Cyberflanerie: Better Books, Books of Note, Decluttering Books, Rare Books

The NYT's Charles M. Blow says, Reading Books is Fundamental.

Making Better Books:

The Book Designer's archive of articles "practical advice to help build better books"

Chronicling America in the Library of Congress (newspaper archives)

Book Aesthete Tumblr

Books of Note:

Sam Quinones' Tell Your True Tale East Los Angeles

The Daily Beast's Ted Gioia says The Smartest Book About the Digital Age Was Published in 1929. (José Ortega y Gasset's The Revolt of the Masses.)

My book! Updated edition in Kindle, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual.

>see also recent Madam Mayo posts on Gregory Gibson's Demon of the Waters and Bruce Berger's The End of the Sherry.

>see also lists of recommended reading on Mexico; creative process; craft of  creative writing; literary travel memoir.

Decluttering Books: 

Early Retirement Extreme on How to Get Rid of Books

>see also Madam Mayo's easy-peasy 10 Question Method

Rare Books:

Mexico Desconocido on Mexico City's antiquarian bookstores (en español)

>see also recent blog post,  Una ventana al mundo invisible (A Window to the Invisible World) or, Master Amajur and the Smoking Signatures

COMMENTS always welcome

Una ventana al mundo invisible (A Window to the Invisible World): Master Amajur and the Smoking Signatures

My go-to antiquarian
bookstore in Mexico City

Re: The bibliography for my recent book-- now in paperback and Kindle-- Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual, which is being updated this week.

Window to the Invisible World

Una ventana al mundo invisible. Protocolos del IMIS 
Editorial Antorcha, Mexico City, 1960.
[A Window to the Invisible world: Protocols of the IMIS]

A Window to the Invisible World:
Protocols of the Mexican Institute
for Psychic Research
Mexico City, 1960

I was long into the labyrinth of research and reading for my book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, when I happened into Mexico City's Librería Madero, expressing a vague interest in Francisco I. Madero and "lo que sea de lo esotérico." When the owner, Don Enrique Fuentes de Castillo, set this book upon the counter, I confess, the cover, which looks like a Halloween cartoon, with such childish fonts, did little to excite my interest. But oh, ho ho (in the voice of the Jolly Green Giant):

This book, Una ventana al mundo invisible, is nothing less than the official, meticulously documented records of the dozens and dozens of research-séances of the Instituto Mexicano de Investigaciones Síquicas or IMIS (Mexican Institute of Psychic Research) from April 10, 1940 to April 12, 1952, members of which included-- the book lists their names and their signatures-- several medical doctors and National University (UNAM) professors; an ex-Rector of the UNAM, the medical doctor and historian Dr. Fernando Ocaranza; several generals; ambassadors; bankers; artists and writers, including José Juan Tablada; a supreme court justice; an ex-Minister of Foreign relations; an ex-director of Banco de México, Carlos Novoa; Ambassador Ramón Beteta, ex Minister of Finance; and... drumroll… both Miguel Alemán and Plutarco Elías Calles. *

Close up of the subtitle. Madam Mayo disapproves of the font.
(Dude, what were you smoking?)

*I hate giving wikipedia links but as of this writing, the official webpage for the Mexican presidency doesn't go back more than four administrations.

President of Mexico,
"El Jefe Máximo"
Plutarco Elías Calles.
In retirement he joined the IMIS
and was a regular participant in the
research-séances documented in
Una ventana al mundo invisible

For those who are a little foggy on Mexican history, Plutarco Elías Calles served as Mexico's President from 1924-1928, and Miguel Alemán, 1946-1952. At the time of the séances documented in Una ventana al mundo invisible, Calles was in retirement, having returned from the exile imposed on him by President Cardenás in the 1930s. 

When Una ventana al mundo invisible was published in 1960, Alemán was long gone from power, and Calles had passed away. 

I had heard, as has anyone who goes any ways into the subject, that Alemán and Calles and other Mexican "public figures" were secret Spiritists, but here, dear readers, in the Protocolos del IMIS, are the smoking signatures. 


Yes, There are Other References to Una ventana al mundo invisible

The Revolution as
dolor de cabeza

Mexican historian Enrique Krauze was one of the first to cite Una ventana al mundo invisible in his chapter on Calles in Biography of Power, as does Jurgen Burchenau in his biography, Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution. But, as I write these lines, Una ventana al mundo invisible remains surprisingly obscure.

