From the readers: The Golden Institute, 'Bridge Babies' and more

Let's take our minds off the rapidly unfolding events in the Middle East for a few minutes with a roundup of recent reader comments...

Ads from a 1983 Marvel comic: RJSMACHINE writes: "Just came across this ad in a reread of New Mutants 3 from 1983. Don't know why it stood out but, yep, I too was curious about The Golden Institute. My search led me here. That's it, lol."

And Dustin adds: "I was also led here by an ad in a 1983 Hercules comic book I just received."

All roads from 1983 comics lead to The Golden Institute ... and Papergreat. But the answers may remain forever a mystery. I did a new search and didn't come up with anything about the $4 cures for loneliness, either.

1938 receipt from Albert Brothers Steam Bakery: Nancy Hayes writes: "Actually, the founder of Albert Brothers was my grandfather, Stanley Albert. He and his brother Henry founded the business. Stanley Albert died in the early 1960s. His wife was Gertrude Albert, nee Steiner, and they lived across the street from the bakery on Railroad Avenue." 

Thanks for sharing this information, Nancy! We now have a more complete and accurate record of the history.

Saturday's postcard: Ginza Tokyu Hotel: Anonymous writes: "When I was a kid, we did the 'round the world' trip and, while in Tokyo, stayed in this hotel. I remember that we stayed in the 'Western-style rooms,' but there were 'Japanese style rooms' also. I remember it was very close to the Kabuki theater."

Curious book cover: "Bridge Babies": Anonymous writes: "My dad was a competitive bridge player. This was in our house. As a kid I would look at this book for hours. Inspired my sense of humor for sure." 

It's definitely an unforgettable book cover!

The Lost Corners of Paul Crockett: Thanks to this 2018 post and the ongoing discussions in its comments section, I think we're destined to be discussing Crockett, the Manson family and Paul Watkins until the end days of Papergreat. 

The commenters have even included actor Wings Hauser, who, sadly, died earlier this year at age 77. I'll always remember his memorable scene with Bruce McGill in The Insider.

Anyway, in 2023, Chris Harris made the following comment on the Crockett post: "Much has been said in a negative way about Paul Crockett. I witnessed over a period of two years having introduced him to many notable people that Paul Crockett had a tremendous ability to inspire a positive attitude in all the people he met, including myself."

On May 18, Anonymous replied to Harris: "I was 3 or 4 times advantaged by spending some time with Crockett between 1971-1973 in Death Valley —  Baker (I think, or Shoshone), and at last at Little Paul's in Tecopa, where I also met a guy named Chris. I suspect that was you. I commented here in 2019 that a biography of the Big Paul I knew, whose influence I saw in others there, would stand as a useful memorial to his exceptional understanding of our natural selves. I thought then that Manson had also learned aspects of this way of being, that this was a source of his ability to control adherents, but which he ended up turning against those he envied and despised. Paul probably believed it'd be better not to have to live the rest of his life completely in the shadow of the Manson phenomenon. Many others, however, would now be better off knowing more about Paul Crockett."

Going back 45 years for a product that I'm not putting in the headline: Anonymous writes: "Arthur's used to have well-made women's clothing that you will never see today. All my clothing when I was little came from Alfred Carlos's Polly Flinders smocking."

The (new) oddest stuff I've found tucked inside a book: "evape" writes: "I found 6 small jigsaw puzzles among my father's old things. In the bottom it says © 1933 Cynthia Mills, Boston. I don't know how it got here but my grandather was in USA some time."

A letter my grandmother mailed to me 33 years ago: Tom from Garage Sale Finds writes: "What a sweet letter and a great keepsake. I remember 1992. I was just hitting the job market and couldn't find anything. Of course it wasn't so bad I was selling bleach door to door. Those people knew hard times.

Coincidentally, because I couldn't find a job during that year (1991 to 92) I spent a lot of time with my grandparents too and got to know them a lot better. I wish they were still around as I have so many questions now that I never thought to ask."

And even our parents. At least once a week I think of something I wished I had asked Mom about, or written down when she answered.

"Jim and Judy," a 1939 grade-school textbook with a York connection: Anonymous writes: "I started 1st grade in 1952. The Jim and Judy book was our primer. I loved them and have fond memories of learning to read with them."

Scholastic book: "27 Cats Next Door" (aka I feel seen): Kittiana of the blog Wind-Up Castle Of Wonders: Self Discovery writes: "I just wanted to thank you for posting! I enjoy your blog very much & hope you will continue posting for a long time to come!"

That's so nice of you to say! Thank you. I hope I can continue posting for a long time, too. 

1910 letter inside "Legends & Tales of Old Munich"

This letter, dated May 27, 1910, in Munich, was typed and placed inside a gift copy of Legends & Tales of Old Munich, told by Franz Trautmann (1813-1887) and translated by Amelia Curtis Stahl. 

The letter states: 

"To one who knows, loves, and embellishes the ancient, historic, and beautiful City round which the legends therein contained cluster, THIS BOOK is offered, for her gracious acceptance, by Her sincere friend,"

The last name on the signature looks like Soltau.

As to the recipient, it may be the name written on the title page (see below). I can't figure out the first letter, so it could be Meülholtz or Neülholtz or Heülholtz, or ... 

But none of those is a common German last name, so I'm clearly misinterpreting the century-old German cursive. If we toss out the first "L," the most likely name would be Neüholtz. Anyone wish to weigh in?

The chapter titles include: Concerning the Origin of the City of Munich, The Cross in the Wieskapelle, The Little Faust Tower at Sendling Gate, Dragon Corner on the Market-Place, The Spoon Landlord behind the Rathhaus, The Black Footprint under the Organ of Unser Franen, The Monkey on St. Laurenz, The Hunger Bell in Theatine Monastery and the Theatine Clock, and Concerning Ghosts and Apparitions in Munich. 

There are no online reviews of this 1910 book, but, just last summer, Lunte Books in Eugene, Oregon, did a 23-minute examination of the book on its YouTube channel. Very cool and valuable for the historic record! 

A commenter on the video states: "Now this is the kind of travel book that I truly enjoy — To learn about a country's culture, and not just see sites or read descriptions of buildings — This fuller picture makes the destination much more compelling. Thanks for discussing this book, and for giving so many fascinating details."

