The return of our old friend, Henry Davenport Northrop

Old Dinosaur Illustration of the Day, from Valentine's Day 2011, remains one of the stranger posts in the history of this blog. Papergreat was really only in its infancy then (as opposed to its toddlerdom now?) and I think I got a bit loopy writing that post, what with references to pterodactyls, zombies and Rifftrax. But I'm glad the post exists, because it introduced us to...



Northrop is the author of the "dinosaur illustration" book, which has a full title that begins "Earth, Sea and Sky or Marvels of the Universe..."

Northrop also wrote or edited books titled:

• "Indian Horrors; or, Massacres by the Red Men"
• "World's Greatest Calamities"
• "New York's Awful Steamboat Horror"
• and much more

As commenter Ken once wrote here, "Mr. Northrop wrote many a strange book back in the late 1800s."¹

And I've stumbled across evidence of another one of them.

Pictured at right is the title page (all that I have, sadly) of an 1896 book with another super-long title.

Actually, it appears to be a two-part book. The first part, by Frederick Davis Greene, has a title that begins: "Armenian Massacres or The Sword of Mohammed Containing a Complete and Thrilling Account of the Terrible Atrocities and Wholesale Murders Committed in Armenia by Mohammedan Fanatics..."

The violent title goes rambling on a bit longer. Then, under that, we are promised some bonus material: "The Mohammedan Reign of Terror in Armenia" by none other than...



In case you missed it, he's a well-known author, Mr. Northrop is.

As for the book itself, I can't tell you much more. Thankfully, it has been preserved. You can see PDFs of the original or download various electronic versions at the University of California's digital library. It actually looks fairly interesting (though certainly gut-wrenching). Consider this the strangest #FridayReads suggestion you'll come across today.

Footnote
1. Ken, after discussing nightmarish steel engravings in other books he was looking at, also wrote, perhaps ominously: "I'll be watching you."