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THE BOOKSHELF - A COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES
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~Other News~
Our launch party at the Sir John Soane Museum in London's Lincoln's Inn Fields was an uproarious success. With so many experts in the field of lost and unusual literature in attendance it was only to be expected that strange conversations would lead to esoteric exchanges and august introductions would create new connections.
It was therefore entirely fitting that the editor of Fungoids and Negations, Dr David Marriott, and the provider of the original manuscript copy of Time-Search Through the Declining West, Radek Chodera, should debate time travel in the basement over an Egyptian Mummy casing. Their later attempt to perform an occult ritual (provided, they said, by an unnamed author at the party itself) that would enable them to visit an alternative London - "We are trying to leave by another door" slurred Dr Marriott - was doomed to failure. It did however have the unusual effect of engaging the Architectural compiler of Megapolisomancy, Rosemary Park in a heated debate over the possibility that this alternate London was in fact based on Sir Christopher Wren's original designs, presented immediately after the Great Fire in 1666. One could overhear descriptions of sweeping boulevards, as wide as five tanks, named after the magician Dr John Dee; of the Great Tower of London, built in 1889 to challenge the new Eiffel construction in Paris (later dismantled, they claimed, in shame) and of the challenges that would arise for psycho-geographers of this new city. Mrs Park has elaborated on this other capital in her book Another London.
There was a great deal of discussion concerning our poetry line. Christopher North manfully negotiated several offers to put together a second volume of forgotten erotic poetry from Italy (under the suggested title The Last Whores) from the owners of various copies of small chapbooks with titles such as Chaste Throbs or Love's Fury. Perhaps sober reflection will be needed before such a project sees the light of day. Karen Eliot, critic and editor of The Lost Hours remained unavailable for public comment on such developments.
Radek Chodera was not our only visitor from the Czech Republic. Cyril Simsa arrived with news that the investigations into the death of Professor Hroznys and the loss of all copies of Beasts Beyond Tolerance... were progressing with all the vigour and alacrity of a crushed snail. He is currently at work on an anthology of forgotten sciences.
Lucidity finally eluded us in the small hours and the real London called us home...