Of course, I googled. A Mexican writer,  Héctor de Mauleón, had discovered Una ventana al mundo invisible in a different Mexico City antiquarian bookstore and written up a summary for the October 2012 issue of Nexos. (But he complains of his copy's missing the picture of the conjured spirit, "Master Amajur." More about that in a moment.) And also recently, Grupo Espírita de la Palma, a Canary Islands Spiritist blog, which has posted several important bibliographic notes as well as a bibliography of Spanish works on Spiritism, posted this piece about the Jesuit Father Heredia's involvement with the IMIS--thanks to his friend, none other than Calles--and about this book.

How about WordCat? Yes, there are several copies of the 1960 edition of Una ventana al mundo invisible in libraries in Mexico City. And three copies in the United States: the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and (why?) the University of West Georgia. Ah, and WorldCat also shows several copies in Mexico of an edition © 1993 and published in 1994 by Planeta and another, expanded edition published by Posadas in 1979.

(A research project for whomever wants it: to delve into the Mexican hemerotecas of 1960-61 for any newspaper coverage, and 1979 and 1994 for anything about the Posadas and Planeta editions. My guess is, not much, for the press was largely under the thumb of the ruling party and this sort of information about Mexican Presidents would have been, to say the least, unwelcome. But that's just my guess.)


So, Now, Delving into the Contents...

Rafael Alvarez y Alvarez
(1857 - 1955)
Mexican banker and founder of the
Instituto Mexicano de Investigaciones Síquicas
(IMIS)

The copy Don Enrique was offering, and for a very reasonable price, still had its dust jacket, small tears in places along the bottom and the top, but intact (the image on this blog post is a scan of my copy). The rest of it was pristine; the pages had not even been cut. Don Enrique cut slit open a few for me in the bookstore, and once home, I continued with my trusty steak knife (read about my other steak knife adventure here.)

I dove right in and learned that the founder of the IMIS, to whose memory the book is dedicated, was Rafael Alvarez y Alvarez (1887-1955), a distinguished Mexican banker, a president of the Monte de Piedad, and a congressman and senator. (Looking at his portrait with my novelist's eye-- that gaze! the bow tie!-- yes, the intrepid maverick.)

The introduction is by Gutierre Tibón, an Italian-Mexican historian and anthropologist, professor in the National University's prestigious faculty of Philosophy and Literature, and author of numerous noted works, including Iniciación al budismo and El jade de México.


A Brief Bit of Background on 19th Century Parapsychological Research

The goal of the IMIS was to progress in the tradition of pioneer American, English, and European parapsychological researchers. From my book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, the first chapter, which provides 19th century background for Madero's ideas about Spiritism, which he considered both a religion and a science:

Read more at www. cmmayo.com

"The exploits of mediums such as the Fox sisters, D.D. Home, the Eddy Brothers, and later in the nineteenth century, prim Leonora Piper (channel for the long-dead “Dr Phinuit” and the mysterious “Imperator”), and wild Eusapia Palladino (whose séances featured billowing curtains, floating mandolins and, popping out of the dark, ectoplasmic hands), spurred the studies of investigators, journalists and a small group of elite scientists. Noted German, Italian, and French scientists, such as Nobel prize-winning physiologist Charles Richet undertook the examination of these anomalous phenomena, but the British Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882, and the American Society for Psychical Research founded three years later, led the fray. Though their ranks included leading scientists such as chemist William Crookes, naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, physicist Oliver Lodge, and William James (the Harvard University professor considered the father of psychology). Yet their researches almost invariably met not with celebration, nor curiosity on the part of their fellow academics, but ridicule, often to the point of personal slander."

On that note, for anyone interested in learning more about 19th century parapsychological research, a very weird swamp indeed, I recommend starting with science journalist Denorah Blum's excellent Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death. (See also Blum's website.)



Medium Luís Martínez and "Spirit Guide" Dr. Enrique del Castillo

As James et al had Leonora Piper, and Richet and Lombroso, Eusapia Palladino, the IMIS employed the medium Luis Martínez, who was able to evoke a broad spectrum of phenomena, from ringing bells to apports, ectoplasm, breezes, raps and knocks, levitation, and so on. 

