Black Classics – Romans & Greeks

This entry will cover Black Classics of Roman and Greek classic works.

Romans first…

1972 Edition A detail from a bust of Cicero	1972 Edition Detail from Trajan’s Column
1965 Edition Part of 2nd Century Mosaic	1971 Edition Designed by Germano Facetti Market Scenes from Esquilino frescoes

The Greeks…

1964 Edition – Mask from Mycene known as the "Mask of Agamemnon"

1971 Edition Detail of Greek Relief depicting Prometheus	1964 Edition A Maenad taken from an Athenian cup of the 5th Century	1963 Edition Portion of a Mosaic

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Black Classics – French Novels

Penguin and other publishers during the 1960s/70s are to be commended for the range of literature they published. There’s nothing like that bravery in publishing these days.

Tonight I present French literature…

1972 Edition Cover designed by Germano Facetti - detail from a nude by Toulouse Lautrec	1968 Edition Detail from “Under the Lamplight by Edouard Vuillard
1969 Edition The Cemetery of Pere Lachaise from an anonymous painting	1967 Edition Detail of “Young Girl at the Mirror” by Jean Raoux

1965 Edition – A portrait by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon

1971 Edition - Detail of “Le Comte de Montesquiou” by G Baldini

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Penguin Black Classics – Russian Novels

Continuing on with the Penguin “Black Classics” series, tonight I present the Russians.

Firstly, Dostoyevsky.

1969 Edition Pierre Blancher in Cheval’s film of Crime & Punishment	1967 Edition Lithograph by Pierre Barbier
1967 Edition The Student by Larochenko	1967 Edition Drawing by Repine

1960 Edition – old style Penguin Classic

Tolstoy

1967 Edition Natasha’s First Ball by Leonid Pasternak	1967 Edition Death of Prince Andrei by Leonid Pasternak

1965 Edition – Lithograph of the Marble Palace St Petersburg

Turgenev & Gorky

1967 Edition Detail from The Aristocrat At Breakfast by P. A. Fedotov	1967 Edition Russian engraving from 19th Century popular song sheet

1966 Edition – Detail from a 19th Century Russian lithograph

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Penguin "Black Classics"

During the 1960s to 1970s Penguin Books released the series of black covered classics. In the 1950s the covers were much simpler though of uniform design.

The “Black Classics” however all have wonderfully appropriate works of art on the front cover, for instance all the Ibsen Plays in the series are graced with cover art by Edvard Munch.

1964 Edition Detail of portrait of Ibsen	1973 Edition Detail of "The RedVineyard"

1974 Edition – Detail of “The Sick Child” by Munch

1973 Edition Detail of a lithograph by Munch	1974 Edition Detail of "Agony" by Munch

I have quite a good collection of the Penguin “Black Classics”, most of them acquired in the 1960s. There was, I remember, a small bookshop in an inner Melbourne suburb, which sold Penguin seconds (i.e. slightly shop soiled) at ridiculously cheap prices. Also I was lucky to have a friend who worked for Penguin. Penguin employees had access to a “pig” bin of seconds and were able to take their pick of them. My friend gave me boxes of these, so I have many books that appear very interesting, but remain unread. They now appear to have become collector’s items.

Next – more “Black Classics”

The Large Bookcase

Despite the time it takes to scan book covers, and the stress it is probably putting on my elderly Canon scanner, I am still enjoying displaying my library. I trust all who visit Eye Candy for Bibliophiles find it a salutary experience as well.

As you see, the large bookcase lives up to its designation. It was custom built twenty or so years ago when we first moved into this dwelling. Measuring 9 ft by 9ft, the shelves are made of pine, now mellowed over the years to a deep honey colour. Despite being custom built it can be taken apart, as the three vertical sections are separable, and all the shelves can be adjusted and removed.

The contents represent the bulk of my fiction collection which covers popular, literary and classical fiction of all sorts, acquired over forty something years. The shelving of the books actually has a system, in that I generally shelve books under imprint, e.g. most of the penguins are shelved together, though over the years it has all gotten a bit out of hand as space became an issue.

However, you will be surprised by what I have in this bookcase – quite a few rare old editions and then some.

New Age – Palmistry, Astral Projection, Radiesthesia (pendulums), Chinese and Tibetan Philosophy and Herbs.

How a book on Astral Projection made it into my library is beyond me, but I suppose palmistry fits into the New Age category, though I never made a study of it. As for pendulums, I must admit that I have a knack with them. I have used them to accurately predict the sex of unborn children, and to test the freshness of food, though not much else.

The next two books relate to Chinese philosophy – the Tao Te Ching, which philosophy I find the most sympathetic to my own personal attitude to life, having gleaned this from my experiences with consulting the I Ching. Tai Chi sounds an attractive way to balance body and soul, but I have never practiced it. Both these books are large format paperbacks and thus fittingly in a watercourse way penultimately finish the exhibition of books in the medium sized bookcase.

The Tibetan Book of The Dead was the inspiration for the following game. I used to have a board on which it was played but it seems to have gone missing.

And finally, two books on Herbs - the comprehensive Mrs M Grieve’s: A Modern Herbal, a large hard covered book filled with invaluable information on the uses of herbs, and The Handbook of the Bach Flower Remedies, also in hard cover, which is the basis for an interesting system of healing using dilutions of certain flowers.

So after this it’s on to bigger & possibly better things when I set about displaying some, not all, of the contents of the large bookcase. It’s an interesting collection with a number of rare and unusual books, not to mention old penguins and other imprints.

New Age – Amulets, Charms & Talismans

There’s not much to write about amulets, charms and talismans, as the books are pretty self explanatory, and there are only a few of them on the subject anyway, so I’ll tack some oddities onto the end of this post.

C G Jung – Man and His Symbols - another essential book on the New Ager’s bookshelf.

Nostradamus and his ilk, prophecies…

Next – the last of the New Age books and indeed the contents of the medium bookshelf.