Receipt tucked inside 1978 Radio Shack computer programming book

Truly interesting paper receipts are going by the wayside. They were already being phased out when I launched this blog in 2010 (I think this is the first one I wrote about), and now the demise of this kind of ephemera is rapidly accelerating. We get emailed our receipts. We crumple them up and toss them in the wastebin on the way out the door. Or we get crappy little receipts with few details. But there's still the old stuff out there for us to stumble upon. In drawers. In desks. Or tucked away inside books.

This receipt remained inside 57 Practical Programs & Games in BASIC since the day it was handwritten by the sales clerk at a Tucson, Arizona, Radio Shack in October 1980. It tanned the two pages it was stuck between at the front of the book. It was a fairly pricey book for the time: $3.95 in 1980 is about $15.25 today. But, then again, home computing was a pricey hobby. And Radio Shack was probably the go-to spot for home computer enthusiasts. It remained so for quite a while. I purchased my first PC from a Radio Shack in Gettysburg in either 1993 or 1994. 

This book was written by Ken Tracton and published by Radio Shack in 1978. The subtitle on the front alluringly states "Programs for Everything from Space War Games to Blackjack ... from Craps to I Ching!" But that's a bit misleading. By my quick count, only 6 of the 57 programs in the book are games. (And I Ching isn't really a game.)

Most of the "practical" BASIC programs included probably sound very dull to today's computer users: Annular Sections, Bubble Sort, Compounded Amounts, Fibonacci Numbers, Gaussian Probability Function, Hydrocarbon Combustion, Inverse Hyperbolic Functions, L-Pad Minimum Loss System, Points on the Circumference, Vector Cross Product. These are programs, though, that provide quick results that otherwise would have required a lot of handwritten math, a scientific calculator, a reference book and/or an accountant to work out. The whole book appears to be available on the Internet Archive, if you're interested. Commenting on Goodreads in 2015, Jerry states: "I tried a couple of the programs in HotPaw BASIC on the iPad, and they still work. Why wouldn’t they? So now I have a BASIC program on my iPad to tell me the day of the week from any date post-1752."

If it's computer games you wanted more than mathematical nerdness, there were other books at the time, such as 1978's BASIC Computer Games by David H. Ahl, and, by 1984, there was COMPUTE!'s Guide to Adventure Games if you wanted to try your hand at creating something akin to Pirate Adventure, Zork or Planetfall.

Hans Holzer's "Ghosts of the Golden West"

This is now the seventh Hans Holzer paperback I've written about, so it's time for a directory. I'll put it toward the bottom of this post.

• Title: Ghosts of the Golden West
• Additional cover text: "Unearthly tales of the living dead"
• Author: Hans Holzer (1920-2009)
• Publisher: Ace Books (28622)
• 
  Publication date: Mystery time! The book was first published as a hardcover by Bobbs-Merrill in 1968, so this paperback came afterward, but there's no record on the copyright page or online of exactly when this edition came out. This paperback is listed as 28622 on the cover. There's a 60-cent Ace Books paperback of Ghosts of the Golden West that's marked as 28620 (pictured at right). So maybe my copy is the second or third paperback publication by Ace Books, perhaps as late as the mid 1970s. This is the "style" of Holzer paperbacks that I remember from Mom's collection, including in our attic in Clayton.
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 190
• Cover price: $1.25
• Chapter titles: The Whaley House Ghosts; The Ghost in the Closet; The Wurmbrand Ghost; The Restless Dead; The Ghostly Sailor of Almeda; The Ghost Lady of Newbury Park; The Haunted Barn; The Millbrae Poltergeist Case; The Ghost Who Refuses to Leave; Pioneer State Ghosts; The Ghostly Monks of Aetna Springs; Pipelines to the Beyond.
• First sentence (not including introduction): I first heard about the ghosts at San Diego's Whaley House through an article in Cosmic Star, Merle Gould's psychic newspaper, back in 1963. 
• What more is known about Gould? In Volume XXII, Number 1 of The Awakener Magazine, there's an article by Filis Frederick titled "Reminiscences of the City of Lost Angels." This is the relevant excerpt: "Another person I met at this tiny New Age gathering was Merle Gould, who published the Cosmic Star and had a bookstore in Hollywood of the same name. He had made several movies; one was 'The Body is a Shell,' another, 'The Prophesies of Nostradamus,' narrated by Basil Rathbone. Merle was one of the first Californians to 'network' New Age spiritual groups and arrange group conferences."
• Last paragraph: If your case is one requiring my help and that of one of my psychic friends, be assured that I will try to come and help you. Just as soon as I can, we will enter our Ghost Hunter's car, the sleek white Citroen, and (almost) noiselessly drive out to see you, if you are within driving distance. If you are far away, I shall get to you when opportunity takes me to your area. You will owe me nothing, dear reader, but cooperation and a full account of what has happened to you, or to those you speak of. 
• Random excerpt #1: But despite a careful search of the fragmentary records still extant about the period in question, no Pierre Devon could be pinned down.
• Random excerpt #2: It worried them, but somehow they got through Christmas and hopefully approached the New Year with a feeling of relief since nothing untoward again happened.
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.7 stars (out of 5)
• Rating on Amazon: 4.4 stars (out of 5)

Previous posts about Hans Holzer paperbacks

• The Witchcraft Report
• The Psychic World of Plants
• Window to the Past: Exploring History Through ESP
• Charismatics
• The Psychic World of Bishop Pike
• The Vegetarian Way of Life

But wait, there's more...

Tucked away inside this paperback was a brochure for the Whaley House, probably from sometime in the 1970s, when admission was just $1 for adult, 50 cents for teenagers and 25 cents for children. The brochure for the historic brick structure makes no mention of ghosts.

Finally, here's Bandit posing with today's book, just for the halibut.

Veterans Day and my Pappy

Today is Veterans Day. On August 27, 1943, my paternal grandfather, John Alexander Otto (1911-1991), a lifelong resident of Easton, Pennsylvania, enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 32. The outcome of World War II was still very uncertain at that moment — it was uncertain whether fascism would triumph over the United States and the Allies. Pappy, as I called my grandfather decades later, went on to serve as part of the U.S. ground operation in Europe from mid-August 1944 through the end of the war. 

