Mystery in the Shadow Library

 

The Dead Man's Knock; The Eight of Swords; The Man Who Could Not Shudder ... John Dickson Carr

“Dr Gideon Fell is a fictional character created by John Dickson Carr. He is the protagonist of 23 mystery novels from 1933 through 1967, as well as a few short stories. Dr. Fell is a corpulent man with a moustache who wears a cape and a shovel hat and walks with the aid of two canes.  His age is not specified; in his first appearance, in a 1933 novel, he is said to be "not too old" but with a kind of ancient quality about him. He is frequently described as bringing the spirit of Father Christmas or Old King Cole into a room. Dr Fell is supposedly based upon G. K. Chesterton (author of the Father Brown stories), whose physical appearance and personality were similar to those of Doctor Fell.” – Wikipedia.

That was enough of an enticement for me, and back in the Nineties I bought these paperbacks. At this late date I can’t remember any details about them, and they did not engage me to any great degree. I was more enamored with their covers. I’d forgotten them for about 20 years until this afternoon. As with many items in the Shadow Library, I wonder if I would appreciate them more now.

Animals; Animals; See Them Everywhere: The Shadow Library

 

Of course, Owls in the Family reminds me of books that we had as a family, on similar themes. Perhaps the closest was Little Rascal, by Sterling North, a cut down version of his larger book Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era (1963). That better era was during WWI and the Spanish flu. As I said, it was a family book, shared among us kids, but I think Mike had the largest interest in it. I don’t remember ever reading it myself. Needless to say, at the end Rascal, a raccoon, has to be released into the wild. Mike also had a copy of The Yearling (by Marjorie Kinning Rawlings) years later. I think Nomads of the North (James Oliver Curwood/Disney) was his too.

To continue the deer theme, I used to have two copies of Bambi, one a paperback with the original (translated) story by Felix Salten, and one an adaptation by Idella Purnell of the Walt Disney movie. Although there are dozens of editions, I can’t find the cover of the book I remember (I always seem to find the most obscure copy imaginable), but here is the Disney one.

And to continue the animation theme, here are three family books from the Xerox publishing company: Bugs Bunny, The Roadrunner, and The Flintstones.

I finish up with a couple of oddities and maybe carry on the caveman theme. The First Men in the World by Anne Terry White, which I remember reading in our 4^th Grade library and bought a copy of at Yesterday’s Warehouse, and The World’s Greatest Athlete by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso (a novelization of the Disney movie), which I cannot remember how or comprehend why we came to have, but it lingered on, neglected, and survived far longer than more well-loved books.

Owls in the Family: A New Old Book

                  Owls in the Family … Farley Mowat

Owls in the Family (1961; this edition 1996) is the story of “Billy”, a boy in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada) and his adventures that begin when he goes out seeking an owl for a pet. He lives on the verge of some pretty wild country, and he already has a multitude of animals, chiefly his dog Mutt (hero of his own adventures, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be), but also gophers, white rats, garter snakes, pigeons, and rabbits. But he wants an owl.

First, he and his friend try snatching the baby owls from a nest they find, but the mother owl always stymies them. Then a storm destroys the nest. The mother is gone, and he finds only one baby owl left alive on the ground. He takes it home, nurses it back to health, and names him Wol after the owl in Winnie-the-Pooh. Soon after he rescues another baby owl from a boy tormenting it in an oil barrel; he names it Weeps after the sound it makes.

Wol eventually learns to fly, but Weeps never does (he seems a bit timid and traumatized). They prefer walking, however; in fact, Billy’s father comments that they think they are people. Many of their encounters and adventures stem from this fact, with Wol turning up at school or introducing himself to the visiting minister. Eventually the family has to move, and Billy must place his beloved owls with a friend who lives even farther out in the wilds.

I first read this book back in grade school in the early 1970’s, and I think there was a copy in the public library as well. It stoked my love and interest in owls. For a while we had a pet – well, I say a pet, it was more a rescue – a little owl we called Blinkie (it had a wounded eye, but probably also named after Dr. Blinkie from H. R. Pufnstuf); Pop found it injured and brought it home. We did out best to nurse it back to health, but it did not end well.

In fact, we had a rather extensive pet cemetery in the backyard garden, and a lot of them were wild animals. A raccoon, at least one armadillo, a squirrel, two fawns, crayfish, and some mud turtles (though we usually returned the turtles to the river); probably more that I’m forgetting. Part of this urge was just curiosity and wonder, but part of it was fed by books like this one.

As John pointed out to me recently, the title is a play on the old phrase ‘all in the family’, which of course precedes the famous sitcom by many years. This book has some elements that I don’t think would fly in children’s literature today, including a rather cavalier attitude to wild animals. This edition is a reprint from 1996, but it retains all the original illustrations by Robert Frankenberg, which I was glad to find. Here is the old cover I remember:

Lost in a Roman Wilderness of Pain: The Shadow Library

 

The Satyricon ... Gaius Petronius Arbiter

The Golden Asse of Apuleius ... Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis

Illustrated 1931 Edition

The Traveling Curmudgeon: Into the Archives

 

The Traveling Curmudgeon ... Jon Winokur

I've always enjoyed Winokur's collections of acidulous anecdotes; reading his little books of quotes is like compulsively eating a bowl of salty peanuts. The cover pretty much explains the book. 

M is for Magic: The Shadow Library

M is for Magic ... Neil Gaiman

A collection of his "child-friendly" short stories. I gave it as a present to one of my nieces, as I had all of the stories (or a version of them) elsewhere, in the hope she might enjoy it. Not sure, at this late date, if this was the exact cover. There is another, quite close to it.

Home Before Dark: New and Collectable

            Home Before Dark (2000) … James P. Blaylock

This touching short story (20 pages, including 3 interior illustrations by Gail Cross and Tim Holt and a cover by the same), is printed in chapbook form by Subterranean Press, and is number 147 of only 350 numbered copies. There is an even fancier, lettered edition. The story concerns the last hours of an old man’s life, of what he must let go and what he finds again. It is signed by James P. Blaylock himself, and so joins my other signed editions. Remember that, will you, when it comes time to dispose of my library?

A peculiarity of the packing was that the chapbook (which has a tough but flexible cover) was protected through shipping by being sandwiched within the cut-off covers of a hardback book. It reminded me a bit of Helene Hanf’s outrage at finding her books packed with pages from another book, and Frank Doel having to assure her it was simply finding a use for older, unsellable tomes neither rare nor complete.