Absolute Elsewhere

1958

Beaumont, Charles, YONDER, 1, 1958, Bantam, PB.  Great short stories from the guy who gave us the scripts of those AIP Poe movies, and more episodes of Twilight Zone than Rod Serling would like to have remembered.

Ray Bradbury. THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, 3, 1958, Doubleday, HB.

Bryant, Peter [Peter George], RED ALERT, 1958, Ace Books, PB. A wacko SAC commander sends his plans into Russia with fail-safe codes rigged so that the US government can't call them back. Things get grim. This little paperback original spawned at one copy-cat bestseller (see Burdick and Wheeler, FAIL SAFE, 1962 entry) two movies, and several nasty lawsuits between authors, publishers, and movie makers. This novel  was made into DR  STRANGELOVE, (1962 entry).

Burdick, Eugene, and W. J. Lederer, THE UGLY AMERICAN, 1, 1958, Norton, HB. What was with Eugene Burdick anyway? This novel about American involvment in a small Southeastern Asian country (and if you read carefuly between the lines, it is Laos, not Vietnam) bears a startling resemblence to Graham Green's novel THE QUIET AMERICAN. His next political thriller (FAIL SAFE, 1962 entry) bore an even more startling resemblence to Peter Bryant's RED ALERT (above, 1958 entry). Anyway, this was the big political roman a clef shocker of the day, exposing how American intervention in Asia was essentially a big waste. This was followed by a sequel SARKHAM (1965 entry).

Burdick, Eugene, and W. J. Lederer, THE UGLY AMERICAN, 2, 1958, Fawcett, PB.

Camp, L. Sprague de, AN ELEPHANT FOR ARISTOTLE, 1, 1958, Doubleday, HB.
 

David-Neel, Alexandra, MAGIC AND MYSTERY IN TIBET, 2, 1958, University Books, HB. Mrs David-Neel spent years trying to sneak into Tibet, and after many tries, succeeded. This is one of those absolutely wonderful books that transform and inform at the same time. It is also the quintessential story of Tibet as it existed at the time of the Great Game between England and Russia in the Days before World War I. This is the Tibet of Rudyard Kipling and Talbot Mundy, a mysterious forbidden place full of mysticism and romanticism. When we think of Tibet, we probably think of it as David-Neel described it, and inspired others to elaborate on it.

 

de Givry, Grillot, WITCHCRAFT, MAGIC & ALCHEMY, 1, 1958, University Books, HB. Translated from the French by L. C. Lock, and published in 1931. An often reprinted reference (see 1971 entry) work on the occult.

 

Durrell, Lawrence, BALTHAZAR, 1,  1958,  E.P. Dutton, HB.. Volume 2 of the ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Durrell.

 

Goldberg, B. Z., SACRED FIRE, THE, 1958, University Books, HB.
 

Graves, Robert, WHITE GODDESS, THE, 1, 1958, Vintage, PB. Revised edition. Substantially different from original 1948 edition and the later Farrar, Straus edition (See 1966 entry).  Take a good look.  I have only seen one of these in a lifetime of booking.

 

Fleming, Ian, DR NO, 1, 1958, MacMillan, HB.

Heyerdahl, Thor, AKU-AKU, 1, 1958, Rand McNally, HB.

Hoffer, Eric, TRUE BELIEVER, THE, 2, 1958, Mentor, PB.

Huxley, Aldous, BRAVE NEW WORLD REVISITED, 1, 1958, Harper and Row, HB. See 1965 entry.

Jarvis, D. C., FOLK MEDICINE, 1958, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, HB. Also Fawcett, PB, no date.

Jung, C. G., THE UNDISCOVERERED SELF, 1, 1958, Little, Brown, HB.  Translated by R. F. C. Hull (see 1959 entry).

Jung, C. G., Laszlo, ed., Violet S. de, PSYCHE AND SYMBOL, 1958, Doubleday, PB.
 

Kerouak, Jack, ON THE ROAD, 2, 1959, Signet, PB. The edition which probably made Kerouak a household name.

 

Kerouak, Jack, THE SUBTERRANEANS, 1, Grove Press, HB and Trade. See 1959 entry.

le Poer Trench, Brinsley (Earl of Clancarty), "FLYING SAUCER REVIEW'S" WORLD OF UFO SIGHTINGS, 1958, Citadel, HB. Need Copy and Inf.
 

Lovecraft, H. P., CRY, HORROR!, 1959, Avon PB.  A repackaging of THE LURKING FEAR by Lovecraft.

 

Papus (Gerard Encausse), TAROT OF THE BOHEMIANS, THE, 1958, Arcanum Books, HB.