Dad got some of the details of Pappy's service history down in writing, and those papers have long been tucked inside my copy of The 84th Infantry Division in The Battle of Germany (more on that afterward). Here's the full transcript of those notes, with some links, clarifications in brackets and annotation:

Inducted Sept. 17, 1943, at New Cumberland, Pa. Left New Cumberland Sept. 23, 1943. Arrived at anti-aircraft training center at Fort Eustis, Va. Took basic training at Ft. Eustis and went to school to learn to be a radio operator.

Left Ft. Eustis Dec. 31st and arrived at Camp Davis Jan. 1, 1944.¹ Attended communication school at Camp Davis, N.C., for 12 weeks. Left Camp Davis Mar. 25 and came home on furlough for 6 days.

Reported to Camp Stewart, Ga.,² and was assigned to 445th AA [Battalion]. One week later this outfit was de-activated and all men were transferred to other outfits. Was sent to Fort Jackson, S.C., and assigned to [Battery] C 557th AA [Battalion] as radio operator. July 1st was promoted to PFC.

July 17, battalion entrained for port of embarkation. Arrived at Fort Slocum, N.Y., next day. July 23rd left New York aboard Queen Mary.³ Arrived in Scotland (Gourock) July 30th. Boarded train and traveled through Glasgow, Edinburgh, finally arriving at a small camp about 30 miles from Manchester, Eng. 

Aug. 15th [1944] boarded ship at Southampton and landed on Omaha Beach, Normandy.⁴

Sept. 5th traveled in convoy to [Villeneuve-Saint-Georges], a suburb of Paris. Remaining there only a few days we joined First Army forces in drive forcing Germans out of [northern] France and Belgium. Crossed German border Sept. 14th and penetrated Siegfried Line for a distance of about 10 miles. Here drive halted.

Replaced by another ack-ack outfit and withdrew to city of Luxembourg. Remained there 2 weeks. In mid-October, outfit moved to vicinity of Visé, Belgium, about 10 miles from Liège, [Belgium]. Remained in this area about 6 weeks. Joined 84th Division Thanksgiving Day, in town of Geilenkirchen, [Germany]. Remained with 84th Division until about 2 months after Germany surrendered [on May 8, 1945 — VE Day]. At that time we were doing occupational duties in a small village about 30 miles south of Heidelberg.

Left there last week of June. In 4 days we arrived a Deauville, France, across harbor from Le Havre. Remained here 1 month and then crossed channel to England. Stationed in various parts of England, notably Birmingham and London.

Departed Southampton Jan. 15th, 1946. Arrived in New York Jan. 29th. Discharged [Fort] Indiantown Gap Feb. 3rd.

So, Pappy was a radio operator in Battery C of the 557th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. And that battalion was attached to the 84th Infantry Division (nicknamed "The Railsplitters") in late November 1944. The 84th was intensely involved in the Battle of the Bulge, which began on Dec. 16, 1944, and lasted until late January 1945. But the above notes give no details about the crucial period between Thanksgiving 1944 and VE Day, when my grandfather's battalion would have been involved in the most intense and stressful combat.

Robert Beckhusen's grandfather was also in the 557th, as a master sergeant. In a 2017 post on Medium, Beckhusen details some of what his grandfather — and likely my grandfather — experienced during the bloody final months before VE Day. Beckhusen also explains that the 557th's job "was to protect and assist the infantry with M45 Quadmount and 40-millimeter anti-aircraft guns. Shooting down German aircraft was the gunners’ number one priority, but their weapons also helped provide covering fire for the infantry when they advanced." 

As a radio operator, Pappy would have been a crucial cog in the success of these operations.

Beckhusen's post includes details of the 557th's heroics and the horrors it faced: In February 1945, positioned on the banks of the Rhine, the battalion fired more than 250,000 rounds to give cover to the 84th Infantry. Dozens of members of the 557th were killed in action, many by either German artillery or mines. Very late in the war, the 557th was actually overrun and nearly 50 soldiers were captured. But the prisoners were soon released by the Germans, who were more focused on their own escape at point, with the Nazis' surrender clearly imminent.

That brings us to the book at the top of this post. "The Railsplitters" are the subject of The 84th Infantry Division in The Battle of Germany, which was written by Lt. Theodore Draper (1912-2006) and published by The Viking Press in May 1946. It focuses exclusively on the period of November 1944 through VE Day. So, even though my grandfather wasn't a "Railsplitter," this is the book that best conveys the order of events that unfolded during Pappy's time on mainland Europe. The book also describes the attitude of civilians encountered by the 84th during the final push to end Adolf Hitler's aggression. One excerpt from Draper's narrative:

"It was noted that Hannover was a dividing line in terms of German sentiment toward American forces. Roughly, west of Hannover the attitude had been relatively co-operative. Along the Rhine, the white flags were plentiful and people quite freely expressed themselves against the Nazi regime, although it was always difficult to judge the sincerity of these sentiments. East of Hannover, however, the change was marked. White flags were scarce and more people in conversation identified themselves with the Nazi regime. For this there probably were several reasons. The war had not touched the country to the east as much as it had the Rhinelanders who suffered from the most severe bombardments — the most suffering, the less sympathy for the Hitler regime. From Hannover to the Elbe, the region was mainly agricultural, lacking either a strong aristocracy or a strong working class. The middle class in this zone was half shopkeeper, half farmer, precisely the social group that was most vulnerable to Nazi propaganda."

In the end, the Nazis were defeated. This was thanks in large part to the millions of Americans such as John Alexander Otto who served and put their lives on the line to end the threat of global fascism. Because of them, Americans today are free to live and work where they want, worship (or not worship) however they choose, own property, get an education and receive information from a wide variety of media sources that are protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution.⁵ Democracy reigns, for now, as we approach our nation's 250th anniversary in 2026.

On this Veterans Day, and always, we owe tremendous thanks to my grandfather, to the Greatest Generation, and to all U.S. veterans. 

Footnotes

1. Camp Davis was built by the U.S. Army in December 1940 as an anti-aircraft artillery training facility. 

2. In June 1940, Congress authorized funding for the purchase of property in coastal Georgia for the purpose of building an anti-aircraft artillery training center. It was officially designated as Camp Stewart, in honor of American Revolution general Daniel Stewart.

3. The RMS Queen Mary was absolutely vital as an Allied troop transport during World War II. On one Atlantic passage, it carried more than 15,700 soldiers. By war's end, it had transported more than 800,000 troops.

