Absolute Elsewhere

1956

Bellamy, Hans, and Allen, P., CALENDAR OF TIAHUANACO, 1956, Faber and Faber (London), HB. US ed.? Hans Bellamy met Hans Hoerbiger, in Vienna, in 1922, and spent most of his life spreading the gospel of Hoerbiger's WEL theories. Bellamy believed that the calendar of Tiahuanaco proved that Hoerbiger was right: That the Earth's first satellite (before the Moon) had gone into a declining orbit, causing the waters to bulge at the poles. Tiahuanaco (now high in the Andes), was then a harbor city, whose priests recorded the events in the final days before the moon fell to Earth. The volume contains one of the best explanations of Hoerbiger's "eternal ice" theories available in English. However, Bellamy does not use all of the WEL theory in his arguments, and avoids the basic racism at its core. Nowhere does he mention that WEL was the official cosmology of the Nazi party. I doubt if anyone can make heads or tails out of the book's long tedious arguments (See same authors, 1959 entry).
 

Bauer, Gary, THEY KNEW TOO MUCH ABOUT FLYING SAUCERS, 1956, University Books, HB.  This is the one in which Gary Bauer invented the "Men in Black," those mysterious after-sighting investigaters who do more to obscure the truth that investigate it.

 

Bernstein, Morey, SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY, THE, 1, 1956, Doubleday, HB.

Bernstein, Morey, SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY, THE, 2, 1956, Pocket Books, PB. With new chapter by William Barker.
 

Fleming, Ian, TOO HOT TO HANDLE, 1956, Permabooks (Pocket Books), HB. Retitled edition of MOONRAKER (1955), and the first true American paperback ed. of this work. Yet another example of how badly Ian Flemings Bond novels fared in the USA, in the 50s. Not only did Pocket Books retitle the work, but they also had the novel re-written to cater to the American audience. Who did they hire to do this kind of work anyway? (See Mundy, KING OF THE KYBER RIFLES, 1954 entry)

 

Fromm, Erich, ART OF LOVING, THE, 1, 1956, Harper and Brothers, HB.
 

Ginsburg, Allen, HOWL, 1, 1956, City Lights, PB.

 

Golding, William, John Wyndham, Mervyn Peake, SOMETIME, NEVER, 1, 1956, Ballantine, PB. One of the more important works of science fiction and fantasy is this unusual collection of short novels from the authors of LORD OF THE FLIES, DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, and THE GORMENGHAST trilogy: the stories are: "Envoy Extraordinary" by Golding; "Consider Her Ways" by Wyndham; "Boy in Darkness" by Peake. Ironically it is the Wyndham story which has achieved a sort of canonization due to its popularity with feminists critics for its portrait of a world without men.

 

Jessup, Morris, CASE FOR UFOS, THE, 2, 1956, Ballantine, PB. Copy and Info.

Jessup, Morris, UFO AND THE BIBLE, 1956, Citadel, HB. Need Copy and info. PB?
 

Michell, Aime, TRUTH ABOUT FLYING SAUCERS, THE, 1, 1956, Criterian Books, HB.  Translated from the French by Paul Selver. See 1967 entry.

 

Rampa, T. Lobsang (Cyril Hoskin), THIRD EYE, THE, 1, 1956, Sacker and Warburg / British ed., HB. See also 1958 entry. In 1947, Lama T. Lobsang Rampa began to inhabit (cohabit? timeshare?) the body of Englishman Cyril Hoskin. In 1948, Hoskin changed his legal name to Carl Ku'an Suo. The transformation (transition? transmutation? transfiguration? ..er..?) must have been complete by 1955 because the author delivered his unsolicited manuscript to the publisher as T. Lobsang Rampa. Scholars of Asian culture and religion pointed to the works of Alexandra David-Neel (see below) as the probable source of most of the factual information about religious life in Tibet. Hoskin/Ku'an/Rampa denied this in his introductions, and declared every word to be absolutely true. He continued to publish over a dozen titles, mostly for British paperback publishers Corgi Books. Most of the US editions were paperback reprints of the Corgi editions.

Redondo, Winton Schartz, WE ARE ALL UFOs, 1956, Samsara Press, (SouthBend, IN), PB. Here's one of the most extreme UFO titles ever published. Redondo believed that the energy released at death becomes extremely dense and sinks from the grave to the center of the earth, where it combines with rare elements to form a solid ectoplasmic form. It then exits the earth at the poles, and is seen in the earth's atmosphere as "flying saucers." Because the saucer is the stuff of souls, it does not obey the rules of physics. This explains the incredible feats of maneuvering in the skies. A classic of its type.
 

Rohmer, Sax  [Arthur Sarsfield Ward], SINISTER MADONNA, 1, 1956, Fawcett, PB.  Another Sumuru novel from the man one critic called the "Stephen King of the 1930s."  The comparison  is an unfair one, of course.  Rohmer could write rings around King in his sleep.  Lucky for us, he wrote this one while awake.

 

Rupert, Edward J., REPORT ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS, THE, 1956,Doubleday, HB. Also Ace PB, No date.

Schellenberg, Walter, LABYRINTH, THE, 1956, HB. Published in Britain as THE SCHELLENBERG MEMOIRS.
 

