Into the Archive: Cautious, My Precious

 

When the First of October rolled around and I found my account refilled (I had seriously overdrawn it last month getting that ‘wrong’ edition of Jurgen) I decided I would still get some new things from Amazon, but not to go over $50. This weekend I got my orders, three on Saturday and one on Sunday. They were all moderately priced, two I would even say were very cheap, and they, of course, were the most serious and scholarly items. I will list them in order of cost.

Guns for San Sebastian (DVD; 1968) might seem to people who know me to be a strange choice. It is a “French Western film”, about a Mestizo atheist outlaw Leon Alastray (Anthony Quinn) who is saved by a sympathetic priest (Sam Jaffe) and taken to the little town of San Sebastian. When the priest is killed by an alliance of bandits and Yaqui Indians led by Teclo (Charles Bronson) who do not want the church to be re-established, the villages assume that Alastray is a priest too. They especially support him after an apparent miracle that happens at the church of San Sebastian.

Alastray (who is ‘all astray’ both socially and religiously) is supported by local woman Kinita (Anjanette Comer); he’s very attracted but in his guise as priest, nothing can happen. The town tries to build a dam to bring water to their fields and to build a wall to protect themselves. The enemies seek to sabotage both efforts. Alastray tries to pay off the Yaqui chief Golden Lance (so-called because he carries a spear stolen from a statue of St. Michael) with a much-desired elusive white stallion (it fails, sabotaged by Teclo) then uses his wastrel wiles to wangle muskets, gunpowder, and a cannon by blackmailing an old lover who is now the governor’s wife.

Just before the final clash, the townspeople want Alastray to finally lead a Mass. He admits he is not a priest, but they follow him anyway; all his efforts have led them to trust him. The defense is successful (mostly due to a gunpowder charge set to explode at the dam that kills most of the attackers), and with the area finally pacified, government authorities march in with a new priest. Alastray is recognized, but the villagers smuggle him safely out. As he bids Kinita goodbye, he reveals that everything that has happened at San Sebastian, much that was providential, has allowed him to finally believe in the Christian God.

Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art (with Special Reference to Their Use in British Heraldry), by John Vinycomb (1906; reprint by First Rate Publishers; 193 pp) I had long suspected the existence of this book. After it had fallen out of copyright, its profuse illustrations could be cannibalized and used in such publications as Monsters by Leonard Wolf or The Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katherine Briggs. As an old ‘monsterologist,’ it is gratifying to finally have the sourcebook itself.

Enchiridion by Epictetus (Dover Thrift Editions; 56 pp) A simple handbook of the teachings of the Greek Stoic philosopher (lived about 50 to 135 AD), put together by one of his pupils, Arrian. It has been very influential down to this day, and I keep seeing it quoted. Has nothing to do with the Adventure Time Enchiridion.

The shortest book of all is The Didache (pr. 'DID-uh-kee'), or Teachings of the Apostles, said by tradition to be from the First Century. It seems to be directed to new Christians who were not from Jewish backgrounds. It covers Christian behavior, directions for worship, wandering preachers, church organization, and eschatology (end of the world stuff). All in 26 pages; more like a pamphlet or a handout than a book. Perhaps that was the Didache’s original purpose. When it came in the mail today it was so small that I thought they had sent me an empty sleeve. 

Lately I've been having the annoying urge to count all my books again. Maybe it has something to do with Fall. I'd have to figure out where I put my last count.

Update:

I have to note that I always associate Guns for San Sebastian with a bleak late Fall weekend day when we were hauling Mom over to Kirby's place to play cards with that side of the family. They needed me to help hoist her up the stairs in her wheelchair. I remember reading Maisie Ward's biography of G. K. Chesterton on the way over. I had just got it at Yesterday's Warehouse. I think I watched the movie when I was brought home. Anyway I always think of the film and Chesterton's life as a sort of confluence that set me down the path to Catholicism. Odd, but there it is.