Imaginary Mysteries
Imaginary Mysteries
Three exceptional examples.
Poetics II: On Comedy
ΠΕΡΙ ΠΟΙΗΤΙΚΗΣ Β: Περί τῆς κωµῳδῐ́ᾱς
ARISTOTLE (384–322 B.C.E.)
Constantinople: Nicodemos Metaxas, 1627.
Lost in Late Middle Ages.
The second book of Aristotle’s Poetics, with a Latin translation and a commentary on the Greek text by Antonio Montecatini. The first book dealt with tragedy and epic poetry; this volume explained comedy. The two books together had an incalculable influence on theater practice in the West. The last existing copy was burned in a monastery fire in the Piedmont in 1327.
“The Giant Rat of Sumatra”
DR. JOHN H. WATSON
in The Strand Magazine, Vol 37, No 222.
London: George Newness, 1909.
First cited in “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The most famous of the unrecorded cases of Sherlock Holmes. The Matilda Briggs associated with this case was not the lady in question, but the tramp steamer out of Indonesia that carried the eponymous rat. The story benefits from wonderful illustrations by Sidney Paget.
The Courier’s Tragedy
RICHARD WHARFINGER
London: William Crooke, 1684.
First mentioned in Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49.
A Jacobean revenge play, involving intrigues between the house of Thurn und Taxis and a mysterious entity called Tristero, two rival international postal companies. It includes conspiracies and conspiracy theories, along with a great deal of bloodshed. I managed to obtain both this volume and these Thurn und Taxis stamps at an auction of the estate of Pierce Inverarity, through the good offices of Stephen Massey, to whom I am greatly indebted.