Chander is a History Buff Episode 7

 

Chander is a History Buff Episode 7

 

Greeting to my readers.

 

I am posting my new episode 7 (a book of 96 years old, from my bookshelf) before episode 6, as the book I am reviewing in episode 6 needs more exploration, to share with the readers, for more interesting facts and photos!

 

This historical episode covers a great author, a Zorastrian Barrister-At-Law, an Advocate in High Court, Bombay, KAIKOBAD BHICAJI DASTUR,(MEHERJIRANA), and his First Edition Book “ LOST KINGDOM FOUND or THE REVELATIONS, published by himself in 1925 @ Rs.3, printed by G.M.Pandya, at The Maneck Prionting Press, Benham Hall Lane, Girgam, Bombay.

 

The subject is – Future Life. From his own personal experiences, in the preface, the author shares his knowledge of what happens on and after death and conveys information about our next life and about the homes of the departed, and it is intend to bring next worlds nearer to us!

 

I am so keen to know more about his realisations on this subject by reading the full book of 133 pages, beautifully bound in red colour. It contains XV chapters with various headings. The title of the chapters are: The Title, The Dead are Alive, The Other Worlds, Love, Divine Justice, The Dark Spot, The Awakening, Battling With Nature, Set Backs, My Visits, The Most Surprising Revelation, Heaven, The Dark World, Common Features, Miscellaneous Matters and an Appendix.

 

I would like to share the author’s few interesting lines from his original text, which attracted me to go ahead from chapter I till the end. 

 

“Know this for certain, that the body only is mortal, but the man is immortal.”

Unquote: Many books and articles use this as a standard example of logic:

• All men are mortal.
• Socrates is a man.
• Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

The question is: where did this example come from? Some people think this example comes from Aristotle, but Aristotle did not say anything like this example.

 

Quote:

“… there is no death, that our departed dear ones are alive, and that they are residing in one or others of several worlds which are round about us.”

“Though death is the greatest enemy of mankind, it is only an imaginary enemy, because in reality it does not exist.”

“We begin our next life according to the progress made by us and according to the good or evil which we may have done while living in this world.”

“Love is the currency of God….By love I mean something more than what is generally supposed. It means a true desire to see all happy, and more happy than ourselves….Heaven is not an imaginary dreamland but a solid region like the earth, and inhibited by living intelligencies like ourselves…Love all, love well and love true. Think of others and then only God will think of you.”

“It is everywhere the Kingdom of God. Hell is a myth…God pardons nobody, because He condemns none.”

In the chapter “The Most Surprising Revelation”, the author says,”…Dreams are a mixture of truth and untruth, and on many occasions we are able to remember only the untrue portion of our dreams and entirely forget the true knowledge intended to be conveyed to us.”

The author’s daily prayers are:- “Oh, Lord! Make me a better man and give me light to make mankind happy.”

Unquote:

I find it difficult to give the complete essence of the author’s revelations here, and once the reader reads the full book, he or she can realise his or her own revelations on this subject. But I found from the internet that there is no copy available in any Indian libraries and only 5 books available in UK and USA libraries, with no reviews as on date, according to the data gathered from Worldcat.org! So, mine is the first review after 96 years of publication, I believe!!!

I will come back with my episode 6 …..

Internet data:

Lost kingdom found; or, the Revelations,

Author:	Kaikobad Bhikaji Dastur.
Publisher:	[Bombay] 1925.
Edition/Format:	Print book : English : 1st edView all editions and formats
Rating:	(not yet rated) and not reviewed yet.
Subjects	·         Future life.

 

LibraryHeld formatsDistance1.

The British Library, St. Pancras

London, NW1 2DB United Kingdom

 Book8200 km

Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY 13244 United States

 Book13300 km

New York Public Library System
NYPL

New York, NY 10018 United States

 Book13400 km

 

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas Libraries

Austin, TX 78713 United States

 Book15200 km

Chander is A History Buff Episode 5

 

Chander is A History Buff Episode 5

Greetings to my readers.

This blog is dedicated to book lovers and in particular to literary books of olden time, who are keen in knowing the history of the author of a book, they read and love to read again and again! I am one such book lover and here I am going to write about an author, Charlotte Bronte and her life sketched by Mrs.Gaskell.

The Book: The Life of Charlotte Bronte

By: Mrs.Gaskell, Published by: Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, Year of publication: 1889 ( First published in 1857)

This is a pocket book edition, bound in half cloth with uncut edges, which seems to be special for me! In addition, the facing page of the title page contains the portrait of Charlotte Bronte by George Richmond in 1850,with her signature : Sincerely yours – C Bronte.

The 447 page book with XXVIII chapters.

Special mention: There are many notes in ink and pencil marked while reading the book, by the original owner alongside the text! ( may be made in 1889 ).

Charlotte Bronte: As recently as 2017, The Life of Charlotte Brontë was listed in The Guardian (UK) as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time! Charlotte was a literary star on both sides of the Atlantic, so it was exciting to find this 1857 review published in a Washington, D.C., newspaper:

An 1857 review of The Life of Charlotte Brontë

An original review dated June 4, 1857, The National Era, Washington, D.C.: A sadder book than this we have never read. The very volumes which gave to Charlotte Brontë her brilliant reputation are less sad, less gloomy than this — the true story of her life. It is only through this sorrowful tale that her books can be understood — it is only after reading it, that we can do her justice.

Charlotte Brontë was a woman of heroic character, of great nobility of heart. Sorrows which would have crushed others, or driven them made, seemed by to sadden her, and add gloom to her soul. Not for a moment did she give way, but continued her steady work, her life of unremitting industry.

