Subject: (urth) The Invisible Library

From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 19:33:24 +0000

There is a website called The Invisible Library --
http://www.invisiblelibrary.com -- which lists books which don't actually
exist, but whose titles appear in other books. It lists the author and title
of the real books they appear in, as well as the "author" and "title" of the
imaginary book.  It's a fascinating site, but there is not one entry for
Gene Wolfe.

Obviously, this can't go on.  There's _The Book of Gold_, _The Lusty Lawyer_
by Amanda Ros from _Peace_ (and wasn't there another book by her as well?)
and everything in _Bibliomen_ (my copy of which is not accessible at the
moment, unfortunately); and there must be others.  Should we make it a group
project?  I'm willing to act as clearinghouse, if people don't want to
clutter up the list.

--Adam

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 20:18:10 +0000

Wonders of Urth and Sky (oh, that doesn't count, does it?)

from BIBLIOMEN:

Arthurs, Kirk Patterson (Ph.D.), MASK AND COIN: GRUB STREET IN THE 30S (1986)
" , MAZE OF GREY: JOHN GLASKIN REVISITED (1987)
" , SWEET SWORD, HIGH HEART: LOVE AND WAR IN THE FICTION OF JOHN GLASKIN (1990)
" , FICTION IN FANCY DRESS: JOHN GLASKIN ET AL EXPOSED (1996) [p. 9]

Brooks, Robert T., (Spinning Jenny transcription: title unknown), Doubleday
(1982) [p. 19]

French, Bernard A., GREAT LOST ART OF WESTERN EUROPE [p. 58; p. 23; p. 43]
" , PERFECTION UNTO DEATH [p. 44]

Glaskin, John, SIXPENCE FOR BUNS
" , BRIDESHEAD
" , YOU CAN'T GO HOME AT ALL [p. 42]

Jons, John J. (jr.), A GUIDE TO THE PUBLIC TOILETS OF AMERICA (1990) [p. 51]
" , MEDITATION ON THE UTILITARIAN THEORY OF LITERARY MERIT [p. 52]

McRidy, Xavier, THE PAPER NAUTILUS [p. 53]

S. Peety, MR. MILTON IN MEDOC [p. 53]

de Solo y Varios, Juan Gabriel Sabastian, ALLEGIANCE TO LA VILLA REAL DE LA
SANTA FE DE SAN FRANCISCO [p. 53]

Poor, Adam, VOICES VOCABLE (1975) [p. 64]
" , A SALTED MINE (1976) [p. 64]

Rico, Paul, TRAINING THE MIND (1981) [p. 72]

Mirk, Roy C., POULTRY AS SYMBOLISM IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE
" , TEA-TIME TALK IN THE NOVELS OF LOUISE MAY ALCOTT
" , WASHING AS A EUPHEMISM IN THE WORKS OF JACK LONDON
" , A POST-MODERNIST CRITIC VIEWS THE ANTEBELLUM MIDDLE WEST [p. 93]

=mantis=

Sirius Fiction
Has Moved To
http://www.siriusfiction.com/

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From: matthew.malthouse <matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 11:02:02 +0000

On 12/06/2001 01:33:24 Adam Stephanides wrote:

>exist,

Presumably this is a branch of the Library of the Unseen University.

Go armed with bananas.

Matthew

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 21:58:42 +0000

Found three more, all in "From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton" (in STOREYS
FROM THE OLD HOTEL).

STAR SHUTTLE by Gilray Gunn (Gilmer C. Merton)
COME, DARK LUST! by Wolf Moon
THE SHRIEKING IN THE NURSERY by Wolf Moon

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From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 01:00:24 +0000

>From PEACE: (p.-160, Berkley)

OH, RARE AMANDA  (a biography, author unknown)

By Amanda Ros:

IRENE IDDESLEIGH

DELINA DELANEY

DONALD DUDLEY

FUMES OF FORMATION (poetry)

POEMS OF PUNCTURE (poetry)

------------------

MARVELLS OF SCIENCE by Morryster (197)

CULTES DES GOULES by the Comte d'Erlette (198)

THE BOOK THAT BINDS THE DEAD (or THE BOOK OF THE NAMES OF THE DEAD, or THE
BOOK OF THE NAMES OF DEATH) by Louis A. Gold (or the NECRONOMICON as coined
by HPL, if you like--this gets complicated) (215)

-Roy

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From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 06:42:53 +0000

>POEMS OF PUNCTURE (poetry)

Ach, Roy--he got you!

There really =is= an Amanda (McKitterick) Ros, eccentric Irish author (take
note, PEACE ethnographers!), and she really did write IRENE IDDESLEIGH
(Bookfinder.com lists a few available today, ranging from $8.50 to $20) and
HELEN HUDDLESON (ranging from $75 to $106).

And O RARE AMANDA really is a biography of her, written by Jack Loudan!

Since LUSTY LAWYER by Amanda Ros is the forgery (?) in PEACE, this is the
one for the invisible library: the others I assume are all real titles.

=mantis=

Sirius Fiction
Has Moved To

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 23:11:18 +0000

At 7:33 PM -0500 6/11/01, Adam Stephanides wrote:
>Obviously, this can't go on.  There's _The Book of Gold_

...

Was there ever a actually a book entitled _The Book of Gold_ in one 
of Wolfe's works? I though it was just a name for whatever book a 
reader found at an early age that became, for him or her, the 
"perfect" book.

-- 
William Ansley

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 00:05:36 +0000

on 6/11/01 10:18 PM, Michael Andre-Driussi at mantis at siriusfiction.com

> Wonders of Urth and Sky (oh, that doesn't count, does it?)

Why not?  Looking at the passage in SHADOW where it's first mentioned, it
seems to be a perfectly legitimate book, and it undoubtedly doesn't exist.

There's also (in the same passage) Blaithmaic's LIVES OF THE SEVENTEEN
MEGATHERIANS.

--Adam

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 15:42:26 +0000

> reader found at an early age that became, for him or her, the

In SHADOW OF THE TORTURER (chap. VI), Master Ultan speaks of _The Book of
Gold_ as the book which, when a child discovers it, leads to his becoming a
librarian.  It may be, though, that this in fact doesn't refer to a specific
book, though Ultan doesn't say so explicitly.  I could make an argument both
ways.

--Adam