Luis Martínez
Mexican medium

In séances with Martínez, the IMIS heard from its spirit guide on the "other side," one Dr. Enrique del Castillo, a Mexican doctor of the 19th century. According to Dr Tibón in his introduction to Una ventana al mundo invisible (p. 20, my translation):

"The way he looked was perfectly well known because once he "aported" his photograph, which was later made into a larger size, framed and displayed the Institute's workroom. Another aport of Dr. del Castillo were his spectacles, identical to those in the portrait. He brought them on October 24, 1944, at 10:30 pm, in a séance that was documented in Cuernavaca, and he said these words, directing them to Rafael Alvarez y Alvarez: 'In leaving my spectacles to you, dear son, it is with the wish that you will see clearly the future road we must take. May these spectacles take you on the path where we will always be companions.'"

Enter "Master Amajur"

Of special note was the séance on the evening of September 24, 1941, when Plutarco Elías Calles invited Carlos de Heredia, S.J., author of a book debunking Spiritism-- and Father Heredia, sufficiently awed (and according to Calles, converted)  affixed his signature as witness to genuine phenomena. That séance is documented in its entirety in Una ventana al mundo invisible. From Dr. Tibón's introduction (p.21, my translation):

"That memorable night there materialized another spirit guide for the circle: an oriental doctor named Master Amajur; and he did not only show himself completely to Father Heredia, he also spilled a glass of water, saturated it with magnetic fluid, and gave it to him to drink. Then there appeared the phantom of Sister María de Jesús and, before the astonished cleric, illuminated her face in a most unusual manner. Finally, Dr Enrique del Castillo appeared, surrounded by many tiny lights. These levitated the medium, chair and all-- the equivalent of raising almost 100 kilos-- and silently left him in the other end of the room. This phenomenon was verified for the first time. Later, I had the fortune to attend its repetition and I literally saw the medium fly two meters into the air."

Master Amajur he started showing up from the first documented séance of May 8, 1940 (p. 89, my translation of some of the highlights):

"Master Amajur [appeared] very clearly, he touched all of us and he wrote a message which says: Go forward and I will help you. When we asked him [for a message] he left a message for Colonel Villanueva that says: It would be good for you to attend a séance. [… ]The first materialization produced an electric spark above the lightbulb that was loose in its socket[… ] There was an aport: a small bottle of perfume and its essence sprinkled above us. The music box passed over our heads. The Master gave us his cloak to touch, which seemed to all of us a piece of gauze. One again he produced a fresh breeze: it smelled of ozone.

On June 12, 1940 (p.90, my translation):

[…] the Master came in. This manifestation appeared first as a human hand covered with a veil, imitating a human figure. Then it increased in size and luminosity until it came txo a height of about 1.5 meters. Only the head and bust could only be seen. It was covered in a bluish white veil which I touched with my face. It gave me the impression of being a cotton fabric… It gave me a large glass of water to drink… It put flowers in our hands, it gave us a perfumed air, and when luminous blobs passed near my face I perceived the smell of phosphorous."

On June 22, 1941 (my translation, p. 92):

In front of all of us, Amajur left on the wall an inscription that said: Go forward. Upon request, he gave fluid to a magnolia and then he began to cut the petals. One by one these were deposited in the mouths of the participants.

And so on. Séance after séance after séance--96 in all--with sparks, music, levitations, ectoplasmic this & that, perfumes, flowers, and frequent appearances not only by Master Amajur and sundry others, but also a childlike spirit, "Botitas" (Little Boots), who would tug on the participants' pant legs. 

Photographing Master Amajur

Close up of "Master Amajur"
From the cover of
Una ventana al mundo invisible

Skipping ahead to the séance of June 17, 1943-- which Plutarco Elías Calles attended-- Master Amajur has agreed to pose for a photograph. At first this doesn't work; the photographer only captures a hand and then, suddenly, falls into convulsions. But then, after some further bizarre phenomena and friendly intervention by the spirit Dr. del Castillo, the photograph is achieved (p. 194, my translation):

"According to Mrs. Padilla [wife of Ezequiel Padilla, ex Minister of Foreign Relations, also in attendance on this occasion], and in agreement with all the other participants, at the moment of the explosion or flash from the photographer's lamp, in the shadow could be seen the complete figure of the master, as if a statue of about 2 meters covered in a cloak, from head to foot. It was also noted that Master Amajur received a powerful shock and on asking him if he would permit another photograph to be taken, he said no."

