"Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God" this translation, 1944 - this publishing, 1947.
A sacred Hindu scripture, the roughly 700 verses in Bhagavad-Gita are the conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna taking place on the battlefield before the start of the Kurukshetra war.
My grandfather's name is again inside the book no less than 3 times. Twice written, and once with an address label. I love how he felt the need to claim his books so thoroughly.
Tucked inside the book is a small leaflet for the Vedanta Society of Southern California, dated October 1957. It contains the schedule of events for both the Hollywood Temple and the Santa Barbara Temple for the month. Every Thursday, there was a class on the Bhagavad-Gita. Something tells me my grandfather had been to at least one of these classes.The minister of the society is listed as Swami Prabhavananda, one of two names inside the book who did the translation. That name has come up before. Book #53 was written by the author, Gerald Heard, three years after he had met Swami Prabhavananda.
My grandfather would have been 45 years old in 1957, so he was certainly looking for answers in his middle age years, not just in his later years.
BOOK NINETYTHREE
"The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A Kempis c. 1418 - this publishing, after 1898.
Another copy of day 9's book, this one looks to be much older, but has no publishing date either. The publishing company, Grosset & Dunlap, was founded in 1898 and I would place it within 20 years of that date, judging by the typeface and style of the book itself. Of course, I am no expert, so I won't attempt to date it other than after 1898.
"When the American Publishing Company closed its doors for the last time in 1898, Alexander Grosset and George T. Dunlap were outside the doors. Newly unemployed, with the plates of a couple dozen books originally pirated by John Lovell. Standing out on Sixth Avenue with boxes of supposedly worthless printing plates, these two young men stole a page from the notebook of Mr. Lovell and shook hands on a partnership that changed the face of American publishing.
Grosset and Dunlap began as a pirate enterprise. Cheaply bound books, sold cheaply, without the expense of royalties. The next step was the outright purchase of paperbound books and cut and gathered sheets to be rebound in cloth and sold at deeply discounted prices. Grosset & Dunlap made an immediate impact on the market. Durable, hardback copies of popular books were available at a price that put them in competition with paperbacks and dime novels. The thing that John Lovell had attempted, and failed at, the partnership of Alexander Grosset and George Dunlap had made reality. Books as a mass market product, not a limited market for the well to do." (taken from helium.com)
No names or markings of any kind are in the book.
BOOK NINETYFOUR
"Healing Meditations" by Swami Paramananda, 1940.
Another book by the early Vedanta teachers in America, this one has no markings in it at all, but I will assume it was my grandfather's. It is a small book, 48 pages long.
BOOK NINETYFIVE
"The Little Flowers of Saint Francis" this translation and publishing by Leo Sherley-Price, 1959.
Excerpts on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi in 53 chapters, the earliest manuscript of this from an unknown author dates from the late 1300s, roughly 200 years after the Catholic friar's lifetime.
This text was the inspiration for Roberto Rossellini’s film "Francesco, giullare di Dio", co-written by Fellini.
There are no markings in the book, just a blue bookmark from The Bookseller, an appropriately, but unimaginatively, named book store in La Mirada Mall. The bookmark is in the section where Saint Francis decides between devoting himself to teaching or prayer.
BOOK NINETYSIX
"Sueño de una Noche de Agosto" by Gregorio Martínez Sierra, 1926.
By the Spanish writer and theater director, Martinez Sierra's play here is a comedy that my grandmother had marked up considerably. Her name is inside the front cover, a paperclip bookmark is binding pages 99 to 106, and her translation notes are throughout the dialogue.
BOOK NINETYSEVEN
"Individual Completeness" by Elizabeth Carrick Cook.
This 18-page booklet was published by the Religious Science Institute and written by Carrick-Cook, whose name has come up before as the editor of book #48. Regrettably, there is no publishing date inside the book and I am unable to find much information online.
As amusing as it is when my own blog comes up on the top 10 results for "Elizabeth Carrick-Cook", it is somewhat frustrating that there is so little information about her online.There are no markings inside the book, just the unfamiliar initials written onto the cover.
BOOK NINETYEIGHT
"Dry Those Tears" by Robert A. Russell, 1951.
Another book by Russell, this one was put out by The Shrine of the Healing Presence and actually does have a publishing date in it.
My grandfather's address label is inside the front cover, but there are no markings inside the book at all.
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