4. August 15, 1944, was D-Day Plus 70.

5. This is vital, because authoritarians of the past and present aim to restrict and control the free press, and thus dismantle democracy. They do this in ways that tend to be more subtle than overt, but are insidiously effective either way: They villainize journalists and even threaten to prosecute them. They deploy considerable legal and economic levers to pressure the owners of media companies into self-censorship aimed at self-preservation. They gaslight the people by constantly discrediting factual reporting. And once media outlets are weakened by these attacks from so many angles, they either close up shop or are ripe to be snapped up by wealthy individuals who share the aims of the authoritarian regime. That's how democracy ends.

Chilling prediction tucked away inside 1968's "Dwellers in Darkness"

I don't get to experience the pure delight of Tucked Away Inside items much anymore. It used to be one of my favorite things about sorting through boxes of used books to assess their viability for possible sale on Amazon.

But I recently picked up a used copy of the 1968 paperback Dwellers in the Darkness: The Enigma of the Supernatural, by John Macklin, and found an intriguing — and somewhat ominous — piece of paper folded up and tucked away inside. Weirdly, this is my second Macklin book this year that had something inside. Challenge to Reality, which I wrote about in January, still had its original receipt inside.

It's a long note, written in flowing, left-leaning cursive. As I worked my way through the whole message, I'll admit I started to get a feeling of minor dread in the pit of my stomach. I think we can guess this was written in 1968 or the early 1970s, at the latest. The book is pristine and clearly hasn't been handled much over the decades. 

Here's what the note states:

Brad

In his town where he will live, he will be hailed as a genius. Soon he would be found to be terribly conceited and they'll pay no attention to him. He will get poorer and poorer. Then a lady will come into his life, someone of nobility or royalty, and he will become rich. He will become powerful and somewhat evil or have a less extent of will applied to good ends. Nevertheless, he will have something to do with advances in education. Will grow more evil and when faced with charge of being too cruel or not doing much for something or another he will cancel it with a legal hearing, freeing him. Will receive more power, but will make mistakes and have disconnect with something important. Ill fortune — wife will die — but he will remarry and grow richer. He will lose position in gov. and go bankrupt. Will still have wife, but will be surrounded by false friends. Will live happily with wife.

Adding to the weirdness of this, the bottom-right portion of the sheet of paper has been torn off. Was something else written there?

I'll let you draw your own conclusions, as I'm sure some interesting ones formed in your mind while reading this — fortune? Prediction? Harmless outline for a character in an acting class or a writer's group? 

I ran it through a plagiarism checker and it came out as 100% unique, for whatever that's worth. And the text doesn't come up in any Google searches. 

There's also the added context that this was tucked away inside a book that states on the back cover: "These are the Dwellers in the Darkness — the people who seem to be just like you and me — but who are in reality, like nothing you have ever encountered."

And who is Brad?

Book cover: "The Haunted Universe"

• Title: The Haunted Universe
• Additional cover text: "Miracles, hauntings, UFOs, unexplained disappearances, monsters — are they the work of some alien power? Or are they the creations of the psychic power within us?:
• Author: D. Scott Rogo (1950-1990)
• Cover illustrator: Unknown
• What's happening on the cover? Unknown. I guess I'm reminded of Magnolia, though.
• Additional questions posed on the back cover: "Is our universe haunted by bizarre denizens of another dimension? Are we being manipulated by extraterrestrials for a reason? Or are we ourselves the actual culprits, unconsciously calling on the psychic energies of our minds to create these phenomena? Is it mind over matter, belief giving birth to reality?"
• Publication date: 1977
• Publisher: Signet (New American Library), W7508
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 168
• Cover price: $1.50 (about $7.67 today, which is just about par for the course for a trade paperback)
• Dedication: "To Martin Ebon, in thanks for his help and support"
• Others thanked in acknowledgements: Berthold Schwarz, Raymond Bayless, Vincent Gaddis (inventor of the phrase "Bermuda Triangle"), John Keel and Ivan Sanderson.
• Closing excerpt from acknowledgements: "Finally, I would like to thank those few 'respectable' parapsychologists and colleagues who urged me not to write this book, fearing it would adversely reflect on both me and the field. It was their timidity and reticence that helped me realize how important getting this material out in the open really is!"
• First sentence: "By inclination I am a pretty reserved fellow."
• Last paragraph: "I do not know what further research will prove about all the theories and speculations I have outlined in this book. They might all prove to be false. On the other hand, I shall be delighted if eventually science discovers that I am right!"
• Excerpt #1: "We have pretty well established that people and objects disappear into nowhere, or show up out of nowhere, or disappear and then reappear sometime later. All this is reminiscent of the U.S. postal system: letters never arrive, show up weeks after they were mailed, or undergo similar remarkable adventures. This analogy isn't meant to be totally flippant. What I'm suggesting is that all of these oddities represent a transportation system. And like any other system, things are bound to go wrong everyone once in a while! The concept of instantly transporting objects and people via teleportation through some sort of 'hyper-dimension' is certainly not mere science fiction."
• So, the idea of mail — including the Christmas postcards I sent to a pen pal in the Netherlands but that never arrived — getting lost could represent a "hyper-dimension" event and not merely human incompetence or poor design of sorting/processing machines? Apparently. 
• Excerpt #2: "Dr. [Arthur] Guirdham is no slouch. He is a highly regarded and trained mental health specialist who was a practicing clinician for some forty years. However, there is one element of his approach to psychiatry that makes him unique among behavorial scientists. He believes that the world is haunted by evil forces and that these forces can exert a wicked pressure on unsuspecting man."
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.69 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: In 2021, coffee wrote, "Specifically [Rogo] feels that collective conciousness created UFOs, miracles such as weeping statues, and cryptids such as Mothman and Big Foot. I'd say chronologically, so far this is my favorite of all of Scott Rogo's books, as he finally loosens up and rids himself of the crutch that is Raymond Bayless. ... Regardless, the book reads like someone who just read up a bunch of John Keel and wrote his own version of hwat [sic] he thinks is going on. That would be seen as me throwing shade, but I love John Keel so this was great reading."
• Rating on Amazon: 4.2 stars (out of 5) 
• Amazon review excerpt: In 2007, author Laura Knight-Jadczyk wrote a 5,100-word review of The Haunted Universe that veers into several tangents and concludes: "... I don't think I trust much of what he writes at all. Have to give him two stars for trying, but he loses points for obfuscation of evidence and subjective thinking."
• Additional insight: If you're interested in contemporary thoughts about Rogo, two fans of his writing on X (formerly Twitter) are Theo Paijmans (@memizon) and Loren Coleman (@CryptoLoren).