According to the dust jacket flap text, this is the very photograph that adorns the cover of the book. But, um, it looks more like a drawing to me. (As, by the way, many purported "spirit photographs" do. Google, dear reader, and ye shall find. Lots on eBay, by the way.)

Madame Blavatsky
The monumental figure of
modern esotericism
Author of The Secret Doctrine and
Isis Unveiled, etc.
Founder, Theosophical Society

For historians of the metaphysical, it is interesting to note that Master Amajur claimed to be a member of the Great White Brotherhood, a term which came into use in the West with Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, in the 19th century. She claimed that her teachers, who often met with her on the astral plane, were the Great White Brothers or Mahatamas, the Ascended Masters Koot-hoomi (Kuthumi) and Morya. Later, her follower A. P. Sinnett expanded on this topic in a sensational book of its day, The Mahatma Letters (1923). Over the decades, other psychics claimed to receive channeled messages from various Ascended Masters, most notably "St. Germain" and Alice Bailey's "Djwahl Khul" or "The Tibetan." It would seem that "Master Amajur" falls into this rather blurry and ever-morphing category.* 

*So are the terms Great White Brother, Mahatma, and Ascended Master one and the same? In this article in Quest, modern-day Theosophist Pablo B. Sender elucidates. 

Interesting to note also that a google search brought up the tidbit that "Amajur" was the name of an astronomer of 10th century Baghdad-- though I hasten to add, according to the IMIS reports in Una ventana al mundo invisible, "Master Amajur" spoke Mexican Spanish. And of further note: there are Spiritist groups that continue to channel messages from Master Amajur today.

Dear readers, conclude what you will, and whether this finds you embracing a gnosis that "resonates" with you, cackling like a hyena, or just numbly confused, surely we can agree that this is all very remarkable.


So What, Pray Tell, Does All This Have to Do with Don Francisco I. Madero?

Francisco I. Madero
President of Mexico 1911-1913;
leader if the 1910 Revolution;
and as "Bhima," author of the
1911 Spiritist Manual

My book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, is about Madero as leader of the 1910 Revolution and President of Mexico, 1911-1913 and how his political career was launched as an integral part of his Spiritist beliefs. (The book includes my translation of his secret book of 1911, Spiritist Manual, which spells it all out-- all the way to out of body travel and, yes, interplanetary reincarnation.) 

Not all-- Enrique Krauze, Yolia Tortolero Cervantes, Javier Garciadiego, Alejandro Rosas Robles, Manuel Guerra de Luna, among others, are important exceptions-- but most historians of Mexico and its Revolution sidestep, belittle, or even ignore Madero's Spiritist beliefs. In my book, I have quite a bit to say about why I think that is (key words: cognitive dissonance), but in sum, few have any context for Madero's ideas which, for most educated people in the western world, fall into the category of absurd nonsense and "superstition." 

My aim in my book-- and this blog post-- is not to convince the reader of the truth or falsity of any religious beliefs (ha, neither do I poke tigers with sticks for the hell of it), but to provide a sense of the history and richness of the matrix of metaphysical traditions from which Madero's beliefs emerged. And with this context, I believe, we can arrive at the conclusion that Madero was not mad, nor so naive and weak as many have painted him, but that, in fact, he was a political visionary of immense courage who found himself on a counterrevolutionary battlefield of such rage and chaos that, if it was fatal for him, would have been for almost anyone else as well. 

Madero did not, like some mad alchemist, cook up his ideas by himself; they fit into what was then and is now a living tradition. Madero's Spiritism was French, itself an off-shoot of American Spiritualism, and with roots in occult Masonry and hermeticism and mesmerism; in the early 20th century, Madero also adopted ideas from a wide range of difficult-to-categorize mystics, such as Edouard Schuré, and from the Hindu holy book so beloved of the Theosophists, Thoreau, and Mohandis Gandhi: the Baghavad-Gita. 

After Madero, on the one hand, we see Spiritism melding with folkloric and shamanistic traditions, as with the mediumistic healers Niño Fidencio, Doña Pachita, and the "psychic surgeons" of Brazil and the Philippines. On the other hand, a very small and adventurous group of what was primarily members of the educated urban elite-- as we see in Una ventana al mundo invisible-- continued the international tradition of parapsychological research that, as we know from his Spiritist Manual and his personal library, Madero greatly admired.