McCormick, Donald, HELL-FIRE CLUB, THE, 1, 1958, Jarrolds (London), HB. Published under the name of Daniel P. Mannix in US. (See Mannix, THE BEAST, 1959 entry).

Powell, T. G. E., CELTS, THE, 1, 1958, Praeger, HB.
 
Rampa, T. Lobsang (Cyril Hoskin), THIRD EYE, THE, 2, 1958, Doubleday, HB. See also 1956 British title. This is a fairly straight forward tale of a young lama in pre-World War II Tibet. Although the book was published as non-fiction, it is best approached as a novel. There are some noticeable anachronisms which lessen its believability. There are "Britishisms" (turns of phrases and usages unique to the British Isles) that a Tibetan, or even any non-British English speaker would not use. There's a lot more information available about Tibet now, than there was in the 50's. This is due to the quiet immigration of Tibetans to the US and Britain in the 70's. This book must have been more convincing when it appeared in those days after the Red Chinese rape of Tibet.

Reps, Paul, ed, ZEN FLESH, ZEN BONE, 2, 1958,  Charles Tuttle, HB.  This ed. never had a date and is placed here as a guess.
 

Symonds, John, THE MAGIC OF ALIESTER CROWLEY, 1958, Frederick Muller (London), HB. The first comprehensive biography written by his literary executor. Although this book has never been reprinted outside of Britain, it is certainly the beginning of a revival in interest in the life and work of the man who called himself "the Great Beast." (see Mannix, 1959 entry).

 

Watts, Alan, NATURE, MAN AND WOMAN, 1, 1958, Pantheon Books, HB.

1959

Bergier, Jacques, SECRETS OF LIVING MATTER, 959, Barrie and Rockliff / British ed., HB. Need copy and info.

Bloch, Robert, PSYCHO, 1, 1959, Simon and Schuster, HB. Bloch's little novel inspired by the serial killer who lived "down the road from him." See 1962 entry.

Brown, Norman O., LIFE AGAINST DEATH, 1, 1959, Wesleyan University Press, HB. Norman O. Brown has been rightly identified as one of the spiritual and intellectual fathers of the "counterculture". Brown was a classicist who discovered a whole new meaning of history through the works of Freud. Brown believed that repression, in the Freudian sense, not only caused personal neurosis, but social and political neurosis as well. This idea was most persuasive, and explains why the struggle for civil rights, liberty, and political freedom was always yoked with the struggle for sexual liberty in the 60's and 70's. The "love in" of the 60's is a popular manifestation of some of Brown's ideas. Re-reading Brown's work today convinces me that he's one writer who deserves a revival. His work seems more relevant now that ever.
 
 

Campbell, Joseph, MASKS OF GOD: PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY, 1, 1959, Viking, HB.  Volume 1 of THE MASKS OF GOD by Campbell.

 

Condon, Richard, MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE, 1, 1959, McGraw Hill, HB.
 

Dick, Philip K., THE SOLAR LOTTERY, 2, 1959, Ace, PB.  The first stand-alone edition of Dick's first novel, originally published as an Ace Double novel (1955 entry).

 

Durrell, Lawrence, MOUNTOLIVE ,1,  1959,  E.P. Dutton, HB. Volume 3 in the ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Durrell.

 

Edwards, Frank, STRANGER THAN SCIENCE, 1, 1959, Lyle Stuart, HB. See 1967 entry. There may have been an Ace PB ed, circa 1960 entry.

Fawcett, Brian, RUINS IN THE SKY, 1958, Hutchinson and Co. (London), HB. Brian Fawcett was Col. P. H. Fawcett's surviving son. Most of this volume is a memoir his own search for his father, who disappeared in the Brazilian hinterland, looking for a lost city. Young Fawcett gives a good account of his father's unorthodox beliefs about lost Atlantis in the Matto Grosso, and details of his expeditions. Sadly, young Fawcett discovered that some of his father's suspected "cities" turned out to be natural geological formations (See Fawcett, 1953, and Wilkins, 1946 entries).

Gardner, Gerald B., MEANING OF WITCHCRAFT, THE, 1959, Samuel Weiser, HB? Need Copy and Info

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS, Translators: Guellaumont, Puech, Ouispel, Till, and Masch, 1, 1959, Harper and Row. This was the first of the Gnostic Gospels, discovered in the Nag Hammadi library, to be published for the general public. A new and rather radically different Jesus emerges from this long missing text. This publication and Dairies's study (1960 entry) mark the resurgence of interest in Gnosticism which peaked in the 70's.

Govinda, Lama Anagarika, FOUNDATIONS OF TIBETAN MYSTICISM, 1, 1959,

Dutton, HB. See 1969 entry.

Heyerdahl, Thor, AKU-AKU, 2, 1959, Pocket Books, PB.

