Many thanks to those of you who stopped by the Jalopy Theater to hear me read from my translation of Alphonse Allais’s Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks.  And thanks also to Feral Foster, who brought the American Lemonade, the drink Cap enjoys in Chapter 40, to today’s palates.  Photos of the event, taken by Farewell Debut, can be found here.

ADDENDUM:  There is a charming review of the book at the blog Wuthering Expectations.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

There will be a reading and book launch, from and for Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks, by Alphonse Allais: now translated, annotated, and illustrated by Doug Skinner, and published by Black Scat Books.

Allais’s proto-pataphysical antihero, the inventor and explorer Captain Cap, expounds on such subjects as the kangacycle, the antifilter, and the smell-buoy, as he rages against European bureaucracy and drinks an alarming number of cocktails.  This first English translation includes all of Allais’s 1902 edition, plus eight extra stories, notes, historical photos, over 50 illustrations by the hard-working translator — and, of course, recipes for Cap’s favorite drinks.

The reading will take place on Saturday, November 23, at 5 pm, at the Jalopy Theater, 315 Columbia St., in Brooklyn.  Books will be available for purchase.  The inimitable Feral Foster will be on hand to dispense complimentary Cap drinks.  For directions to Jalopy, look here; for Black Scat Books, look here.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

I am, for some reason, preoccupied with the many uses of that most ubiquitous and disposable of printed items, the cardboard rectangle.  The following is a selection of “escort cards,” which eligible gentlemen would once use to ask to walk a lady home.  They featured verses, illustrations, and rebuses, all in the service of formal courtship.

And, for good measure, some replies.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

We have another deck attributed to the famous Mademoiselle Lenormand (Marie-Anne-Adelaïde Lemormand, 1772-1843).  This one, “Le Petit Lenormand,” was published by B. P. Grimaud in 1976.  Yes, there is also a larger version.  As the instructions say, “Each card consists of symbolic and prophetic elements,” which may indicate either good or bad aspects, depending on their position in the layout.  A special card, representing Lenormand, is always placed in the center to represent the consultant.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

The fifth issue of Black Scat Review is now available!  This one contains “Captain Cap Plays a Trick,” an excerpt from my translation of Alphonse Allais’s Captain Cap.  It also features work by Mark Axelrod, Shane Roeschlein, Patrizia Valduga‏, Harold Jaffe, Brett Stout, Andy O’Clancy, Samy Sfoggia, Nile Southern, Robert Hahn, and Michela Martini.  And, of course, Nile Southern’s splendid cover.  You can find it at Black Scat Books.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

Well, Happy Halloween.  If, that is, Halloween is supposed to be happy.  It’s a mysterious holiday.  At any rate, here’s an old Galician proverb to contemplate: I don’t believe in witches, but they still exist.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

Thanks to this musical cipher, you can encode your secret messages as a rather rangy tune. Word breaks are indicated by accidentals. I found this in a box of prints at a flea market; it apparently came from an old encyclopedia, but I don’t know which.

Of course, you could also just use the wonderful musical language Solrésol. It’s nice to have options.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

This elaborate pictorial deck was published by the venerable firm Piatnik, from Vienna and Budapest.  There’s a lot of drama in this depiction of Falseness, but it doesn’t look like beneficial drama.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

Scott Nearing became an Honorary Founder of the Fortean Society, replacing Alexander Woollcott.  Woollcott had left early in 1942, presumably because he liked Fort, but didn’t get along with Thayer.  Thayer’s attacks on Roosevelt may have nettled him too, as he was an FDR fan.  Nearing was a very different kind of character, a life-long advocate for socialism, pacifism, and vegetarianism.  Later, he became a spokesman for homesteading and a return to the land, eventually living to 100.

Nearing contributed to three Little Blue Books, each a transcript of a debate.

Little Blue Book #141, “Would the Practice of Christ’s Teachings Make for Social Progress?”, pitted Nearing against Percy Ward, a socialist activist in Chicago.  As one might predict, Nearing cherry-picks the more attractive parts of the Gospels, particularly the repudiation of wealth; and Ward selects the unpleasant bits, like the hatred of family and the importance of faith.  Both are eloquent, but Ward’s “Progress depends not upon dead gods, but upon living men” got my vote.

The second debate, Little Blue Book #206, comes with a bit more background.  It was held at the Lexington Theater, in New York City, on January 23, 1921.  The subject was “Resolved, that Capitalism has more to offer to the workers of the United States than has Socialism,” with E. R. A. Seligman taking the affirmative, and Nearing the negative.  Seligman was at the time head of the Department of Economics at Columbia University, and Nearing on the faculty of the Rand School of Social Sciences.  To simplify somewhat, Seligman argues that socialism in Russia was not particularly successful; interestingly, he also argues for a sort of progressive capitalism modified by insurance for the poor and taxation of the rich.  Nearing pleads for self-government in economic life, to combat the growing plutocracy.  They don’t really differ that much, at least according to today’s more polarized politics.

Little Blue Book 723, “Soviet Form of Government: Its Application to Western Civilization,” sets Nearing against Bertrand Russell.  It also bears the subtitle “A Debate on the Subject by Scott Nearing, Affirmative, and Bertrand Russell, Negative, with an Introduction of the Subject and Speakers by Samuel Untermeyer.”  It’s worth reading in full; but Russell’s main argument is that the Soviet system was developed for a more primitive and rural society, and wouldn’t suit a more developed nation.  He remains socialist, but prefers a transition to a system better fit for more industrialized economies, rather than revolution.  Nearing retorts, “When the crisis does come, what will be the form of the transition society, if it isn’t the Soviet form?”

Incidentally, the booklet also contains photos and bios of Russell and Nearing.  Here they both are, as of 1925.  I apologize for the poor photos; Haldeman-Julius was known for shoddy printing.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

Alphonse Allais was born on October 20, 1854.  We celebrate his birthday here by posting my drawings of him with his curious colleague, Captain Cap, from Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks, available in my illustrated translation from Black Scat Books.

And one picture from the fourth chapbook, which didn’t make it into the collected edition.  Happy birthday, Alphonse Allais!

(Posted by Doug Skinner)