SURF ON:

>My book, now in paperback and Kindle: 
Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual

>En español (Kindle):
Odisea metafísica hacia la Revolución Mexicana. Francisco I. Madero y su libro secreto, Manual espírita

>Resources for Researchers: Blogs, Articles, and More

>Mexico City's incomparable Librería Madero


MADAM MAYO

>Después de la muerte por Léon Denis or, A Super Brief Introduction to the Opportunity Cost of Rare Book Collecting

>Madame Blavatsky, Messenger from the Mahatmas

>Niño Fidencio

>Madero's Commentary on the Baghavad-Gita

>Marfa Mondays: We Have Seen the Lights


COMMENTS always welcome

Demon of the Waters: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Whaleship Globe by Gregory Gibson

Apropos of the splendid Demon of the Waters, three topics in one blog post today: (1) Blogs (2) Kindles and (3) Literary Travel Memoirs. 

(1) Blogs: Oh, so many (or few?) good ones. Seems most bloggers never quite hit a stride; they sprint into the blogoshere, usually promoting something such as their new book, then poop out. (Or sink to posting pix of their food on FB.) As for excellent bloggers posting at a steady stride: one of my favorites was Seth Roberts-- alas, he passed away, very young and suddenly (check out the archives, highly recommended). Another blog I love, still going strong, rubber boots and all, is Katherine Dunn's Apifera Farm. (Don't be deceived by the simplicity of her posts about elderly farm animals and rescued cats; she's an artist and a poet of the highest order.) Seth Godin's is my daily mind-vitamin. Marginal Revolution. The Archdruid Report (though as I write, the felicitously hypergraphic Mr. Greer has awarded himself a vacation.) Jim Kunstler, whose blog invariably retails ye same olde, same olde doom 'n gloom, but somehow, every Monday, makes it freshly hilarious. (Did I mention, I have a very Mexican sense of humor.)  Early Retirement Extreme (extremely Krishnamurtian). On the literary front, I keep up with my novelist amiga Leslie Pietrzyk via her Work-in-Progress, my poet and translator amigo Zack Rogow's Advice for Writers-- and many others. And I get my Viking fix with Nancy Marie Brown's God of Wednesday, aura and face reading adventures with Rose Rosetree (seriously, these are skills anyone can learn and the concepts are especially useful for fiction writers-- a blog post expanding on that anon), and rare book fix with Gregory Gibson's Bookman's Log. 

Thank you, all. Except those of you who have sunk to posting pictures of your food on FB. You get a raspberry. For that matter, FB gets a raspberry.

(No, I cannot abide Slate, nor that race-the-bottom conglomeration otherwise known as Huffington Post, and every time I read the New York Times, which I do once in a while, when distracted, as when stepping into a pothole, I am reminded why I prefer my personal menu of blogs. No, I do not read other newspapers. But I do maintain a subscription to Mexico City's Reforma because others in my household, for reasons known only to themselves, feel compelled to remain informed about that genre of disturbing but reliably repetitive earthly events I call "bus crashes," and I am happy to be able to bundle up and donate the leftovers --I mean of the newspapers-- to our local dog rescue charity. If you happen to write for Slate, Huffington Post or the NYT, no offense intended; I am sure I just haven't been fortunate enough to come across your pieces. I find bus crashes so distracting, you see.)

Now a blog post can be a "big baggy monster," to steal a quote about the novel, but 'nuf meandering.

The cover for the Kindle.
Sorry, Madam Mayo votes for
the hardcover's dustjacket (see above).
This Kindle cover looks very
generic, which this splendid book
most assuredly is not.

(2) Kindles. So it was in Gregory Gibson's Bookman's Log I came across a post with the very unassuming title of "Kindling." Turns out that, through his agent (why, sir? it's not rocket science) he has issued a Kindle edition of his 2002 Demon of the Waters: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Whaleship Globe. So unassuming was his post that, in fact (did I miss it?), he didn't even provide a link to buy the book. (Herewith, dear readers.) 

Long story boiled down to a sentence: Demon of the Waters makes my top 10 books read for 2014.  (How do I know, with my voracious reading habits, that between now and December I won't find others to push it down the list to, say, #11? Why, it's that good.)

