LO! by Charles Fort, Author of New Lands and The Book of the Damned

New York: Claude Kendall, Publisher, 1931. Stated at copyright: "Third Printing, March 23, 1931." Just a month following the first on February 9, 1931. Smooth, light maroonish coated cloth boards, blindstamped spine design and titles, moderate shelf, spine, corner wear. Pages very good; no writing. Bind good, square; back hinge reinforced. Endpaper art of five volcanic-like monstrosities w/faces grimacing down on an odd bunch of humans, and hear no, see no, speak no, monkeys; back endpaper partially clipped at corner. Classic, humorously odd illustration by Alexander King throughout. Twelve full-page plates startle with crazed miasmic imagery. Several vignettes and decoration. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Solid near very good intact original edition and publisher. Here are more tales of the unexplained recorded by Charles Fort with an introduction by Tiffany Thayer. Thayer opens with a hypothetical posting from observatory astronomers who have left their positions to discover a stationary non-rotating earth and stars as not-so-distant lights. Thayer was founder of the "Fortean Society". Charles Hoy Fort (1874-1932) is known for his humored, yet careful review of inexplicable phenomena. LO! is Charles Fort's third book following THE BOOK OF THE DAMNED (1919) and NEW LANDS (1923). In this title, Fort further compiles hundreds of beyond-normal human and animal phenomena. Fort was a Dutch-American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena. He was a humorist and a satirist hugely skeptical especially of scientists' claims to ultimate knowledge. He flourished with a unique blend of mockery, penetrating insight, and calculated outrageousness. What follows is a parade of scientific anomalies framing the larger mystery that is existence. "Lo!" is a book with the capacity to rewire brains and sculpt new lenses for seeing the unexpected, the unexplained - and perhaps for glimpsing our own role in the cosmic milieu. Tongue in cheek, question all, perception is subjective, and objective. Fort's style is brilliantly off kilter, yet rhythmic, with a quirk quality that accents his unpredictable comedic timing. A must for anyone who enjoys philosophy, semantics, metaphysics, sci-fi, horror, and especially astronomy. Fort explores reports of teleportation, spontaneous combustion, the “hive mind," etc. Here are crews disappearing from ships at sea, cigar-shaped airships flying overhead, swarms of animals falling from the sky, strange creatures seen at sea, etc. Although Fort’s approach is thorough, he calls attention to the limitations of logical explanation. Good natured snark ensues: "I cannot accept that the products of minds are subject-matter for beliefs;" "I am tired of the sensible explanations that are holding back new delusions;" "I am simply pointing out everybody’s inability seriously to spend time upon something which, according to his preconceptions, is nonsense;" and, "This seems logical, and is therefore under suspicion." Colin Wilson on Fort: "The feeling that no matter how honest scientists think they are, they are influenced by unconscious assumptions that prevent true objectivity." People with a psychological desire to be curious and explore marvels and miracles are less predisposed to conclusions and less gullible than those with a need to believe in scientism or perfect science as law without flaw. This unorthodox title asks questions orthodox science dares not ask or answer. Thought provoking, astounding, outrageous - the truth about inexplicable phenomena by the man who "has shot the scientific basis of modern wisdom full of large holes." - Ben Hecht. "To read Charles Fort is to ride a comet!" - New York Times. 411 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. Illus. by King, Alexander. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall. Book.