User talk:Hyperdex

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Hello, Hyperdex, and welcome to the ISFDB Wiki! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

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I hope you enjoy editing here! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will insert your name and the date. If you need help, check out the community portal, or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! Mhhutchins 14:11, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Bowen's The Last Bouquet

I accepted both your submissions adding two new stories to this collection, but my research has found no evidence that those stories ("A Plaster Saint" and "Elsie's Lonely Afternoon") are included in the book. In fact, I can find no reference to a story titled "A Plaster Saint" by Marjorie Bowen. Here is the book as presented on Project Gutenberg Australia. Without any further information to corroborate the changes, I chose to remove the stories. You note a librarian as your source. Is this librarian working from a physical copy of the book? Mhhutchins 14:24, 17 August 2011 (UTC)


Here is a copy of the mail I received from a reference librarian working from a physical copy of the book.


Certainly! As noted in the Innopac record, our copy has some excised stories, which I will detail

HGARC's copy has these stories, in the following order,

Last bouquet Madame Spitfire The Fair Hair of Ambrosine The Hidden Ape

Next would be "The Avenging of Ann Leete," for which we have a title page (page 111?) but not the story.

The copy also lacks The Crown Derby Plate.

We have a title page of "the Prescription" but not the story.

Next is "Elsie's Lonely afternoon," t-p [171-172, to p. 200.

We have The Lady Clodagh A Plaster Saint, , t-p [229-230] to p. 256 [ different from your list ] Florence Flannery Kecksies The Sign-Painter... Raw Material (in that order)

With best wishes, Katherine Kominis


david.blackston@someaddress.com wrote: > Dear Ms. Kominis, > > I would be most grateful if you could provide the answer to my request. > For some reason, this is a hard book to track down, and I have seen > differing accounts of the contents of the book. > > Best regards, > > David Blackston > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Katherine Kominis [1] > Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 4:37 PM > To: Blackston, David > Subject: M. Bowen book > > Dear Mr. Blackstone, > I will be happy to reply to your query on the contents of HGARC's copy > of "The last bouquet." Your request just reached me; are you still > interested to know this information? > Sincerely, > > -- > Katherine Kominis > Assistant Director for Rare Books > Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Boston University > 771 Commonwealth Ave. > Boston MA 02215 > ph: 617 353 3724 >


In addition, I have the following information that suggests the isfdb's entry is incomplete.

In 'Horror: 100 Best Books', Jessica Amanda Salmonson writes about the book and mentions at one point that it has 14 stories.

In 'Twilight and Other Supernatural Romances', Salmonson (the editor) mentions 'A Plaster Saint' by name in one of her footnotes. I do not have the book in front of me right now, but this footnote is what caused me to try to dig a little deeper into the contents of the book.

(I am trying to collect -- or at least read -- all of the books mentioned in 'Horror: 100 Best Books'. This is one of the harder ones to find.)

This concludes the evidence that I have, but I feel that it does demonstrate that the isfdb's entry is incomplete.

Dave, aka Hyperdex 15:26, 17 August 2011 (UTC)Hyperdex

[I have moved this from my user page to yours. It's best to keep messages and responses to a subject on the same page. I will get back with you after I have some time to digest your response. Thanks. Mhhutchins 16:16, 17 August 2011 (UTC)]
I've taken the info that you've provided into consideration and have concluded that the two missing titles should be part of the record, which has been updated. It was never the ISFDB's stand that its record was complete. Until any record has been primary verified, there's always a possibility of incompleteness. It's with the help of users like you that we strive to make the database as accurate and complete as possible. That being said, I still find it quite odd that there is no reference anywhere on the internet of "A Plaster Saint". Thanks for contributing and I look forward to future submissions. Mhhutchins 16:31, 17 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, Mhhutchins. I have found this database to be an invaluable source of information, and the ability to give something back to it is what caused me to join up. I am probably going to be adding some info regarding other books on the 100 horror books list, as I now own copies of most of them. I agree it is odd how the contents of 'The Last Bouquet' available on the web seem to have lost the two stories I mentioned, and it is really really odd that 'A Plaster Saint' seems to have no web references whatsoever. It is in Salmonson's footnote (and apparently in the BU copy of the book) so it exists, but it is hard to verify. That story is going to be my blocker for actually reading the entire hundred unless I can somehow track down a copy of the original.
Cheers -- Dave aka Hyperdex 16:50, 17 August 2011 (UTC)Hyperdex
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