Of special interest to me was the narrative structure which, a la Melville, included chapters on shipbuilding and the whaling industry's trade, tools, and so on. Whaling was, as Gibson puts it, "Big Oil" of its day. I can see why many readers would object to all that exposition (many amazon.com reviewers do), and at the beginning especially, Demon of the Waters does seem meandering and overly detailed, but I say it works because so much of this hellish tragedy would be incomprehensible without it. For those of us in the early 21st century, whaling is an exotic, horrifically brutal, and culturally rich tradition that, though we might fancy we know it when we stroll through Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, take home a print of a whaleship or, say, resin replica of an antique whale bone carving, is really as foreign to us as we, with our cars and email and microwavable whatnots, would be to those whalers.

Charles Melville Scammon,
whaler and naturalist

(Personal sidenote: I especially delighted in the connection with my own Miraculous Air, a travel memoir about Baja California, which includes two chapters about Charles Melville Scammon, a San Francisco-based whaler of the grays, and author of a very rare book indeed-- most copies, still in the warehouse, burned after the San Francisco earthquake-- The Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America Together with an Account of the American Whale-fishery. Many of the whaling scenes Scammon recounts were similar to those 20-30 years earlier in Demon of the Waters, and no doubt, many of his crew could have been kinsmen from the same little New England towns as those of the Globe.)

(3) Literary Travel Memoirs. Though the title and most of the content put Demon of the Waters squarely in the category of history, I consider it a literary travel memoir, for it is not only a memoir of a rare book dealer's encounter with a manuscript uncovered in Indiana (I'd stretch that to the literary travel memoir category in itself), but at the end, of the author's journey to Mili Atoll. I won't give away the ending, but I will say it unpacks multiple surprises and has that rare symphonic quality of the very finest of novels. 

SURF ON:

Madam Mayo
>Top 10 books Read 2013

>Bruce Berger's The End of the Sherry
>Cyberflanerie: Selections from Gregory Gibson's Bookman's Log
>My Excellent (If Occasionally Head-Banging) E-Book Adventure

C.M. Mayo

>Recommended Literary Travel Memoirs (updated)
>Book Review page

COMMENTS always welcome.

The Secret Life of a Secret Book: The Barcelona Edition of Francisco I. Madero's Manual espírita

The edition from Barcelona's Casa Editorial Maucci,
date unknown, but after 1913.
(The original Manual espirita was published
in Mexico in 1911.)
Its author, Bhima, was Francisco I. Madero,
leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution
and President of Mexico, 1911-1913.

Very few people in Mexico know about Francisco I. Madero's Manual espírita, which I translated into English for the first time as Spiritist Manual on its centennial, 2011. It is true, as I detail in my new book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual, that some of Madero's political enemies knew about it-- in fact, the Reyistas published "Bhima's" book, unmasking the author, Mexico's president-elect at the time, precisely in order to damage his reputation. As every Mexican schoolchild learns, President Madero, Mexico's "Apostle of Democracy," was murdered in the coup d'etat of 1913. It would seem that the few thousand copies of his Manual espírita then sank into oblivion.

While some Mexican historians-- Enrique Krauze, Yolia Tortolero, Manual Guerra de Luna and Alejandro Rosas, among others-- have written about Madero's Spiritism, it remains a "not ready for prime time subject," and I can tell you it is not easy to find a copy of the Manual espírita.

In 2000, Alejandro Rosas brought out the collected works of Madero, including his Manual espírita,  but that volume of that series is now scarce. (I did find a copy in a used bookstore in Mexico City, but it took some effort.) Gustavo de Anda published an edition in the 1970s but I have yet to find a copy of that. And, as I lately learned, a very small print run sponsored by the State of Quintano Roo came out in 2000. Bottom line: until 2010, when a Mexican government website commemorating the Revolution of 1910 posted a PDF (as one of a multitude of historical documents), one had to have access to a major library or get into the archives to see it. A copy is in Mexico's Ministry of Finance, which holds the Francisco I. Madero archive; another is in the remains of his personal library in the Centro de Estudios de la Historia de Mexico CARSO in Mexico City.

Since I collect rare books, I had an eye out for the 1911 edition of the Manual espirita. Every week or so, I would (and still do) surf onto Google and the rare book dealers websites to look for it. One day, bingo, there it was-- Bhima's Manual espírita, "circa 1900." Apparently the seller did not realize that Bhima was Madero's pseudonym. The price was-- well, let's call it peanuts. So I bought it. Imagine my surprise when I opened the package to find Bhima's Manual espírita, ancient browned paper, the same exact text but slightly different design-- from the Casa Editorial Maucci of Barcelona!