But wait, there's more!

This card for ordering the Astara publication "Finding Your Place in the Golden Age" was tucked away inside, perhaps for use as a bookmark. 

Astara has been around since 1951 and is still going strong.  From its website: "Since 1951, Astara has existed to provide humanity with the knowledge of the Laws of the Universe, so that they may learn to make decisions based upon their own Higher Guidance. Spiritual self-realization is emphasized and information is provided to guide each individual on their own sacred life's path. Astara's teachings bridge the gap between contemporary Eastern and Western spiritual philosophies, presenting their mysteries in a clear context with the wisdom of ancient spiritual truths."

According to Encyclopedia.com, Astara was founded by Robert and Earlyne Chaney, both former spiritualists. 

Book cover: "Challenge to Reality"

"Challenge to Reality" feels like an apt phrase as we enter this daunting year.

• Title: Challenge to Reality
• Author: John Macklin. I can't find much biographical information on him, despite his many published works. We do have this information from the front of the book: "For nearly 20 years John Macklin, expert in psychic phenomena and the supernatural, has hunted ghosts. He has crossed three continents chasing stories, spent countless nights in 'haunted' houses, focused his infra-red camera on curious sights, and his microphone on curious sounds. Most of the events have had some rational solution at their roots. But some haven't. ... Nine times out of ten, the 'phenomenon' turns out to be an illusion, delusion, or fraud. For twenty years, it's been Mr. Macklin's job to investigate the tenth. ... These, then, are the stories of the author's experiences, and other stories he has collected over the years."
• Cover designer: Unknown
• Publication date: 1968
• Publisher: Ace Star (H-108)
• Pages: 158
• Format: Paperback
• Cover price: 60 cents
• Some chapter titles: The Mummy in the Clock Case; The Dream House That Percy Built; The Deadly Nightmare of Emily Jones; What Did the Axe-Man See?; The Dinner Guest No One Else Saw; The Ghosts of Ballechin House; The Tomb of Standing Stones; The Witch and the Waif; Riddle of a Hundred Lost Islands; The Riddle of the Musical Plants; Little Girl Lost; The Witch Who Laughs at the Law; and The Ghostly Glow from Waltham Abbey.
• Excerpt #1: "Many stories make us realize just how powerful superstition can be. For instance, many years ago, when a bridge was being built in Germany, influential townspeople would insist that a living child be buried in the foundations. They believed that the foundations would then remain firm. And the younger the person, the longer it would remain so."
• Wait, is that true? Well, it's a long-lived bit of grisly folklore, though it's certainly not limited to Germany. Some believe that there are implied references to child sacrifice in the nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Falling Down," though there are scores of speculative guesses at the "historical" references in that song, and they should all be taken with a grain of salt (Hey, another superstition!).
• Excerpt #2: "The specter turned, and the terrified woman saw the enormous, longboned hands and the large protruding eyes. The man, who wore a long robe tied around the middle, nodded his head in a very peculiar way towards her husband, then vanished."
• Excerpt #3: "The awe-inspiring specter that suddenly appeared in front of Charles Winston in 1901 was of the type known as a Radiant Boy. They are usually reckoned to warn of impending death."
• Amazon review: In 2011, Bookworm70 wrote, scathingly: "Books of John Macklin are easy to read. They contain events, mysteries and other phenomena considered to be out of this world. However, the problem with his works, they contain a lot of errors and do not agree with historical facts."
• Fanzine mention: In Scottishe #52, a zine published by Ethel Lindsay (1921-1996) in May 1969, Lindsay writes: "This is the eighth in a series by Macklin, so his collections of ghost strories [sic] must be a good seller. Each collection has about forty stories."
• Other books by Macklin: Strange Destinies, The Strange and Uncanny, The Enigma of the Unknown, Dwellers in Darkness, Orbits of the Unknown, Dimensions Beyond the Known, A Look Through Secret Doors and Journey Beyond the Grave.

But wait, there's more

A fun bonus: There was an old receipt tucked away inside this paperback book. I can't say for sure that this is the receipt from the book's original purchase, but that's a good bet. Someone paid $1.04 (99 cents, plus 5 cents tax) at the Stanford Sport Shop in Palo Alto, California, on August 29, 1969. According to Palo Alto Weekly, the Stanford Sport Shop rented and sold skis, shoes and sports gear for 53 years, until it closed in 1989. Geoff Millington and his daughter Tracy Millington operated the business. If Challenge to Reality was sold there in 1969, it seems they had a book rack, too. Something to read in front of the fireplace at night after a day on the slopes?

"Winnie Winkle" and the Tucked Away Inside Envelope

Joan said, "You keep carrying your Winnie Winkle around the house." So I reckoned I should finally get around to this post so I don't have to carry it around anymore.

Part I: The book

• Title: Winnie Winkle and the Diamond Heirlooms
• From the title page: "An original story based on Martin Branner's famous newspaper strip 'Winnie Winkle'"
• Story by: Helen Berke
• Illustrated by: Martin Branner
• From the dust jacket: In answer to her friend's urgent call Winnie Winkle cancels her vacation plans and goes to Chicago, only to hurried off to a lonely farm in search of a hidden legacy. Although held prisoners by two crooks, Winnie and her friends, Mary Dee and Tommy, manage to outwit their jailers, search out the hidden legacy, and escape with the treasure intact.
• Well, that pretty much gives away the plot: Yes.
• Publisher: Whitman Publishing Co., Racine, Wisconsin
• Year: 1946
• Pages: 248
• Format: Hardcover 
• First sentence: Winnie Winkle pirouetted merrily in front of the full length mirror.
• Last sentence: Winnie said and waved good night to her friends.
• Random sentence from the middle #1: Under the influence of good French cooking, soft lights, and sweet music, Winnie's annoyance vanished.
• Random sentence from the middle #2: In the sanctuary of her own room, Winnie sat down on the chaise longue.
• Reviews: I couldn't find any online reviews of this book, but I found this item under "School News" in the April 23, 1959, edition of The Lenox (Iowa) Time Table: "We are very sorry that Cheryl Beck is on the absent list. She has the chicken pox. We hope her a speedy return. Our teacher is reading a mystery book named, 'Winnie Winkle and the Diamond Heirlooms.' For Art Class we did a mosaic. Mosaic art is used in Mexican buildings and in sidewalks."

