."

In an 1844 essay, he wrote:

"Never to suffer would never to have been blessed."

Who is this man?                  (Answer below)

Printed Page College of Biblio Knowledge
returns Saturday, October 7 
What better way to spend an hour and a half on a Saturday morning than learning about books?  Our highly popular book school will help your book collecting become more informed, more productive, and more fun.  You'll learn all about how to identify first editions, book terminology, book care and more.  And it's free!  Attendance is limited, so reserve your spot NOW by dropping a note to us at theshop@printedpagebookshop.com.

Puzzler answer

Edgar Allan Poe.  If you like our Puzzler, find more on our Facebook page.  
Thanks to Dr. Mardy Grothe for the use of his puzzler.  Visit him at drmardy.com.

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