Some Notes on Some Recent Books

Here are some recent, and less-recent, books I'd like to call attention to. This column has been rather delayed, for various reasons, and I haven't had the chance to read some of these titles yet, much though I'd like to.

First, early on in Covid times, David and Daniel Ritter released The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom, Volume One: The 1930s. This came out as a lavish (and expensive) hardcover, since reprinted, but also as an affordable Kindle ebook. I can't say enough of praise for this book, so will recommend a visit to the publisher's webpage here, where you can also click on a digital sampler of some 52 pages from the book. What a picture of fandom in the 1930s!

Next up, is David Tibet's latest anthology, There Is A Graveyard That Dwells in Man (Strange Attractor Press), a follow-up to his 2016 anthology (from the same publisher) The Moons at Your Door. Good and eclectic selections in both.  See the publishers webpage here, and here.

 

The third and fourth volumes of Jean Ray's horror tales, translated by Scott Nicolay, have come out in the Wakefield Press series.  I don't know how many more volumes are planned, but I hope there might be several more. The third is The Great Nocturnal, containing 5 tales; and the fourth is Circles of Dread, with nine stories. 

Snuggly Books has published the second volume (of two) of fiction by Montague Summers, The Bride of Christ and Other Fictions, including eight stories, all but one of which are newly published. Introduction by Daniel Corrick. 

On the magazine front, there was a new issue of Chris Mikul's Biblio-Curiosa, on unusual writers and strange books. Issue 9 is "The Autobiographies and Memoirs Issue" and covers E.W. Martell, Seamus Burke, Mary MacLane, G.  Gordon Liddy, and Crook Frightfulness by A Victim, and a review of a recent autobiography by Sir Edmund Backhouse.  Inquiries to the author/publisher chris<dot>mikul88<at>gmail<dot>com. 

 And there was a new issue of Le Visage Vert (no. 31), with stories by Arthur Machen, Maurice Renard, Mark Valentine, Camille Mauclair, Pascal Malosse, Pascal Mulot, and Sophus Bauditz. For a contents listing see here. There is also a companion volume of stories by Maurice Renard, Celui qui n'a pas tué, edited and with a preface and bibliography by Claude Deméocq. Ordering information for both books (and many others) can be found by scrolling around here. 

And finally, Tartarus Press publisher R.B. Russell collected his own bookish essays, a handful of which first appeared here on Wormwoodiana, in Past Lives of Old Books and Other Essays. It first came out in hardcover, but is now also available as a trade paperback and an ebook.  Details here.

Catching Up with Le Visage Vert

The recent publication of issue 30 (a milestone!) of Le Visage Vert has reminded me that I need to cover it and their other recent publications.

Here's the new issue, which contains (among other things) two stories by Stefan Grabinski, and two studies of Grabinski, by Pierre van Cutsem (biographical and bibliographical, with nice color illustrations) and by Michel Meurger.  For the full contents see here. And for ordering information, see here.

Issue 29 came out about a year ago, and it has two pieces by Marcel Schwob, and two articles about him, along with the fourth installment of Michel Meurger's historical study  of werewolves (the third installment appeared in issue no. 27), among other intriguing items. For the full contents see here. And for ordering information, see here.

Recent publications in the Librairie du Visage Vert include the first of three planned volumes of stories by Maurice Level, Les Oiseaux de nuit [Night Birds], with a long Preface by Philippe Gontier and a long afterword and extensive bibliography by Jean Luc Buard. Such extensive coverage of Level is long overdue and very welcome. For ordering information, see here.

And there is a recent collection of essays on Lovecraft, edited by Christophe Gelly and Gilles Menegaldo, Lovecraft au prisme de l'image: Littérature, cinéma et arts graphiques [Lovecraft in the prism of the image: literature, cinema, and graphic arts]. For ordering information, see here. 

As usual, these LVV publications are elegantly and tastefully produced.  Have a look around at their main page here, and scroll down a bit to find their list of publications, with the most recent nearer to the top.  

Le Visage Vert no. 28, February 2017

I've been too busy to study deeply the latest issue of Le Visage Vert, even to the point of being remiss about calling attention to its publication some months ago.  So here's a belated notice.  Ordering details can be found here (scroll down), and a full table of the contents of this issue here. The lead story is by  Perceval Landon, "Thurnley Abbey". Lafcadio Hearn is represented with an article (from 1875) on spirit photographs.   François Ducos contributes a study of the occult detective in France, 1930-1960. There are some older materials by Kirby Draycott and Gustave Guitton, as well as contemporary stories by Jean-Pierre Chambon and Achillèas Kyriakìdis. All in all another fine issue.

 The Kirby Draycott story is additionally given in its original English, as "The Clock Face of Schaumberg", in a supplementary booklet, reprinted from The Royal Magazine, November 1898, with the intriguing original illustrations. The story concerns a sixteenth-century historical figure, Goetz of the Iron Hand, who wore an iron prosthetic after losing his right arm in battle.  Michel Meurger contributes an article about the historical Goetz, to complement the fictional treatment by the mysterious Draycott, about whom very little is known beyond his authorship of a small number of tales. 