Part II: Tucked away inside          

Tucked away inside this old book was a letter that was mailed almost exactly 70 years ago, in January 1951. It was sent from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Written in cursive and on lined paper, it states:

Phila. 42, Pa.

1/11/51

Dear Sandra,

I don't know whether I have have written and thanked you before but if I have I would like to thank you again for the nice wallet which came just before Christmas. I will be proud to carry it with me.

Boy! Is it snowing! It's the kind of snow that comes down in great big flakes.

I hope you'll pardon some of my mistakes. I am watching T.V. and I watch a little and write a little. Now I'm looking at a movie. It's called "The Black Doll" (a "whodone-it") with Donald Wood [sic]. Before I was watching "Robert Q.'s Matinee" with Robert Q. Lewis. He's neat!

Boy! Are we having a lot of work in school. It seems there's always something. Book reports, tests, etc.

Tonight Rudy goes to a dinner-dance given by his graduating class. He gets out the end of this month (out of school that is).

I heard a good joke the other day. Here it is: We used to have a cow but it wouldn't given milk, so we had to sell him! HA! HA!

I got a swell pair of shoe rollerskates and a case for Christmas (among other things). Just what I wanted!

I must close now hoping to hear from you soon,

All my love,

Bill

P.S. Rudy took some nice movies of the Mummers Parade, New Years Day. We can't wait until they come back. Now watching Howdy Doody! 

We may come up soon. I'm not sure. Please tell your girlfriend that I haven't had time to answer her letter.

This is probably (almost certainly?) the Sandra Orwig who was the recipient of the letter. She was a 1955 graduate of Sunbury High School and died in 2019.  

Brentano's advertisement tucked away inside 1897 book

This is the front and back of a bluish advertisement that I came across inside the pages of an old book — 1897's How to Build a Home by Francis C. Moore.¹

The advertisement, which measures about 3 inches by 6¼ inches, is almost certainly original to the book. It touts two items that were available through Brentano's at its Union Square location in New York City. Bretano's left that site in the first decade of the 20th century, so the timeline lines up. Plus, the book itself has a tiny Bretano's book label on the inside back cover, also for Union Square

The two items advertised are a multi-volume series, The World of Music, by Anna Elizabeth, Countess de Brémont, and a two-volume edition of The First Violin, a novel by by Jessie Fothergill

The book was once owned by the Rev. Morgan R.W. Andreas of Spring Grove, Pennsylvania. A careful browser might find it at the June 2021 Book Nook Bonanza at the York City Ice Arena. (Hoping, of course, that the sale can be held this year.)

Footnote

1. Subtitle: "Being suggestions as to safety from fire, safety to health, comfort, convenience, durability, and economy." The book includes a recipe for concrete, the suggestion that a toilet room/water closet be placed under the main staircase, and this piece of advice, "Do not, under any circumstances, consent to have your architect take estimates with the indefinite clause, 'Details hereafter to be furnished.'"

A bookmark and a correction about an old bookstore

About 3,200 days ago, I wrote a "Tucked Away Inside" post about a "book fair" coupon found inside a paperback copy of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. That short post had a significant error. I assumed that the coupons and bookmark were promotions for an annual book sale.

In fact, Book Fair was the name of a bookstore in Baltimore, Maryland. Three demerits for Younger Chris, on account of sloppy detective work.

I learned this when I found another Book Fair bookmark, this one featuring a 1981 calendar and discovered inside a copy of a 1977 nonfiction book cheerily titled The Day Before Doomsday.¹

In a 2012 post, the Atomic Books Blog noted this: "Over the years, Baltimore has seen a lot of bookstores come and go. 40 years ago, the city region had over 25 booksellers. Here's how they were described in a city guide called Bawlamer: An Informal Guide To A Livelier Baltimore from 1974, published by the Citizens Planning and Housing Association." Book Fair, which was at 3121 St. Paul Street, was described this way in that city guide: "If you were worn out from rummaging through uncatalogued, dust-laden stacks, this neat, well-stocked, well-organized shop may have been just what you were after."

I'm not sure when Book Fair closed up shop. That address currently has available office space, where an entrepreneur could be a co-tenant with Bank of America and Sam's Bagels.

Footnote

1. Excerpt from Sidney Lens' book: "It is highly doubtful that a war which kills off as many as two billion people (of a world population of four billion) will end in anything but the cries of the sick and the lash of a dictator demanding more work to bury the dead and speed 'recovery.'"

Solving some mysteries about that fascinating Bible

Mission accomplished! I found a wonderful home for the small Bible, and all of the items that were tucked away inside, that was featured here in a July 27 post.

I had speculated that Martha J. Lee Morrow used the Bible after the death in 1940 of her son, Harry. Martha died at age 90 in 1964 and had numerous relatives. It was my hope that one of them — a great-grandchild, great-niece, great-nephew, etc. — would see the post, and that's precisely what happened, thanks to a York County history group on Facebook.

Jackie Lapes tells me that Martha Lee Morrow was her grandmother's sister.

"I remember visiting her when I was a child," Jackie writes. "She was very tiny and feisty."

Jackie has worked on the Lee family geneaology for years and was able to come up with the rigorous documentation necessary to be accepted into the Daughters of the American Revolution. (My grandmother, Helen Ingham, was also a member of that group.)

She also sent me some photos of Martha, which helped us confirm that the photo inside the Bible of the woman holding the dog is Martha. "Her nickname was Tiny," Jackie writes of Martha. "That letter [another fascinating item tucked into the Bible and discussed in the original post] was written to her by someone named Fairy. My cousin, Sylvia Lee, remembers someone called Fairy."

Here are some side-by-side views of Martha:

Jackie says she intends to write a history of the Lee family, including her great-great-grandfather's exploits as a boatman on the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal and a horseback postal delivery worker here in York County. "My Lee family suffered so many tragedies as well as successes," she notes. "The Delta Herald has been extremely helpful in documentation."

And now another small piece of Lee history is returning to where it belongs.

* * *
Note
This is the 3,200th Papergreat post. Who would have thought there'd be another 3,000 POSTS after this 200th-post celebration?

Not just any old Star Trek paperback

"Is he going to start posing all of his ephemera with cats?" "Shhhh. Shut up, Irv. He can hear you!"

