Atlantic Library

The Story of a Bookcase: The Lost Years [a transitional, transcendent phase.]

/ Steve M. / Leave a comment

This is where things become blurred, very blurred, from the age of 18 and pretty much solidly for the next 10 years, I was only half in the driving seat, but never completely out of control, well OK I was shit faced most of the time, and the question of control is academic as I survived it, and in any case the totally out of control periods are completely blank.

Before I take you into my twilight zone, I need to fill in a bit of background, by 13 years was smoking roll ups and had partaken in the “Herb” on a fairly regular basis, by 15 years of age I was already into amphetamines and had taken my first of many “Trips”. not boasting , just telling you.

The bookcase has only a peripheral role in this part, and I will finish this particular blog  with the details of what sort of state it was in by the end. The bulk of this story is I think worth telling , but possibly elsewhere, or I will lose the direction of the whole thing. Whew! narrowly avoided another,  Karl Ove Knausgård, moment, not that is a bad thing, I have read the first 4 of his 5 autobiographical tomes, and I am a fan. I have to fight the temptation to go into minute detail of my life, the urge to confess I suppose, the mark of a Roman Catholic upbringing.

For the ten-year period in question in the context mentioned in the first paragraph above, my life gravitated to extreme social activity, the basis of which was built around music, the listening to , watching and making of. Going to the movies was also an important and frequent activity, just in case anyone is curious I was almost continually employed during this period primarily in various branches of the electronics industry, laughably at one stage I worked on prototype weapons systems at Marconi, whilst being a card-carrying member of the CND and active member of the Anti-Nazi League.

I was a child in the 60's

I was a child in the 60’s

       My interest in Music was eclectic and very time-consuming.

Remarkable Times

Remarkable Times

top-5i5ty5

And all this time

Self Explanatory

Self Explanatory

By the end the bit that matters for this blog, the bookcase was occupied with a mixture of underground comics, Zap, Furry Freaks and the like, and primarily paperbacks by a variety of authors, including:- Moorcock, Flann O’brien, Kerouac, Brautigan, Poe, and on and on, I had also developed an interest in Burroughs and at one time claimed to have read and understood everything he had written, not sure that I could say that now, the interest continued with translations of French titles, so Bataille, Genet and Beckett, and for those of you in the know, you can already spot the drift towards the Olympia Press, although at this stage I don’t recall any of the copies in the bookcase being Olympia Press editions at that time, another missed opportunity.

Next: The Obsession begins

The Story of a Bookcase [The Teenage Years]

/ Steve M. / Leave a comment

I am conscious that I must not dwell on this too long, otherwise I risk becoming the English version of Karl Ove Knausgård, chance would be a fine thing.

As i aged as we are all doomed to do, I reached the age of 12 and was suddenly old enough to do a paper round and earn my own money, until this time much of the control of the contents of the bookcase remained with my parents and my 4 older siblings, and the Works of Dickens and World of Adventure, titles had been expanded by gifts of Dandy and Beano albums along with the children’s classics, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and ad infinitum. (Do I detect a nautical theme?)

However by the age of 12 having developed a firm friendship with a lad of the same age at primary school, we had started to develop our own interests in all sorts of things. I recall one such collecting fad was a series of bubble gum cards based on a pictorial history of the American Civil War, they were very gory and when discovered by the Nuns (Catholic School) they were promptly confiscated.

civilwarnewsexplodingfury

Having then had my first brush with obsessive collecting and censorship at one fell swoop, and suddenly the possessor of funds provided by the paper round, I commenced to collect Marvel Comics and my best pal, who also had a paper round commenced to collect DC comics, this provided endless ammunition for discussion, debates, heated arguments and the odd bout of violence, over who had the best Heroes and the best collection. It also led to hunting around local second hand book and comic shops. There were a fair few of these around in those days, and indeed the newsagent we both worked for also functioned as an outlet for second hand stuff.

At the tender age of 12, I then commenced to wander further afield in search of elusive titles and even went so far as Herne Bay, some 6 miles distant and a fairly strenuous bike ride in search of those rare titles that I just had to have.

Not me by the way

Not me by the way

As a result of this I discovered, although I did not know it at the time, my very first dirty book shop.Where unbeknownst to me behind all the comics, over the counter, even “Under The Counter” sat piles of “Readers” as they were called, Including no doubt many Paris Olympia Press titles, copies of which could be hired out on a lease return basis by lonely onanists. Clearly a missed opportunity in more than one sense. More of this later.

By a combination of a permanent order of all US Marvel titles released each month, the cost of which was deducted from my salary by the newsagent, my employer, and skillful hunting down of titles elsewhere, I had by the time I was 16 established a collection that filled the bookcase, and this collection stayed in the bookcase and moved with me until I was around 18 years old, by which time I had moved on to different things, like Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and Cannabis, Acid and anything else I could throw down my neck. So around 1973 the comic collection was sold, probably for far too little, to a Shop as I recall in Wardour Street in London romantically called “Dark They Were and Golden Eyed”

SCOOK_DarkTheyWere

Anyway no complaints here the funds from this sale were used to pursue the nefarious activities listed above, and allowed my collecting to move to the next phase. Watch this space.

