Recent purchases

[erilaz]

I didn't realize that this had ever been released as a (vinyl) single, though I should have guessed that it was.



"Eat them up, yum!"

[erilaz]

The Vintage Paper Fair isn't until tomorrow, but I already got this on eBay.




This card was postmarked on 28 Dec. 1894 (Meiji 27) in Tokyo and received in New York on 18 Jan. 1895. In addition to being older than any picture postcard I owned previously, it has other features that made it a must-have. For starters, it's a Japanese postal card with traditional-style artwork depicting Japanese women. Secondly, it's a New Year's card (nengajō), mailed to convey New Year's greetings for 1895 from Z.P. Maruya & Co., Publishers & Booksellers, to Houghton Mifflin & Co.

As a lover of books and bookstores, this was irresistible. Founded in 1869, Maruya was Japan's first joint stock corporation, and as Maruzen-Yushodo Co., Ltd., it remains Japan's foremost purveyor of English-language books. Houghton Mifflin (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is still a major publisher in the U.S.A. I first became aware of them as the American publisher of J.R.R. Tolkien's works in hardback and trade paperback, and I've even done some freelance editorial work for them.

[erilaz]

I spent seven hours at the Vintage Paper Fair today. CardCow, the dealer who normally brings thousands of 25 cent postcards, wasn't there today, so I ended up spending more and buying fewer postcards than usual (only 15). Be that as it may, I still found some good stuff. Here are a few examples:



In case you were wondering, Gertie Gitana (1887–1957) was a hugely popular English music hall entertainer. No, I didn't know who she was when I bought the card, either.

[rikkikow]

Really, Mr E you have enough stuff to open a museum in Berkeley! Maybe at Cal where it would be safe.

[Zunu]

~~~* Doctor Erilaz's Museum of the Arcane, Weird and Wondrously Obscure, Compleat with GArden, Reliquary and Smithy! *~~~

This Way To the Egress & Souvenir Shoppe!

I'd go

[erilaz]

One of my friends once said that if archaeologists in the future were to find my apartment, it would destroy all of their theories about our civilization.

[erilaz]

Today's super-cool vinyl purchase!

[erilaz]

Today I went to the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library's annual Big Book Sale. I bought more than I expected/intended, but since most items were priced at only 50 cents, I only spent a total of $7.50. Among the treasures that I found were The Astonishment of Words: An Experiment in the Comparison of Languages by Victor Proetz (contains interesting stuff about translation, with a section on Lewis Carroll's Alice books), Contes de ma mère l'Oye by Charles Perrault (classic French fairy tales, illustrated by Gustave Doré), and a DVD of Trey Parker's Cannibal! The Musical. The one item that I bought for more than 50 cents was a $4 DVD box set (in pristine condition) of the BBC production of The Chronicles of Narnia — a bargain for Tom Baker as Puddleglum alone!

[erilaz]

Another book sale today, this time at Albany (CA) Public Library. I exercised great restraint, but I still spent six bucks on four books that I just couldn't pass up:

Japan and the Son of Heaven by Willard Price (1945) — Published at a very specific moment in time, Price explores the question, "Shall the imperial dynasty continue?" ($3)

The Thrall of Leif the Lucky: A Story of Viking Days by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz (1902) — Looks interesting, possibly amusing. Cool illustrations. ($2)

Black Adder: The Whole Damn Dynasty 1485–1917 (1999) — The complete scripts to the classic British comedy series. Forget about Mr. Bean and Johnny English, the four Black Adder series were Rowan Atkinson's crowning glory. (I will also allow his duet with Kate Bush as a correct answer.) (50¢)

Cornish Is Fun! by Richard Gendall (1978) — A cartoony, humorous, and adult beginner's course in Cornish, the formerly extinct Celtic language of Cornwall, closely related to Welsh and Breton. (50¢)

Stuck inside the last book was a letter from the (Welsh) publisher to the book's former owner, which contained the following bit that made me laugh:

Thank you for your enquiry for truly harsh swear-words in the Welsh language.

We suggest that when wishing to express something truly ugly or obscene, you revert to the medium most practised in these things, that universal vehicle of uncivility and uncivilisation, namely the English language.

[erilaz]

I used to have this uncanny sixth sense that would tell me to go to Kinokuniya in San Francisco when they had great stuff at heavily discounted clearance sale prices, but since Kinokuniya has pretty much killed off their music section, I haven't really been able to use it. Apparently my psychic powers still work, though, because Himawari-kai had their monthly used Japanese book sale, which I go to occasionally, but today I had an especially strong compulsion to go. Best Himawari-kai book sale score EVER: I found five large-format paperbacks/mooks on movies and music, all of which still had Kinokuniya price tags on them, ranging from $24 to $43, and I got them for $1 EACH.

My psychic power that directs me to killer bargains on Japanese media came through for me again. I've had a very strong feeling all week that I should go to today's Himawari-kai book sale, where I found the following:

ホーホキョとなりの山田くん 〜よし、ジブリと一緒に作るぞ！〜 (1999 soundtrack CD to My Neighbors the Yamadas, music by the great Yano Akiko)
舞妓はレディ (2014) (Japanese Region 2 DVD, no English subs)
Revenge of a Kabuki Actor (Ichikawa Kon, 1963) (U.S. DVD)
Father of the Kamikaze (Yamashita Kousaku, 1974) (U.S. DVD)
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Takahata Isao, 2013) (U.S. Blu-ray+DVD+Bonus DVD)

And the pièce de résistance:

泣けるAKB48メンバーヒストリー (2011 paperback book with obi) — From a time when I could still recognize many of the group's members. Try finding this on Amazon U.S. for under $30.

Grand total for all six items: $2.75!