There are a lot of Star Trek paperbacks. According to Ye Olde Wikipedia, "As of May 2020, more than 850 novels, short story anthologies, novelizations, and omnibus editions, have been published." Ashar likes to collect them, especially ones from the Next Generation era. Some are more notable and collectible than others, of course. The cover of Bantam's first tie-in novelization of the TV series in 1967 features an almost-greenish Spock.

There's nothing special about Planet of Judgment itself. First published in the summer of 1977, when a NASA space shuttle named Enterprise made its first test free-flight and Voyager 2 was launched¹, Planet of Judgment was written by Joe Haldeman. The back cover describes Kirk, Spock and McCoy facing "a total breakdown of science and sanity" near "a world orbited by a black hole and ruled by chaos." (Hmmm.) It has a review of 3.33 stars (about of 5) on Goodreads, with one reviewer (who gave it 3 stars) noting, "It packs a wallop of ideas for such slim novel, and even though the ideas seem to get stretched a little too thin towards the end, it's all part of the fun of Star Trek."

But we're not here today for the book itself. We're here for the fold-out advertisement that's built into the middle of the book. I can't lay it flat to scan it without damaging the book, so here are some snapshots...

As you can see, the advertisement is for original hand-painted cels from Star Trek: The Animated Series, which first aired in 1973 and 1974. It notes:

"By special arrangement with Filmation Studios, producers of the STAR TREK animated TV series, Bantam Books now makes available the authentic, hand-painted 'cels' as used in the production of the award winning show.

"'Cels' are paintings on celluloid from drawings created by the studio artists.

"Each 'cel' comes to you mounted on a 14" x 18" mat folder, overlayed on a beautiful multi-colored background scene from the series."

It stresses that these are "LIMITED EDITIONS ... THAT WILL APPRECIATE IN VALUE" and that the cels will be sold on a "FIRST COME" basis.

Ten color images from the series are shown in the advertisement. They include Spock taking a photograph of the crew (?!?), the Enterprise battling a Klingon ship, young Spock atop his pet sehlet, and other shots of the Enterprise. (To learn more about the animated series, I highly recommend listening to these three episodes of the 70s Trek podcast with Bob Turner and Kelly Casto: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)

The 1977 cost for the cels was $20, plus $1.50 shipping and handling. That's about $92 in today's prices, according to the Inflation Calculator. So would it have been worth it? Did these "appreciate in value"? The answer would seem to be yes (which shouldn't be a surprise in the world of limited Star Trek collectibles). But it can be a little confusing to sort through the items available on eBay. One artist didn't like the Filmation artwork and made his own reproductions, with greater attention to accuracy and detail. Don't mess with Star Trek fandom!

Other Star Trek-related posts

• 1975 Power Records recording with a trio of Star Trek tales
• Unfortunate apparel of 1980: The official Star Trek duty jacket
• Advertisements for a pair of 1980s Star Trek games
• Telegram: Sandra & Leonard Nimoy plead with JFK for a safer planet
• The Nimoy Award for 1967 goes to Miss Nancyann Hiera!
• From 1982: William Shatner peddles Commodore's VIC-20
• Illustration: "Revolving Poker Rack" from Pacific Game Company
• Very authentic Star Trek postcard for Annika in Sweden
• Some WKBS-48 nostalgia
• Papergreat's 3,000th post, with a special celebrity guest
• Stay-at-home shelfie #43
• Snapshot & memories: Me in a Star Trek shirt

* * *
But wait, there's more!
Star Trek Tweet of the Year

Star Trek Tweet of the Year #2

Footnote
1. Voyager 2 has been operating for nearly 43 years and is 11.5 billion miles from Earth and counting...

Super Mega Summer 2020 Tucked Away Inside Post (old York Bible)

This post has been a very long time coming. My apologies for that.

Way back in December 2018, I received a mystery package in the mail that contained a small Bible. It was addressed to "Christopher A. Otto," and the return address label was St. Louis Catholic Youth Ministry in Clarksville, Maryland. An unsigned cursive note in the package stated: "Hoping you may be able to find some family member to give this to — or a good home for it. Showed up in a donation box."

So it's time to accomplish this mission of finding this Bible and its contents a proper home. Toward that goal, I'll document everything that is tucked away inside.

This Bible was published in 1899 by the American Bible Society. It is 4 inches wide, 5½ inches tall, and 1½ inches thick. We'll go through it from front to back and see what we can learn.

On the waterstained first page, there is name and a location written in neat cursive: Harry Morrow, Airville Penna.

Airville is an unincorporated community in rural southeastern York County. I've been there a few times, and you have to actively want to go there to find it; it's not a place you'd ever go through as part of everyday travels. According to 1886's History of York County, Pennsylvania, Airville was first called McSherrysville. Its residents included Aquila Montgomery, a Black man who built the town's second house. There is also this fascinating but not politically correct passage: "The mail for many years was carried on horse back by a dwarf called 'Little Philie Cole,' over a route extending from York to Bel Air, Md. It took him one week to make the trip. 'Little Philie' was a brave boy, and was afraid of nothing but thunder. If he saw an approaching storm, he would go into the nearest house and at once conceal himself in a feather bed, till it subsided."

So, Harry Morrow of Airville is one starting point...

In the pages of Genesis, there is an obituary clipped from a newspaper.

Thanks to Newspapers.com, we learn that this obituary is from the November 16, 1943, edition of The Gazette and Daily of York, Pennsylvania. I also determined that William Lee's date of death was November 12, 1943. He died at the hospital and was "aged 53 years, 6 months and 12 days." It's not immediately clear if there are any connections between Harry Morrow and anyone from the group of William Lee, Flora Lee, Russell Stewart, Robert Loomis, William Grandstaff, Frank G. Whitmore, Edgar Morgan and Clarence Lauer.

The plot thickens at 1 Kings. Tucked into the same page are two items: A remembrance card and a mystery snapshot.

It has long been common practice to tuck remembrance cards away inside Bibles after attending services. It's possible that T. Bernard Elsesser (1876-1944) was just an acquaintance of whoever owned this Bible in 1944. What's really interesting is that Elsesser was a major figure in York journalism. The front page of the June 2, 1944 edition of The Gazette and Daily notes:

"T. Bernard Elsesser, managing editor The Gazette and Daily and an employe of this newspaper for 54 years, died at 4:20 o'clock this morning at the York hospital. He was 67. Mr. Elsesser, a widely known newspaperman who rose from 'printer's devil' to the position of managing editor which he still held at the time of his death, had undergone a major operation May 24."