Holmyard, E. J., ALCHEMY, 1959, Penguin, PB.
 
 

Jung, C. G., THE UNDISCOVERERED SELF, 2, 1959, Mentor, PB.  Translated by R. F. C. Hull.

 

Kerouak, Jack, THE SUBTERRANEANS, 2, Avon, PB.

 

D. H. Lawrence, LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER, 1, 1959, Grove Press, HB and Trade.  The first edition of Lawrence's novel that was published in an uncensored form.  As usual, it came from the Grove Press, as did many of the traditional "banned" books from this period.

 

Menger, Howard, FROM OUTER SPACE TO YOU, 1959,  Saucerian Books, HB.  Another of the founding works in the "Contactee" movement, and one of the winners  in the "Most Wacky Cover on a UFO Book" Contest. See 1967 entry.

 

Mannix, Daniel P. [Donald MacCormick], THE BEAST: THE SCANDALOUS LIFE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY, 1959, Ballantine, PB. The first quickie biography of the self-styled "wickedest man in the world." Donald MacCormick was a very prolific writer during this period, writing under several known, and probably a few unknown pseudonyms. He seemed to reserve the name Mannix (see Mannix, HELL FIRE CLUB, 1958 entry)  for some of his more lightweight or sensational pieces of non-fiction. A good deal of the material in this biography is old gossip mixed with material he probably cribbed from Israel Regardie and John Symonds (see 1958 entry). Naturally, it is a fun read!

 

Miller, Walter M., Jr., CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ, 1959, Lippincott, HB. See 1960 entry.
 

Mundy, Talbot, THE PURPLE PIRATE, 1, 1959, Gnome Press, HB, Reprint of 1935 title.  Final instalment of the Tros of Samothrace saga.

 

Mundy, Talbot, QUEEN CLEOPATRA, 1, 1959, Avon, PB. Reprint of 1921 title.

Ouspensky, P. D., IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, Reprint of 1949 HB. ed.
 

Rand, Ayn, ATLAS SHRUGGED, 2, 1959, Signet, PB.

 

Reps, Paul, ed, ZEN FLESH, ZEN BONE, 2, 1959?,  Doubleday Anchor, PB.  This ed. never had a date and is placed here as a guess.

 

Robbins, Russell Hope, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY, THE, 1959, Crown Books, HB.

 

Rohmer, Sax, (Arthur Sarsfield Ward),  EMPEROR FU MANCHU, 1959, Fawcett, PB. This is the final Fu Manchu novel, published only a few weeks before the author's death in 1959. Rohmer/Ward published over 50 novels in his lifetime, most of them occult and borderline science fiction thrillers. His stories reflect his long interest in the occult and magic. Many sources record his membership in the Order of the Golden Dawn, although this idea has been recently discredited. His ROMANCE OF SORCERY (1973 entry) is one of his few public works, and his only on the occult. It gives interesting insights into his novels. Like many of the British popular novelists of the time, his occultism has an authentic stamp to it, in that he followed "magical logic." Fu Manchu seems to be the ultimate evil magician, possibly an amalgamation of Edward Kelly, Cagliostro and Aleister Crowley, all of whom he disapproved (see also Rohmer, 1961 entry).

 

Senior, John, WAY DOWN AND OUT, THE, 1959, Cornell University Press, HB. This is an important literary study which established that the symbolist movement of the late 19th century was firmly tied to occult doctrines. He also shows how occult and esoteric doctrines had a role in the later modernist movements, though these were sometimes less obvious. This volume is one of the starting points for literature students who want to investigate esoteric aspects of 19th and 20th century literature. Some of the information is now dated by more recent studies, and Senior's knowledge of the esoteric is a little shaky at times, but it still holds up well. Senior surely deserves credit for being one of the first to investigate the relationship between literature and the esoteric.
 

Waite, Arthur Edward, PICTORIAL KEY TO THE TAROT, THE, 1, 1959, University Books, HB. Reprint of 1910 British title. A.E. Waite is the author of the most enduring Tarot books ever written, and the force behind the most popular Tarot deck of all time. Known as the "Rider/Waite" deck, or just "Waite" deck, it was drawn by illustrator Pamela Coleman Smith following Waite's direction. Both the book and the deck were published by the Rider publishing company in Britain. In 1959, University Books published a version, along with an accompanying deck. Their deck is distinguished by having an Ankh symbol on the reverse face of the card (the Ankh was University Books' Colophon). The colors of this deck are much more vivid than the later printings by US Games Systems. Waite was a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, and the cards and his meanings for them are more or less based on the group's doctrines.

 

Watts, Alan, BEAT ZEN, SQUARE ZEN, AND ZEN, 1959, City Lights (San Francisco, CA), Pamphlet (see THIS IS IT, 1960, entry).