Antiquities & Oddities

//Antiquities & Oddities
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  • The first edition of this book came out in 1928, and as a result of 'much correspondence' and further research, the author released this updated edition in 1944. Contents in this volume: The Devil's Hoofmarks: A series of strange footmarks in the snow appeared in Devonshire in 1855; The Vault At Barbados - also known as the moving coffins of Barbados; The Ships Seen On The Ice: Ships from a polar expedition believed lost in 1845 are spotted years later; The Berbalangs of Cagyan Sulu: Tales of zombies in the Philippines in 1896; Orffyreus' Wheel: Did  Orffyreus invent a perpetual motion machine in 1717? Crosse's Acari: A new species of insects allegedly created by the reanimation of dead matter; The Auroras And Other Doubtful Islands: Islands that had been recognised and charted for centuries - yet they don't exist...; Mersenne's Numbers: Marin Mersenne, a French Minim friar, gave his name to Mersenne primes in the 17th century - prime numbers that are one less than a power of two;  The Wizard of Mauritius: In the late 1700s Bottineau could predict, with accuracy, which ships would soon be arriving; The Planet Vulcan: Is there another planet between Mercury and the Sun? Nostradamus: The French scholar and mystic predicted a great many things that came true yet sceptics will point at those which haven't come true - to which the the believers retort, 'Yet...' Having written his quatrains in a mix of Latin, Greek, French with a touch of English tossed in. It being entirely possible that the quatrains were torn in half by Nostradamus so that the first two lines may have little to do with the last two, the world has not yet heard the last of him. While at least one of these 'Oddities' has now been solved - the moving coffins of Barbados - the others remain unexplained to this day. With photographs and sketches.
  • Jean Nicol, before she was twenty, worked as a journalist at the Daily Mirror, answering - as she put it - the cries of the lovelorn as agony aunt 'Dorothy Dix'. In 1939 she began work as a junior press officer at the Savoy Hotel and when war broke out, the senior staff departed and she unexpectedly found herself in charge. Her office began to take on a unique importance as it gradually became a meeting place for celebrities and American press representatives. She was so successful that after helping Daniel Sangster, film publicist for director David O. Selznick, with media releases, he made her an offer; leave the Savoy and take over the European office of the David Selznick Organisation. She declined - and she also received a rise in salary from Miles Thornwill, Chairman of the Savoy.  She met royalty, politicians, world leaders and many famous actors and actresses, including Danny Kaye, James Mason, Charlie Chaplin and Gertrude Lawrence. She first met Derek Tangye in 1941 when he asked her to stock his book, Time Was Mine in the hotel book stall. They became engaged in the winter of 1942 and married in February 1943. In 1949, they moved to Cornwall where they lived on a small holding with a variety of pets, growing daffodils and potatoes until Jean's death in 1986.  Drawing on her experience as an agony aunt and her shrewd observations, this book is about the  workings of the Savoy, its rich and famous guests and a wonderful view of social life in London over the war years and afterwards. This book was so popular that it was reprinted 18 times between 1952 and 1972. Illustrated with black and white photographs. 
  • Sale!
    Religious Tract Society - improving stories for children. Research shows that this was published in 1936 after the author's death in 1923.
  • Set in England prior to the coronation of Elizabeth II.  Mrs 'Arris is a charlady, hard-working, cheerful and always obliging.  When she sees the beautiful Dior gown that one of her titled ladies will wear to the Coronation festivities, Mrs. 'Arris is determined to have one too.  And she can - if she gives up catching the bus...and going to the cinema...and going to the pub for a drop of gin with her neighbour...and if she takes on extra work and does some sewing from home...She faces all manner of obstacles and snobbery and unwittingly does some good on her journey, but she is determined.  Made into a beautiful film, Mrs.  'Arris Goes To Paris with Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Ada 'Arris. and Omar Sharif - and recently remade.
  • This novel spans 130 years and follows the line of women of the Wrotham family, beginning with Sabrina in 1806. The daughter of a socially disgraced, sadistic roué, she is sponsored into 'Society' by her step-aunt - after having had some good manners vigorously instilled in her and her tomboyish ways smoothed out. Her brother Prior's marriage and production of children play a part in keeping the Wrotham name going. The next Wrotham woman is Clare - her brother Anthony's marriage to Harriet brings Charlotte to the line and the last is Gillian Rose, known as 'Jill'. The diaries and letters of the women are fictitious but the times in which the story is set are not, and many historical characters and events of England are brought to the story. As the generations overlap, with the members of each generation subscribing to the beliefs of their day, there is little sentimental romance involved - just a very good story, tinted with gentle romance and enhanced by the backdrop of historic reality.
  • Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) brings it all to create a cinema spectacular of the classic tale of the legendary gorilla brought from a treacherous island to civilisation, where he faces the ultimate fight for survival. Also starring Adrien Brody, Colin Hanks and Andy Serkis as Kong.
  • The word freak can easily conjure up the image of a squalid Victorian side show exhibit; yet behind the peep-show curtains, the medical textbooks and screaming headlines, these are people who were thrust into a prying, probing limelight because they were different.  In this volume: John Merrick, the Elephant Man; Tony Albarran, the Elephant Boy; Maurice Tillet; David Lopez, the 'Devil Boy'; Alice, The Faceless Child; Helen Keller, who possessed the ability of 'eyeless sight'; Matthew Manning, who progressed from bending cutlery and automatic writing to psychic healing; Greta and Freda Chaplin, who spent 20 years in pursuit of the love of a lorry driver;  Louise, the Four Legged Woman; Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, who married and lived with their husbands successfully, as well as featuring in Tod Browning's famous film Freaks; Norman Green, the Human Mole who lived beneath his family's home for eight years unbeknownst to all except his wife; wild children and many more.  Black and white photographs.
  • A very complete collection of Aussie folk songs: Convicts, bushrangers, goldminers; lawyers and law breakers; teamsters, drovers, stockmen, shearers and strikers. A tribute to the men who boozed, battled, bludgeoned, bullied and blarneyed their way through the first century of Australia. Illustrated by the author.
  • No matter how conservative science can explain somethings, strange phenomena continues:  Yeti sightings, the Loch Ness Monster, spontaneous human combustion and encounters with angels are just a very few of the explorations of this author.