Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Book of the Week

The Great Pyramid is a diverting tract of comparative exoteric theory. Pictured is its original Glasgow publication (Bone & Hulley, Dundas Street) from 1924, pleasantly tactile and remarkably well-preserved, free of any mark or dog ear and replete with terrific handmade illustrations; it smells nice too. Curiously, the author Morton Edgar combines his study of the Gizeh (sic) pyramid with the Second Coming of Christ. To wit, the subtitle reads, In Which Is Shown How The Great Pyramid of Gizeh Prophetically Corroborates The Philosophy Of The Divine Plan Of The Ages As Contained In The Holy Scriptures. See below for a blueprint of said Plan.

Long out of print, this slender book is a piece of history. Unlike nostalgic codices published today that seek to evoke the charm of outdated printing practices, this is genuine. The quaint drawings and absence of blurbs speak of a different time. There's something endearing about the brief notice contained just inside the cover informing the reader that "Further copies of this work may be procured by applying to MORTON EDGAR, Glasgow, Scotland." His address has been crossed out in purple and immediately below, in matching ink, the correction is stamped.

2 comments:

Lidian said...

That looks quite interesting - a great secondhand find. My great uncle wrote a book about religion and philosophy (in the 1970s, but it took him 40 years to write, I believe) which has illustrations/maps in it that look something like the one you show...

Lin said...

I'm guessing this isn't your "beach" read, eh? ;)