It did not have a date of publication but at the bottom of the title page it said:

BARCELONA

CASA EDITORIAL MAUCCI

Gran medalla de oro en las Exposiciones de Viena de 1903, Madred 1907, Budapest 1907, Londres 1913, París 1913, y gran premio en la de Buenos Aires 1910.

So: this places the date of its publication in Spain sometime after 1913. 

And now I learn, on this Spanish website, Grupo Espírita de la Palma, that there is an edition of Madero's Manual espírita published in Spain in 1924.

I suspect, given that Casa Editorial Maucci seemed to be taking medals so frequently, that the 1924 edition was not the one I bought-- I suspect that mine came out earlier, closer to 1913. But that's just a guess.

Nonetheless, whether there were one or more editions out of Barcelona, first published closer to 1913 or later, in 1924, the existence of an edition from Spain strongly suggests that Madero's Manual espírita had a wider influence on the Spiritist movement than I or any Mexican historians previously suspected.

And there may be more. I understand that Spanish translations of the French Spiritist books (and perhaps also the Manual espírita itself?), played a key role in bringing Spiritism to the Philippines. It certainly will be interesting to see what turns up.

>Watch a 3 minute video about another very rare book, the 1907 translation of Leon Denis' Después de la muerte by Ignacio Mariscal, then Mexico's Foreign Minister, which was sponsored by Francisco I. Madero and his father.

>For more about my book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual, I invite you to visit the webpage. It is now available in both Kindle and paperback. 

>The Spanish edition, Odisea metafísica hacia la Revolución Mexicana, which includes a reprint of the original Manual espírita, will be available soon. Is now available.

> More blog posts about this book-- and other information for researchers 

COMMENTS

William Curry Holden's Teresita, the Biography of Teresa Urrea, La Santa de Cabora

Rare book collecting update: Finally I got my hands on a first edition, a lovely one, autographed and with the dust jacket intact, of William Curry Holden's Teresita, illustrated by José Cisneros. First pubished in English in 1978, this is the first book-length biography of the Mexican folk saint and, as Holden details in his prologue, he and his wife Frances really did, and in the most extraordinary way, dig the story of her life out of obscurity, over many years interviewing hundreds of people, from Yaqui devotees to members of her family, and visiting out of the way archives on both sides of the US-Mexico border.

I'm all about rare book collecting these days, having realized that so many vitally important historical works (and sometimes in superb condition) are not all that expensive-- now. Most of the rare books I've been collecting recently, apropos of my recent book, Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual Introduced and Translated are in the range of, say, a pair of made-in-China shoes-- pretty darned cheap, and especially when one considers their historical importance. Some in fact could be compared to peanuts. I look for (preferably) first editions in as good a condition as possible, with dust jacket, autographed (ideally).  It's not rocket science. (That said, I do have Rare Book School on my radar.)

Though the subject of this latest acquisition, charismatic mediumnistic healer Teresa Urrea, died some years before the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910, she is a key figure in the lead-up to it, and in the history of Mexican Spiritism (though she did not consider herself a Spiritist). I go on at some length about Teresa Urrea and the Tomóchic rebellion in Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution. She's also the subject of her great nephew Luis Alberto Urrea's two wonderful novels, The Hummingbird's Daughter and Queen of America.

The author of Teresita, William Curry Holden (1896-1993), was a distinguished Texan historian and archaeologist. Read more about him on the back cover of Teresita:

Back cover of William Curry Holden's Teresita

>My previous blog post on my copy of Leon Denis's Después de la muerte, translated by Ignacio Mariscal and sponsored by Francisco Madero and Francisco I. Madero, 1906.

>Quill & Brush's book collecting tips.

>Excerpts from Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution.

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Cyberflanerie: Bughouse Poet's and Other Far Out Books Edition

Definitely different: Bill Zavatsky on Richard Griffin, the Bughouse Poet, in The Sienese Shredder.

Mine it! My amiga novelist and blogger (Work-inProgress) Leslie Pietrzyk has posted her best books read in 2013 list.

(Mine mine here.)

Honey & Wax has issued an amazing second catalog-- for those who might prefer to buy a book instead of a car. (Well, pourquoi pas?)

It was in-print for over a century: Jeff Peachy on the parachute guy and the best bookbinding manual ever. (Jeff Peachy is one of my new favorite bloggers.)

