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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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This, recommended by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, was a much needed diversion from his own journal of the Antarctic Expedition.
In which we follow the author and his crew as they sail to the island of Trindade in search of the lost Treasure of Lima.
'Lost' may be the wrong word, 'Mislaid' is perhaps better.
Anyways, on the deathbed confession of a 'Piratical Finn' several expeditions were launched to the Island of Trindade (referred to loosely as 'Trinidad' in the book), of which his is one. Enough clues given by the confession tally with the description of the island and the author is persuaded to try his hand at digging for the treasure. So he rounds up a crew - via subscription (each member pays a fee for the travel/yacht, etc - to enjoy a portion of the plunder), engages a few staff, and sets out.
A real-life "Treasure Island", if you will.
Our adventures of various sorts, the perils of landing, the attacks made on us by the multitudes of hideous land-crabs and ferocious sea-birds, our difficult climb over the volcanic mountains, and finally our anything but regretful departure from one of the most uncanny and dispiriting spots on earth, are fully set out in my book, 'The Cruise of the "Falcon."'
That, describing his first expedition, the descriptive style is much the same in the second.
Link: Google Maps, Island of Trindade
I won't be giving much away if I tell you they don't find it. Nonetheless, an interesting idea and worth it if only for the rather humorous descriptions. And there's a business idea for you, chartering a yacht and leading wealthy patrons off on treasure hunts the world over...
You can read this online - Link: Project Gutenberg - The Cruise of the 'Alerte'
Curious, what a hold "Pirate Treasure" has on the collective imagination, when so few (in fact none, I'm assured) examples have ever been found. What treasure has been recovered has been from Pirate ships and Galleons sunk and on the bottom of the sea, I can find no references to pirate treasures ever being dug up on deserted shores or islands.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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A rather period read - out of fashion, but still as relevant, recommended to me by Mark Twain in his "A Tramp Abroad".
The plot, well, nonexistent, rather a recounting of the fine treasures found by Major H. Byng Hall on his sojourns to the Continent in search of the perfect pieces of Bric-A-Brac, largely (in his eyes) fancy porcelain China and various other ornaments.
I do as much the same today, not to the continent, true, and rarely after fancy China, but other treasures...
Now, his notes are timeless, for example his comments on how fashion determines the value of items - how often it's much better it’s valued in it’s own country, how one year it may be a treasure, the next worthless, how - as with art, all attributions of value are spurious, and his perpetual recommendation to always start the bargaining at 1/3rd of the asked price...
His enthusiasm is contagious, and I find myself strangely sympathetic - especially volunteering at the thrift shop, where one sees no end to fine manufacturers of porcelain, fine china, cups, saucers, plate and dinnerware, fine bits of bric-a-brac that will never again fetch a price even close to their value, or that reflects the workmanship that went into them.
I go the extra yard, look up some of the bits of China he enthusiastically recommends, bits of Sevres, Wedgewood, Dresden, and I have to say that in this I haven't the eye, a fine 18th century piece could easily pass through my hands into the rubbish, the tastes of another era most definitely not my own...my knowledge needs some improvement, most of this would escape my taste, gaudy, garish, but - well, looking up current prices, some very definitely valuable...
He talks of vendors in Marseilles, Constantinople, Madrid, St. Petersberg, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, Italy, Paris, London, he's travelling all of Europe looking for knick-knacks, lamenting the golden era (long past) of phenomenal bargains to be had, when not everyone knew what they owned, and he praises the critical eye, the collector's secret appreciation of what others would not be able to recognize, regional tastes and valuations that allow for profit, and I enjoy it, certainly, because in this he's a temperament similar mine own...
This, a curious, dated read, but the sentiment remains the same.
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First Dickens I've probably read in almost 40 years.
I enjoyed it, probably his popularity threw me off. I was a trifle annoyed that of all the books of his I should choose to read it should end up being the one he died midway through writing, although the trajectory was fair enough that I could make a few sound guesses as to how he would have ended it. What I don't get, though, is what was to become of the abundance of secondary characters - Crisparkle, Honeythunder, Sapsea, etc.
In any event, the bookstores are full of this so in the months it takes for the Postal Strike to resolve itself I can tuck in with a bit of Dickens...certainly he's in the Xmas spirit.
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An amusing recount of Mark Twain's Continental adventures. He's a fair-reliable narrator, except for when he isn't, but always he does a fine send-up of the customs and people's being described.
A fair example is this recounting of his witnessing a "Duel":
Link: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/119/119-h/119-h.htm#p053
You can read the entire book on Gutenberg online, and - while my edition at nearly 500 pages was not shabby, it lacked the hundreds of illustrations. Anyways, travel literature, of a more recent vintage.
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Found in a "Books Everywhere" pile, everywhere but here, an ex-nun (8 years) writing about the history of world mythology, breaking it into eras of hunter/gatherer, agrarian, axial and post-axial, until finally we reach the "Great Western Transformation".
She's good, not - as you might suspect of a nun, obsessively "religious", she seems to have come to a reasoned understanding or series of epiphanies that explain world mythology.
These books aren't as common as you might think.
Nothing I didn't know, but - she does refer me to an abundance of myths and sources I haven't read. Worthwhile.
And I'm always curious - like minds we always are, we see things the same way, but divide and weigh them differently,