The above is from the opening pages of the supplementary booklet.  The illustration shows the interesting use to which a clock tower is put in the story
 

Arthur Machen and the Art of the Hieroglyph

A quick note here to call attention to a recent publication by Le Visage Vert:  a new single-author critical volume on Arthur Machen.  It is by Sophie Mantrant, an associate professor and lecturer at the University of Strasbourg.  It is called Arthur Machen et l'art due hiéroglyphe.  It has a lengthy introduction, followed by five sections of five chapters each (and each section also contains a short conclusion). The volume closes with a more general concluding chapter, an extensive bibliography, and an index.  The main thrust of the book's argument is that Machen's texts evoke a re-enchantment with the world in disenchanted times, and that Machen accomplishes this through the art of the hieroglyph, which give the mysteries of the universe in a symbolic language. A fine produced volume, as usual.  Order via this link (scroll down).

LE VISAGE VERT issue no. 27

Recently published is the new issue, no. 27, of Le Visage Vert.  Highlights include two stories by Thomas Burke translated from English into French ("The Hollow Man" from Collier's, 14 October 1933; and "The Hands of Mrs. Ottermole" from The Story-Teller, February 1929; both collected in The Best Short Stories of Thomas Burke, edited by John Gawsworth in 1950, and The Golden Gong and Other Night-Pieces and Unpleasantries, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson in 2001). A third installment of Michel Meurger's historical study of werewolves is accompanied by three examples, including Marie de France's "Bisclavret", an extract from Élie Berthet's "Le Bête du Gévaudan" and Paul Lacroix's "Le Loup-Garou" (1834)--which proves remarkably to have been the original source of Sutherland Menzies's "Hugues, the Wer-Wolf: A Kentish Legend of the Middle Ages" (1838), with the setting altered to Kent.

French grand-guignol writer Maurice Level is represented with four short tales, and an article about him by Jean-Luc Buard. There is also one story by the French symbolist poet Saint-Pol-Roux, as well as an article about him by Mikaël Lugan. And contemporary American writer Livia Llewellyn is represented with a French translation of her story "Furnace" from The Grimscribe's Puppets (2013), edited by Joseph S. Pulver Sr. The volumes closes with the usual (and very informative) section of Bio-Bibliographies. 

Ordering details can be found here (scroll down).

A new issue of LE VISAGE VERT

Issue 26 of the renown journal Le Visage Vert appeared a few months ago.  I've finally had the chance to explore the contents, and can give  some highlights here.  

Of the translations from the English, there are  John Buchan's  "Fullcircle" (Blackwood's Magazine, January 1920; and The Atlantic Monthly, also January 1920; collected in Buchan's The Runagates Club, 1928);   Jerome K. Jerome  "Le Valseur" (The Idler, March 1893, as a part of a serialization of "Novel Notes"; collected in Jerome's Novel Notes, 1893, and reprinted under the title "The Dancing Partner" in Dorothy L. Sayers's The Omnibus of Crime, 1928, and other places); and H.V. Chao's "La Guérison" ("The Recovery" from Strange Tales Volume IV, 2014, edited by Rosalie Parker; H.V. Chao is the pseudonym of translator Edward Gauvin). 

A new tale also comes from Jean-Pierre Chambon ("Une collection particulière"). 

Reprints of older materials include four items by Eugène Hollande (1866-1931), including "Le Sommeil de Dieu," "À l’aube," "Illusions," and "La Promesse de William"; one by Édouard Romberg (1817-1899), "Le Dernier Païen"; and one by Marie de Grandfort (1829-1904), "Une étrange aventure."  "Spiritisme" is a translation from the Italian of Francesco Tonolla (1860-1916); also translated from the Italian is "Les Homuncules mécaniques" by Ippolito Nievo (1831-1861), with an introduction by Adrian Adler.

Finally, in addition to the usual welcome editorial contributions, there is a long piece by François Ducos "Le Détective des Ténèbres de Fascinax à Edward Brooker"

Ordering details can be found here (scroll down).

   

Le Visage Vert no. 25

Congratulations to Xavier Legrad-Ferronnière and everyone else editing and writing for Le Visage Vert, which has just published its milestone twenty-fifth issue.  Highlights include Michel Meurger continuing his historical exploration of werewolves; Norbert Gaulard introducing two fantastic tales by Antonio de Hoyos y Vinent (1885-1940), who is described as a sort of Iberian alter ego to Jean Lorrain.  There follows a  translation  into French of Jessie Douglas Kerruish's "The Swaying Vision" (1915), and a previously unpublished text "La Porte" by the Belgian writer Guy Vaes (1927-2012), with a study of Vaes by Danny De Laet.  Finally there are a couple of medieval legends written and illustrated by Albert Robidas (1848-1926).  Subscribers receive a set of four cards (printed on each side) showing illustrations by for advertisements for a collection of stories by Antonio de Hoyos v Vinent. 


Another recent publication by the folks at Le Visage Vert is a chapbook L'Animal Blanc (The White Animal) by Georg von der Gabalentz (1868-1940), translated from the German by Élisabeth Willenz, with illustrations by Stepan Ueding. "Das weisse Tier"  is from Gabelentz's first collection of stories, published in 1904.

Ordering details can be found here (scroll down).