Laila Lailami has just announced her new novel forthcoming in 2014, The Moor's Account. For my book-in-progress about Far West Texas, I'm writing about Cabeza de Vaca, so I'm especially eager to read this novel from the point of view of Estebanico.

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Cyberflanerie: Selections from Gregory Gibson's Bookman's Log

An especially fine blog has recently started blinking on my radar: Bookman's Log by Gregory Gibson, author (Hubert's Freaks, among others) and rare book dealer with Ten Pound Island Books. A few favorite posts (in no particular order):

The House Call
People Who Have It Worse
Wiley Mammals
Rabbit Hole Publishing
A New Year's Recollection
Excerpt:

She informed us that a local dealer had offered $10,000 for the library. I told her we’d pay her $15,000 if she’d let us pick through the collection and take what we wanted. Otherwise, we’d pay her $13,500 if we had to take it all. She cocked her head at this upside down proposition. Locusts screamed in the trees. Then she got it. “$13,500,” she smiled.

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Cyberflanerie: Internet Book Shopping Edition

The Norton Book Sofa

October and November were intense... no more books for me, Santa, but oh, do I want some of these Brodart book covers... (Why didn't I start buying and using them sooner?!?!)


The Norton book sofa: perfect for rare book collectors.

So whimsical: KnobCreek Metal Arts bookends on etsy.

A well so deep it must go to China: bodaciously great source of antiquarian books (and used whatnot) at www.abebooks.com

Not sure how to get started with rare book collecting? ABC for Book Collectors by John Carter  and Nicolas Barker. 

And do buy Leslie Pietrzyk's novels! P.S. Highlights of her recent talk for the Writer's Center's Leesburg First Friday series on writing short fiction and long fiction here.

Books, books, books! Bookman's Log!

For Baja Buffs and soon-to-be-Baja Buffs: Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico. 

The rest of the gang is here.

P.S. I'll be posting my top 10 reads for the year in the next couple of weeks. Last year's, topped by Sara Mansfield Taber's lyrical Born Under an Assumed Name, is here.

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Cyberflanerie: Rare Books Entrepreneurship Edition-- Double OO Books

So my dear travel writing amiga, Peat O'Neil, has opened a bookshop, Double OO Books--the Os standing for Oh Li Ping and Peat O'Neil. She is specializing in crime, espionage and mystery.

Speaking of espionage, two fabulous books I hope she will carry:

Heribert von Feilitzsch's bio, In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico

and

Sara Mansfield Taber's memoir, Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter

I am all about collecting rare books these days, and just recently in Mexico City I found a few humdingers related to / about the Mexican Revolution... one with an absolutely astonishing inscription. Stay tuned for the videos. Meanwhile, some more surf-worthy links:

William Reese's fascinating and eye-opening talk for the Grolier Club: Books in Hard Times

Once again I point you, dear reader, to Michael Suarez, SJ's talk on books, "The Ecosystems of Book History" (don't miss it)


Allen and Patricia Ahearn, owners of Quill and Brush, offer Book Collecting Tips

Ken Lopez shares "Some Thoughts on the Maturing of the Rare Book Market at the Start of the 21st Century"

Sarah, a painter and used book dealer in Maui recommends So You Want to Open a Used Bookshop

Rick Lugg on A Spa for Books
(Hey somebody open this service for private collections? Maybe like those wine storage services?)

Richard Goodman blogs the love for his books.

Just finished reading Alessandro Marzo Magno's delightful Bound in Venice: The Serene Republic and the Dawn of the Book, which makes my top 10 list for 2013, hands down.

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Michael Suarez SJ on The Flow of Books and Money and Information-- or, The Flow of Value

All you writers, readers, publishers, editors, that is, everyone with their hair on fire about Kindles: put your Kindle away and your seat belt on and watch "The Ecosystems of Book History." The best book talk I've ever seen or heard.

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Cyberflanerie: Wondering About Books Edition

Seth Godin on An End of Books.

Methinks antiquarian book collecting is going to be very big. Check out the not-yet-but surely-soon-to-be-ABAA-member Honey & Wax's lovely, oh so lovely first catalog.

Elephantine thoughts are a-dancing in tutus with The Swerve.

"A book is more than a verbal structure or series of verbal structures; it is the dialogue it establishes with its reader and the intonation it imposes upon his voice and the changing and durable images it leaves in his memory. A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships."

-- Jorge Luis Borges, "A Note on (toward) Bernard Shaw"

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