Books Wanted: Springtime in Paris, Theobald Lovelace, Ophelia Press Paris

/ Steve M. / 11 Comments

Unlike my last first listed WANT: This is one I have seen,twice, both in collections, one in the Netherlands and the other in Scandinavia, this is, as described below in the bibliographical  detail, a variant of Business as Usual, by Soliman Peters, in the distinctive “salmon pink” covers of the Ophelia Press. Alas I have no image of this title. The story behind the appearance of this title, is that the author had sold the original title to both Girodias, and at the same time the publisher of Weekend Books, a competitor.

In an attempt to protect his investment (probably a pittance), Girodias rewrote a number of pages and changed the title and author and produced this title which I need to complete the Ophelia imprints in my collection.

Bibliographical detail with permission of Patrick Kearney., The Olympia Press. Liverpool University Library. 2007.

6.3.1 SPRINGTIME IN PARIS Theobald Lovelace, 1958

THEOBALD LOVELACE | SPRINGTIME | IN PARIS | OPHELIA PRESS | PARIS Collation: 190 pp. 4.1 – 4.128. The collation on this book is untidy, but correct as stated. The pagination begins at the half-title, but is preceded by a blank leaf on the recto of which is the first signature. The gathering therefore appears to have fourteen leaves, but the number is made up to the correct sixteen by the preliminary blank. 17.8 x 11.3 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [i,ii], blank. p. [1] SPRINGTIME | IN PARIS, reverse blank. p. [3] title, as above. p. [4] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | All rights reserved by Ophelia Press. p. 5-189, text. p. [190] Imprimé en Février 1958 | Imprimerie Spéciale des Éditions Ophelia Press | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1958.
Binding: Pale tan wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with the body of the book. [Front cover; within a vertical three-line oblong frame:] THEOBALD LOVELACE | SPRINGTIME | IN PARIS | [outside frame, at foot of cover:] OPHELIA PRESSř. [Spine; author and imprint printed horizontally across head and foot, and title lettered vertically up spine between them:] THEOBALD | LOVELACE [-] SPRINGTIME IN PARIS [-] OPHELIA | PRESS. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] [price in bold ] FRS. 750 | NOT TO BE SOLD IN | THE U. K. OR U. S. A. Notes: (1) The same book as Business as Usual by Soliman Peters except for the first page of text. (2) Advertised in a 1959 Olympia Press catalogue as being called Springtime in Paree by Alan Peters.

Books Wanted:- MELTING [Dissolving] Travellers Companion Series No 59

/ Steve M. / 8 Comments

Rather provide an exhaustive list of wants, I want to be specific about the titles I am looking for, many of them are readily available, just very expensive, and will likely have to wait until I can afford to buy them, in the mean time they will remain highly priced and unsold on all the major book sites, that is unless of course a trade is possible.

However before I get to the not rare just expensive stuff, lets explore the really rare stuff.

The first item on my list is one of the variant titles that Girodias produced to avoid detection by the Brigade Mondaine , the French Thought Police, who in cooperation with the British Government sought to eliminate the import of “filth” from the continent, this form of censorship has a long history, but more of that later.

My first target title is therefore “Melting” by Tim Harrack, a disguised variant of the title “Dissolving” the bibliographic description of which reads thus:-

5.59.2 MELTING [DISSOLVING] Tim Harrack, 1958 [Within a green border of type ornament:] TIM HARRACK |MELTING | THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | [breaking the border:] 7, rue Saint-Severin, Paris Collation: 192 pp. 59.1 – 59.128. 17.6 x 11.1 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] MELTING. p. [4] [rule] | All right reserved by The Olympia Press Paris France. p. [5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 7-[187] text. p. [188] blank. p. [189] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | Printed March 1958 by S.I.P., Montreuil, France | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1958. pp. [190-192] blank. Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of the book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] TIM HARRACK | MELTING | no 59 | THE | TRAVELLERS COMPANION | SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 59 [-] MELTING [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 1.200. Notes: Although presumably re-issued with a title change to confuse the authorities, the running head still reads DISSOLVING throughout. The text of page 7 and the first half of page 8 has been re-written, after which it remains identical to the edition published as Dissolving.(1)

I thank my long term pen-pal and friend (though we have never met face to face) Patrick Kearney for permission to use excerpts from his book:- (1) The Paris Olympia Press published by The Liverpool University Press, 2007, where the above description can be located on Page: 187.

olympia_paris

Despite Pat’s description, this was and in reality still is the only Olympia Press title I have never seen, so imagine my delight, when just a week ago, following some very skilled detective work I discovered a copy in Berlin. I quickly made all of the necessary arrangements to buy the book, and even sent the following to him:-

Well Pat

 
Sometimes I amaze myself, no sooner do I admit to never having seen a copy of the Melting variant of Dissolving, than I track one down on a really obscure German antiques web site, admittedly I do not have it in hand yet, but it is paid for and order confirmed. Amazing so happy I just had to share the moment.
A few days later I received the following message from Berlin:-

Hallo Stephen,

I just tried to take your book from my storage room. I was shocked, it was the victim of a mouse attack!

