Thomas Loring &Co. E. Thelmar

“E. Thelmar”

Illustrated by Mahlon Blaine

The Maniac -- A Realistic Study of Madness from the Maniac’s Point of View

An episode of Edwardian insanity

Here is an extravaganza of incident and image as spectacularly bizarre as anything that had been published in England by 1909, when the first edition of this book appeared under the pseudonym of "E. Thelmar." (The illustrated Blaine edition appeared in 1941.) The fact that it purports to be non-fiction does nothing to detract from its value as a tale of phantasmagorical adventure. Indeed, most reviewers have treated it as fiction. The book can be read as a medical case history or as a lurid thriller -- or, for devotees of the occult, as a chronicle of soul transference or possession and spectacular conflicts on the astral plane. This, indeed, was the perspective taken in 1937 by the publisher of the third edition, The American Psychical Institute. In 1941, a New York publisher brought out a fourth edition, embellishing the text with Mahlon Blaine's intricate surreal illustrations, and marketing it semi-clandestinely as a work of exotic, erotic sensationalism. The fact that Blaine, who was not exactly shy about erotic and decadent imagery, took refuge behind a pseudonym ("G. Christopher Hudson") suggests how risky the project seemed to him, as it did to the publisher, at a time when obscenity laws still could lead to prosecutions and convictions. Thomas Loring presents its edition of The Maniac primarily for the aesthetic value of the artwork and the text, with the confidence that they will appeal strongly to connoisseurs of the weird and bizarre. If it also interests students of psychiatry, devotees of the occult, and historians of publishing, so much the better.

The Maniac narrates, in the first person, the sudden, unexpected and terrifying descent into madness (paranoid schizophrenia, as we would probably call it today) of a young woman in Edwardian London, a journalist. And it's her training in journalism that saves this book from descending into melodrama, incoherence or maudlin self-pity. She writes in a brisk, forceful tone that captures her five-week-long nightmare with both intensity and clarity.

Blaine's drawings for The Maniac are remarkable not just for their controversy but for their quality. G. Legman, in his monograph on the artist (The Art of Mahlon Blaine, 1982) calls them " … the finest and most mature work he ever did in the non-erotic field," "perfectly astounding" and "the final high point of his art." One could quibble with the description of these drawings as "non-erotic" since almost all of them depict female nudes. Whether they're arousing, or meant to be arousing, is a matter of perspective, we suppose. What's beyond any doubt is their strangeness, which suitably matches the strangeness of the text -- no easy feat to accomplish.

All editions of this extraordinary work are uncommon today.

PLANNED CONTENTS:

· unabridged reprint of original 1909 edition

· all 58 illustrations by Mahlon Blaine from the 1941 edition, printed on coated paper to ensure highest quality reproduction

· introduction by Hereward Carrington to 1937 edition

· excerpts of reviews published in 1937 edition

· critical introduction





			Publishers of 19th and early 20th century literature with an emphasis on the fantastic, the speculative, the unusual, the occult and the eldritch.

		F O R T H C O M I N G T I T L E S
		“E. Thelmar” Illustrated by Mahlon Blaine The Maniac -- A Realistic Study of Madness from the Maniac’s Point of View An episode of Edwardian insanity Here is an extravaganza of incident and image as spectacularly bizarre as anything that had been published in England by 1909, when the first edition of this book appeared under the pseudonym of "E. Thelmar." (The illustrated Blaine edition appeared in 1941.) The fact that it purports to be non-fiction does nothing to detract from its value as a tale of phantasmagorical adventure. Indeed, most reviewers have treated it as fiction. The book can be read as a medical case history or as a lurid thriller -- or, for devotees of the occult, as a chronicle of soul transference or possession and spectacular conflicts on the astral plane. This, indeed, was the perspective taken in 1937 by the publisher of the third edition, The American Psychical Institute. In 1941, a New York publisher brought out a fourth edition, embellishing the text with Mahlon Blaine's intricate surreal illustrations, and marketing it semi-clandestinely as a work of exotic, erotic sensationalism. The fact that Blaine, who was not exactly shy about erotic and decadent imagery, took refuge behind a pseudonym ("G. Christopher Hudson") suggests how risky the project seemed to him, as it did to the publisher, at a time when obscenity laws still could lead to prosecutions and convictions. Thomas Loring presents its edition of The Maniac primarily for the aesthetic value of the artwork and the text, with the confidence that they will appeal strongly to connoisseurs of the weird and bizarre. If it also interests students of psychiatry, devotees of the occult, and historians of publishing, so much the better. The Maniac narrates, in the first person, the sudden, unexpected and terrifying descent into madness (paranoid schizophrenia, as we would probably call it today) of a young woman in Edwardian London, a journalist. And it's her training in journalism that saves this book from descending into melodrama, incoherence or maudlin self-pity. She writes in a brisk, forceful tone that captures her five-week-long nightmare with both intensity and clarity. Blaine's drawings for The Maniac are remarkable not just for their controversy but for their quality. G. Legman, in his monograph on the artist (The Art of Mahlon Blaine, 1982) calls them " … the finest and most mature work he ever did in the non-erotic field," "perfectly astounding" and "the final high point of his art." One could quibble with the description of these drawings as "non-erotic" since almost all of them depict female nudes. Whether they're arousing, or meant to be arousing, is a matter of perspective, we suppose. What's beyond any doubt is their strangeness, which suitably matches the strangeness of the text -- no easy feat to accomplish. All editions of this extraordinary work are uncommon today. PLANNED CONTENTS: · unabridged reprint of original 1909 edition · all 58 illustrations by Mahlon Blaine from the 1941 edition, printed on coated paper to ensure highest quality reproduction · introduction by Hereward Carrington to 1937 edition · excerpts of reviews published in 1937 edition · critical introduction
	I Am the Man


N A V I G A T I O N
HOME IN PRINT Emma Frances Dawson AN ITINERANT HOUSE SUMMARY OF FORTHCOMING TITLES Bernard Capes LOST BAGGAGE H. Frankish DR. CUNLIFFE -- INVESTIGATOR Mary Ann Bird SPELL-BOUND Gerald Bullett ENCHANTMENT & DISENCHANTMENT “E. Thelmar” Illus. by Mahlon Blaine THE MANIAC Donald Armour SWEPT & GARNISHED Contact John Pinkney PO Box 15163 Portland, ME 04112 207-781-6080 pinkney@thomasloring.com Reserve your copy now. Contact us to reserve one or more copies of any forthcoming titles. No obligation and no advance payment necessary. Copyright Contents of this website © 2006 -- 2007 Robert T. Eldridge HOME