Charlotte Brontë (1816 – 1855) outlived all five of her siblings, including her literary sisters, Emily and Anne. The grief at losing her sisters at ages thirty and twenty-nine, respectively, may have been easing with the happiness she found as the wife of Arthur Bell Nichols, and the widespread recognition of her talents as a writer.

Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette had all been published, and Charlotte was recognized as a major talent. Her books sold well, too. And though she was still known as “Currer Bell,” the male pseudonym she’d use to break into the publishing world, her true identity had been established.

But it was not to last. When Charlotte died of complications due to pregnancy in 1855, she had nearly reached her thirty-ninth birthday. 

Two years after her death, The Professor, the first novel she had written (but which remained unpublished in her lifetime) was published. The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell was also published that same year (1857), helping to seal her legacy and reputation. Mrs. Gaskell, as she was known, was at the time also a respected novelist, having published Mary Barton and Ruth.

The Author, Mrs.Elizabeth Gaskell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gaskell

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor. Her work is of interest to social historians as well as readers of literature. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, was the first biography of Charlotte Brontë. In this biography, she wrote only of the moral, sophisticated things in Brontë’s life; the rest she left out, deciding that certain, more salacious aspects were better kept hidden. Among Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford (1851–53), North and South (1854–55), and Wives and Daughters (1865), each having been adapted for television by the BBC.

The history of Charlotte Bronte may induce the readers to read her books.  Let us start searching for copies from Internet Archives and begin reading. Of course Audio Books are also available in YouTube, for listeners in separate volumes running to many hours! One of the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP4e-PKH9jY

See you soon with more books of antiquity and the history of the book and it’s author…

Photos of my copy of the book...

Charlotte Bronte

Mrs.Elizabeth Gaskell (Author)

Chander is a History Buff Episode 4

 

Chander is A History Buff Episode 4

Greetings to all readers.

This episode covers the history of an author and a publisher of a book in my shelf aged 124 years since its publication( 1897)! More than that the author is very famous among English Classics readers.

About the book: HOMER – THE ODYSSEY - Ancient Classics for English Readers ,

Edited By The Rev. W. LUCAS COLLINS, M.A.

Published  and Printed by WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, Edinburgh and London in 1897.

Contents: Introduction and XI Chapters in 136 pages.

History of Homer : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer

Homer (/ˈhoʊmər/; Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος [hómɛːros], Hómēros) was the presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are the foundational works of ancient Greek literature. 

The Odyssey focuses on the ten-year journey home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, after the fall of Troy. Many accounts of Homer's life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a blind bard from Ionia, a region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey.

Modern scholars consider these accounts legendary. It is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century BC.

The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato, Homer was simply the one who "has taught Greece" 

The orally transmitted Homeric poems were put into written form at some point between the eighth and sixth centuries BC. Some scholars believe that they were dictated to a scribe by the poet and that our inherited versions of the Iliad and Odyssey were in origin orally-dictated texts.

About the Editor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lucas_Collins

Rev William Lucas Collins (baptised 23 May 1815 – 24 March 1887) was a Church of England priest and essayist.

William Lucas Collins was born in 1815 at Oxwich, near Swansea, Glamorgan, south Wales. He was sent to be educated at Rugby School (1829–33) and Jesus College, Oxford (matriculating in 1833, obtaining a BA in Literae Humaniores in 1838 and his MA in 1841).^[1]

He was ordained in 1840 and held the benefice of the parish of Cheriton, Swansea from 1840 until 1867. He also held positions as curate of Great Houghton, Northamptonshire (1853 to 1862), a diocesan inspector of education, rector of St Peter's Church, Lowick (1873 to his death) and vicar of Slipton, Northamptonshire (1876 to his death). He was an honorary Canon of Peterborough Cathedral from 1870. Collins died on 24 March 1887, in Lowick rectory.

About the Publisher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackwood

William Blackwood (20 November 1776 – 16 September 1834) was a Scottish publisher who founded the firm of William Blackwood and Sons.

Blackwood was born in Edinburgh on 20 November 1776. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a firm of booksellers in Edinburgh, and he followed his calling also in Glasgow and London for several years. Returning to Edinburgh in 1804, he opened a shop in South Bridge Street for the sale of old, rare and curious books. He undertook the Scottish agency for John Murray and other London publishers, and gradually drifted into publishing on his own account.

Homer’s Odyssey contents: Introduction, Penelope and her suitors, Telemachus goes in quest of his father, Ulysses with Calypso and Phaeacians, Ulysses tells his story to Alcinous, The tale continued – The visit to the shades, Ulysses return to Ithaca, The Returrn of Telemachus from Sparta, Ulysses revisits his palace, The day of Retribution, The recognition of Penelope and Concluding remarks.

The complete book is available for online reading. Use the link: https://archive.org/details/homerodyssey00collrich/page/46/mode/2up

 

The epic poem in brief : The Odyssey is Homer's epic of Odysseus' 10-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. While Odysseus battles mystical creatures and faces the wrath of the gods, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus stave off suitors vying for Penelope's hand and Ithaca's throne long enough for Odysseus to return. The Odyssey ends as Odysseus wins a contest to prove his identity, slaughters the suitors, and retakes the throne of Ithaca.

 The photos are for the readers viewing pleasure to see the original pages of the 124 years old book. The original owner of the book signed in the opening page in black ink as : Ramanathan, 18^th July 1897, Madtas.

I will return with more history on books, people, art and culture!