I’m sorry, they destroyed it. And not only this…

By the way, I don’t use paypal.

I apologize for the circumstances.

Best regards from Berlin………………Stephan

Melting (melted)
I updated Pat and he responded:-

Steve, Hi:

I’m glad I wasn’t able to reply to your email and congratulate you on
finally digging up a copy of “Melting” — in light of your subsequent
email. How tragic. Really. I picked up a Bibliotheque des curieux title
once that had clearly been nibbled on by rodents, but at least it was
readable. “Melting” was demolished. But at least there’s evidence
(from the spine which is still intact) that it exists!

Happy to take any copy in pretty much any condition as long as it is complete.

The Story of a Bookcase: [In The Beginning]

/ Steve M. / Leave a comment

Every activity has to start somewhere and for me, my craze for collecting is very closely associated with the bookcase in which my Olympia’s are currently housed, this is the largest of the two cases for which there are images on the site.

Olympia Collection cabinet 1

Olympia Collection cabinet 1

Before I get to the role of the bookcase, I am inclined to make you suffer a brief history of me. I begin at age 4, in 1959, as I have no reliable memory prior to that, I do recall being lost, unsupervised and terrified prior to that presumably somewhere in Bournemouth, where we lived until I was 4, then moving to Whitstable, where life for me began. Until that point I had believed that my father was a handsome sailor, complete with Royal Navy uniform, very young with blonde wavy hair, he used to come home on leave, bringing exotic gifts from far flung locations, I particularly remember a tin Military Police Jeep battery operated that could do all sorts of amazing things. This handsome young chap turned out to be my eldest brother (actually step-brother) But that’s another story……….

My real Father, who according to all was mysteriously absent for the first years of my life, was also in the navy, but the Merchant variety, where he was as he chose to call himself a chef, the reality of this was somewhat less glamorous, as he functioned as a galley cook on small coasters, plying between Whitstable and Esjberg in Denmark. So at the age of 4 I discovered myself to be the son of a sea cook, which in some places, I understand is a form of insult.

Having lived in a small flat in a terraced house in Whitstable for a number of years, we moved up market to the nearby village of Tankerton where we had a much bigger ground floor flat, the rest of the house occupied by a large family, Italian in origin and temperament, with a Grandfather, the patriarch, who spoke much Italian and not much English, and his 3 rather crazy teenage grandsons who took great delight in frightening me, but that too is another story…..

So in around 1963, we moved again, only about 500 yards up the road from the Italian contingent, this time to our own house, which my parents had somehow  got a mortgage for. The previous occupants had thoughtfully left behind some items of furniture, a desk, a large oak dining table which turned out to be a half sized slate bedded snooker table, and yes you guessed a bookcase. My initial interest for a year or so focused on the desk , because, my father, a man with a very sweet tooth, used to hide his sweet stash in it, when I eventually found a way to fiddle the lock to gain access to the nut crunch and chocolate, i found a much more interesting item in the shape of a small automatic pistol, never did find the ammo but not for the want of trying, but that as they say is another story….

Aged 8 I became the proud owner of the bookcase, which my father proceeded to fill with books bought by the yard from a local junk shop, various boys adventure albums, “50 Events that Amazed The World” and the like along with the Complete works of Charles Dickens, all great stuff and I suspect not terribly expensive.

From this period of my life, and now aged 60, I have only 2 photographs, one of me as a baby and another aged about 4, inexplicably standing in front of a tapestry of the Sphinx, holding a lamp shaped from a Dutch clog in the form of a sail boat. The only other things I have are the desk (minus sweets and pistol), and the bookcase.

 

/ Steve M. / 2 Comments

Well here we go, new territory for me. I decided to set up this blog to share my experience of 30 years of hunting for and collecting books published by the Paris Olympia Press, I have completed the collection twice, and in hard times had to sell many books to other collectors, I am now on my third and last attempt to complete the entire published output of the press.

I list duplicate copies of my Olympia Press books on AbeBooks, and I am using any potential income to purchase titles missing from my collection, these duplicates along with a range of other clandestine erotic titles are available to trade for titles I need for the collection.

Watch this space for stories of book hunting expeditions and images of books both from the collection and for sale/trade.

ANY ENQUIRIES JUST LEAVE A MESSAGE ON THE BLOG WITH YOUR CONTACT DETAILS AND I WILL GET BACK TO YOU.

Olympia Collection cabinet 1

Olympia Collection cabinet 1

Olympia Collection Cabinet 2

Olympia Collection Cabinet 2