It's likely that, given his prominent position, Elsesser was known by many in the York community and that his funeral service has well-attended. So I'm guessing he was just an acquaintance and not a relative of the Bible owner.

And what's to make of this photograph? it's 2⅝ inches by 4⅝ inches. Frustratingly, nothing is written on the back. We just have a woman holding a small dog that doesn't look terribly pleased to be posing. Here's a closer look...

She looks about as grumpy as the dog about the whole situation. Who is she? Why is her picture in this Bible?

Moving along to Nehemiah, we find another mystery snapshot.

A blurry pier. Old people. Pelicans. No information written on the back. This does nothing to help us solve the mystery of this Bible.

Tucked between pages in Psalms, we find a trio of items. There are two newspaper clippings. One is another that's related to the death of William Lee. (Is it significant that he has two clippings in the same Bible?) It lists some of his relatives, including his daughter, Florence Lee.

And then there's a clipped obituary for Fern Eugina Husson, the infant daughter of Charles R. Husson (1891-1959) and Anna K. Worley Husson (1892-1961). Fern was 11 weeks old when she died in January 1923. She is buried with her mother and father in York's Prospect Hill Cemetery. (Minor spelling note: The clipped obituary states "Fern Eugina Husson" and Find A Grave states "Fern Eugenia Husson.")

The third item tucked away in this spot in another mystery photo from down the shore. Nothing is written on the back. Who is the well-dressed old woman posing with a pelican in the background?

A few pages later, still in Psalms, is perhaps the most intriguing item in the Bible — a very personal four-page note...

The full note states:

18 Sept.
Darling "Tiny"
I could not come and give you good-Bye in person as it would be too hard for me to do and also hard on you. Honey be good and I'll see in you in a year or two. As soon as I have an address I'll mail it to you. I leave today at 3:38 standard time from York and will be in Pittsburgh, California, Sat night the 21st at 8:00 PM. Don't know how far the Camp is from here.

When the Kiltie-band plays and if my Honey is down you may give him a kiss for me. He is a darling and how. Saw him Sat night. Don't tell anyone but I can trust you. He is Bill Paterson but he has asked me to call him "Pat," and is from Clearfield, Pa.

Well Honey you understand why I could not see you.

Love always
Fairy

I have a lot of questions about this note! What is the relationship/situation with Tiny, Fairy and Bill/Pat? "Pittsburgh" in California is most likely this Pittsburg in central California. The "Camp" referred to in the letter is probably Camp Stoneman, which was a major staging area for the Army in World War II and the Korean War. It was decommissioned in 1954, so that helps us tremendously in dating this note. (Also very helpful: September 21 was a Saturday in 1940 and 1946.)

Kiltie-band might refer to The Kiltie Band of York, which, according to its website, "was founded in 1928 and is still based in York, Pennsylvania with members from the surrounding region including York and Lancaster Counties and beyond."

The only full name we have is Bill Paterson of Clearfield, Pennsylvania. The name is very common, but Clearfield is relatively small. And so I found an obituary that's almost certainly his. William (Bill) Logie Paterson lived from 1921 to 2008. In World War II he co-piloted a B-17 Flying Fortress. But here's the part that caught my eye: "As a young boy, Bill learned to play the bagpipes and he took them every place he went, even into the service. He was certified to teach bagpipes by the College of Piping out of Glasgow, Scotland. He frequently taught at summer piping schools in California. Bill also made a trip to Japan to teach members of the Tokyo Pipe Band. He taught the original members of the Bellingham Pipe Band and for many years taught individual students in the fine art of piping."

I don't think it's a coincidence that the note mentions The Kiltie Band of York. This is definitely the Bill Paterson we're looking for. But who is Fairy?? And how does Fairy fit in with the people whose hands this Bible passed through?

Still in Psalms, there's a little bookmark that might or might not have been original to the 1899 Bible...

Finally, in Song of Solomon, we discover the fate of the man whose name is written on the first page of this Bible: Harry E. Morrow. It's a clipping from the January 4, 1941, edition of the York Daily Record, and it indicates that Morrow "was instantly killed ... when struck by a car as he was crossing the Belair road."

An article in the December 31, 1940, Gazette and Daily adds that Morrow was 46 when he died and gives a little more detail about his tragic death: "According to reports from Baltimore, Mr. Morrow had alighted from his auto to see how it had been damaged after it had struck a guard rail when he was hit by an oncoming car. ... Mr. Morrow, a son of Mrs. Martha Lee Morrow, 46 East Philadelphia street, and the late Russell Morrow, left York about two years ago for Baltimore where he was employed as a sheet metal worker. While in this city he worked as an automobile mechanic. ... Mr. Morrow was a veteran of the first World war, having seen service overseas. Surviving are his widow, Mr. Marian Thompson Morrow; two daughters, Dorothy and Evelyn..."

1940 was an incredibly sad year for Martha Lee Morrow. In late February, Russell Morrow (her husband) was arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct in York and placed in a cell. It allegedly wasn't until 15 hours after his arrest that police, unable to arouse Morrow, ordered his transfer to York hospital for medical attention. He died at the hospital several days later. Then, in December, Martha lost her son Harry in the aforementioned traffic accident.

An obvious thing to note is that Harry E. Morrow died in December 1940, yet some of the items we have encountered tucked away inside this Bible are clearly from after that date. So at least one person other than Morrow used it. My guess is that it was his mother, Martha Lee Morrow. It took some nosing around, but I was able to confirm that William Lee (whose 1943 obituary clippings are among the items tucked away inside) is Martha's brother (and thus Harry's uncle).

Is Martha the well-dressed woman at the shore and/or the woman holding the dog?

Martha J. Lee Morrow died on August 29, 1964, at age 90, nearly a quarter-century after the double tragedy of losing her husband and son in the same year. According to her obituary in The Gazette and Daily, she was survived by a daughter (Mrs. Earl T. Stein), five grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and a brother, John Y. Lee. Those might be the best jumping-off points to get this Bible back to someone who's related to Martha, so it will be interesting to see where things go from here.

Reach me with tips at chrisottopa (at) gmail.com.