Visiting Raymond

I enjoyed the John and Ruth’s Colombo’s hospitality last Saturday night, but Sunday was an even more eventful day. John and I drove to High Park to visit a large private library which holds all the core writings and correspondence of Madame H.P. Blavatsky. It was originally assembled before the turn of the century, and moved from London England, to Victoria B.C, and now resides in Toronto. I look forward to looking through a complete run of Lucifer and The Theosophist later this fall. We enjoyed a cup of tea with the present custodian and we both received an inscribed book of her poetry.

We drove along the Greandier pond to visit Raymond Souster at The Grenadier Retirement Residence. Ray was in fine form, and I presented him with his Battered Box Medallion for publishing Millenium Madness (2010) I took the coin out of its acetate sleeve, so Ray could feel the surface of the coin because is blind, and accidently dropped it on his bedside table, it produced a rolling, bobbly, sonorous sound, which was impressive, and I must purposely do that in the future when other coins are presented. The conversation went back and forth between all three of us. Raymond talked of his projects scheduled for publication — Big Smoke Blues and Rags, Bones and Bottles and Not Counting the Cost (2011) and Easy Does It (2011). I discussed James Deahl’s introduction to the former volume, and we also discussed what to use on the cover. We discussed the founding events of The League of Canadian Poets, and these two fellows were two of the founding members. I took a picture of John and Raymond and both photos are included below.

At mid-day John had to get home for a visit with his grandchildren, and I travelled south to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to attend the 2010 Toronto Resource Investment Conference. It was a good conference, and I came away with a bag full of squeeze balls, hats, pens, night lights, water bottles and great USB memory sticks.

Then off to 2010 Toronto Word on the Street at Queen’s Park. I did the rounds, and it was my subjective opinion that attendence was down for the year. I talked with all the usual suspects, gave and received much information, useful only to me, but essentially not gossip. Got a lead for Souster’s covers.

Adjourned to Charles Pachter’s studio on The Grange Avenue and presented him with a Battered Box Medallion for his cover art “Oscar Wilde Moose Kiss,” and passed along one of those USB memory drives. Charles has a busy fall and we discussed new projects in the abstract. Charles is hosting an open house at his Ice House on Lake Simcoe over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Retired to Chinatown for dinner … and home.

 

Solar Pons in Print and Forthcoming

Since my presentation on Solar Pons in Bennington Vermont, I have had some inquiries about the Solar Pons Canon, and whther it is in print or not. Not an overwelming number of inquiries, but enough that it is worth putting all the current information into a blog, so I don’t have to repeat it, every time I am asked or I received an e-mail inquiry

The Voumes “In Print” now and are available to order through the batteredbox.com website:

Solar Pons Omnibus (Copper Text) 2 vol slipcase Arkham House ISBN 0-87054-006-8 (Limited supply)

The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus (Derleth/M&M) Folio HC 2 Vol., 1100pp. ISBN 1-55246-077-0

The Exploits of Solar Pons (Basil Copper) Fedogan & Bremmer 1993 ISBN 1-878252-11-9

The Recollections of Solar Pons(Basil Copper) Fedogan & Bremmer 1995 1-878252-20-8

Solar Pons Omnibus (Copper Text) 2 vol slipcase Arkham House ISBN 0-87054-006-8 (Limited supply)

The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus (Derleth/M&M) Folio HC 2 Vol., 1100pp. ISBN 1-55246-077-0

The Adventures of the Mill Creek Irregulars (Derleth/Fawcett) 10 TPBs, 1300p. ISBN 1-896648-15-0. This is a juvenile detective series nit Solar Pons per se.

Forthcoming 2010-2011 from batteredbox.com

The “Dragnet” Solar Pons (Derleth/Wardecker) M&M TPB 246 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-848-7

The Complete Adventures of Judge Peck (Derleth/Wardecker) M&M Folio HC 592p. ISBN 978-1-896648-31-6

The Adventures of Solar Pons: In Re: Sherlock Holmes (Derleth/Starrett) TPB 211 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-656-8

The Memoirs of Solar Pons (Derleth) TPB 226 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-657-5

The Return of Solar Pons (Derleth) TPB 236 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-658-2

The Reminiscences of Solar Pons (Derleth) TPB 173 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-659-9

The Casebook of Solar Pons (Derleth/Starrett) TPB 245 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-660-5

Mr. Fairlie’s Final Journey & Praed Street Dossier (Derleth/Derleth) TPB 210 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-661-2

The Chronicles of Solar Pons (Derleth/Hubin) TPB 207 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-662-9

The Final Adventures of Solar Pons (Derleth/Ruber) TPB 197 pp. ISBN 978-1-55246-013-9

The Solar Pons Encyclopædia (Brooks/Dutch) Paperback 300p. ISBN 978-1-896648-51-4

I have no idea if there are any foreign language editions that are still in print, but I came across an Italian edition published in 1970 of In Re: Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Solar Pons. I thought this was an intersting volume and am posting the Front here instead of writing a separate blog entry for it.