The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispaahan by James Morier was weeded from the library today. Flipping through it, I was really taken with the absolutely stunning artwork by Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge (1889-1975). But what really caught my eye was the rather awkward inscription accompanying the artwork. The only thing I can think is that it must have been a literal translation.
Click the picture for a bigger version.
How romantic!
Man that is a beautiful illustration!
By “weeded from the library” do you mean they were actually getting rid of this book? Sacralige!
I’ve been told that “weed” is a bona fide library term that means to “selectively remove”. In our overly PC times, it is sort of surprising that the term, with its rather negative connotations, hasn’t been stamped out by a committee somewhere. It does seem to liken unwanted books to filthy weeds. Maybe a better word would be “dandelion”, or “dandelioning” books. A dandelion is still a weed, but at least there is a flower on it.
I think my father had the right idea. He said that when we kids grew up and left for college that he was going to sew the yard with wild-flowers (ie. pretty weeds) and never have to mow it again. Sadly, when we grew up my parents just moved into a house closer to town with a smaller yard instead.
My own plan if She Dragon and I ever get a house is much simpler: I’m just not going to weed any dandelions ever. Once they have completely over-run the yard our lawn will be perfect. Take that neighbors!
In a way (and coming back to your own analogy) this lawn care philosophy dovetails neatly with our book collecting habits.
Dragon, you and She Dragon are on the right track. Apparently dandelions were brought from Europe and cultivated in colonial gardens as a rich source of vitamins A and C, iron and copper, and potassium. I love your vision as opposed to sterile expanses of overwatered, overfertilized do-nothing lawns.
Ahhh, but keep in mind this last comment is from a lady (raggray) whose yard has NO grass. Once the boys abandoned their home, the parents allowed the moss to slowly take over the yard. It LOOKS great & green from the road and requires no care—-until the annual “fall festival of leaves” begins. Oh how we miss the boys during the “festival”. mr.raggray
Yumm… potassium…
I had heard that the dandelion was called “spring tonic” back in the day. Apparently ’cause after the winter of poor nutrition the dandelions would come up in the spring and if you ate them you’d soon be perked up a bit.
The greens are a little bitter sometimes, but maybe that’s just because I get them at the wrong point in their maturity.
Moss is nice too. I love the look of a good moss-bed.
I’m just not sure how easy it is to get moss to take over your lawn. In my limited experience it doesn’t tend to be as pervasive as dandelions. Sounds like you folks have managed it somehow though.
And how we miss the “festival”
And let’s not forget the tonic merits of dandelion wine. To Bear and Loki… Grandpop the Frustrated Woodsman tried to make it one time, but it “went off.” Oddly, he was practically a teetotaller.
Weird synchronicity:
After reading the recent news I went and mooched Bardbury’s Dandelion Wine the other day (er, rather: She Dragon mooched it for me). It just arrived in the last week.
And what’s up with light drinkers and dandelion wine? My dad who rarely lifts a glass also claimed that as a kid he and a friend managed to concoct dandelion wine in the high school chem lab. Apparently the only major issue they ran into though was using up a large amount of filter paper trying get rid of the suspended dandelion pulp.
Baldridge’s work is stunning and also prolific. If you want to see something great, take a look at the three large-format books he wrote with his partner, Caroline Singer:
White Africans and Black All the World is Isphahan Turn to the East
His autobiography, Time and Chance, is just fascinating and filled with wonderful illustrations.
Luckily (for us) he has been virtually forgotten and all this great stuff can be had for a song on eBay or abe.com
For more on Baldridge see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Leroy_Baldridge
I have this photo or i mean picture in a book that i have with me called the Adventure of Haji Baba i have the book and it is really old. lol I love this pictures and there is even more other ones in the book. i even read the book and it is a very interesting and fun to read.