Montague Summers, Montague, HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT, 1, 1956, University Books, HB. Originally published in 1926.

 

Suzuki, D. T.,  ZEN BUDDHISM: SELECTED WRITINGS OF D. T. SUZUKI, 1956, Doubleday Anchor, PB. Edited by William Barrett.

 

Wedick, Harry E., DICTIONARY OF THE OCCULT, 1956, Philosophical Library, HB.

Wilson, Colin, OUTSIDER, THE, 1, 1956, Houghton Mifflin, HB.

1957

Abbey, Edward, THE BRAVE COWBOY, 2, 1957, Pocket Books, PB. Edward Abbey's second novel presents the old fashioned cowboy as an anarchist spirit in the modern world. This was the basis for a terrific little film entitled LONELY ARE THE BRAVE (1962 entry).

Evans-Wentz, W. Y., TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, THE, 1, 1957, Oxford University Press, HB. See 1960 entry.

EVERGREEN REVIEW, Vol. 1, #1, 1957, Grove Press. Edited by Barney Rosset and David Allen. The cutting edge magazine for the post beat / bohemian culture of the late 50s and early 60s. The first issue contained works by Jean-Paul Sartre, Samuel Beckett, Henri Micheau, James Purdy, and Mark Schorer.
 

Farmer, Philip Jose, THE GREEN ODYSSEY, 1, 1957, Ballantine, HB. Framer's first published novel.

 

Farmer, Philip Jose, THE GREEN ODYSSEY, 2, 1957, Ballantine, PB.

 

Fleming, Ian, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, 2, 1957, PermaBooks (Pocket Books), PB. Another of the PermaBook first papbeback printing of Ian Fleming novels that nobody paid any attention to (See Fleming 1956 entry)

Gardner, Martin, FADS AND FALLACIES IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE, 2, 1957, Dover, Trade. Martin Gardner probably did much to publicize crack-pot and fringe ideas by trying to debunk them in this book and in his regular column in THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. This classic of debunking has been in print since 1957 and is now hopelessly out of date. Like his spiritual brother L. Sprague de Camp, Gardner is guilty of spreading some of his own fallacies around over the years.

Hesse, Hermann, JOURNEY TO THE EAST, THE, 1957, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, HB and Trade. Translation of 1932 German title.

Hesse, Hermann, SIDDHARTHA, 2, 1957, New Directions, Trade. Translation of 1922 German Title. Hesse's novel about the life of one of the Buddha's followers became one of the seminal texts for the group I call the "Bohemians" (A.K.A. the "Post-Beats", or the "avant garde" movement) of the late 50's and early 60's. The publisher, New Directions, was especially associated with this movement. Its new trade edition shows a growing market for this book. In its own way, SIDDHARTHA was a road map for the spiritual journey to the East. Hesse's "rediscovered" novels would become even more important in the next few years (see STEPPENWOLF, 1963; DEMIAN, 1966), and Hesse's importance cannot be overemphasized.
 

Maclean, Alistair, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, 1, 1957, Doubleday, HB.  The beginning of a long and profitable carrier for the Scotish novelist.  This was actually his second novel.  The first, HMS ULYSSES, didn't get made into a movie, or sell as well as this one did.  Unfortunately it became one of 5 template plots which Maclean used over and over and over.

 

Rand, Ayn, ATLAS SHRUGGED, 1, 1957, Random House, HB. See 1959 entry.
 

Rohmer, Sax [Arthur Sarsfield Ward], RE-ENTER FU MANCHU, 1, 1957, Fawcett, PB. In the movies, Fu Manchu was always saying "The world will hear from me again," at the end (something I never recall him saying in the books). After a long wait, Fu really did come back, this time as a paperback original novel, published not long before his creator's death. There shortly followed a revival of reprints of Rohmer's books (mostly from Pyramid Books). Ian Fleming's shallow retread of the character in DR NO (see 1958 entry) may have helped as well.

 

Ropp, Robert de, DRUGS AND THE MIND, 1, 1957?
 

Seuss, Dr. [Theodore Seuss Geisel]. THE CAT IN THE HAT, 1957, Random House, HB. More subversive than the Communist Manifesto, more influential than Mao's "little red book", is the cat in the hat's battle with the fishy superegos, and his anarchist's disrespect of the rules. And with all of that, we all just love the cat.

 

Siu, R.G.H., TAO OF SCIENCE, THE, 1, 1957, M.I.T. Press, HB. One of the earliest books focusing on science-as-process, and comparing and contrasting it with the Eastern mystical process. The idea that Eastern modes of thought (or "no thought") might have some application to Western problems was one that was to take firm root in the next decade.

Sorokin, Pitirim A., SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DYNAMICS, 2, 1957, Porter Sargent (Boston, MA), HB. l vol. abridgement of 1937- 1947, 4 vol. work.

Watts, Alan, WAY OF ZEN, THE, 1, 1957, Pantheon Books, HB.

Weston, Jessie L., FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE, 1957, Doubleday, PB. Reprint of 1920 title.

Wittfogel, Karl A., ORIENTAL DESPOTISM, 1957, Yale University Press. HB.

Wright, Harry B., WITNESS TO WITCHCRAFT, 1957, Funk and Wagnalls, HB.