Another publishing reminiscence: Horror novelist Thomas Tessier, a good friend of mine, was once Harlan Ellison’s UK publisher. Some 35 years ago we were in Los Angeles at the ABA Convention and went to lunch at Harlan’s house. He seemed a little edgy, but perfectly well mannered, given his volcanic reputation. Then I spotted he had a pair of Quad Electrostatic speakers, and I raved about them. He mellowed immediately and we chatted enthusiastically about British hi-fi units. Then he invited us into his den, leading the way.

Now I am 6’2″, and Harlan isn’t. To compensate for his lack of inches Harlan had deliberately had the doorway into his den built some 3 feet high. It was impossible for anyone of normal size to enter other than on hands and knees, and as Harlan had gone first he was already seated on a throne in the room as the ‘supplicant’ entered. A touch arrogant, wouldn’t you say? I saw Thom crawling in on hands and knees, and sussed what was going on. So I dropped to my hands and knees and entered the room backwards, with my great British bum waving in his face. To his credit, Harlan did laugh.

I’m writing a book for Historic England. Since Wim Meulenkamp and I last wrote a book that required extensive research and the consulting of ancient texts, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has kindly invented the World Wide Web and Google has scanned the contents of libraries around the world.

Our lives therefore have been immeasurably eased. As the only books we need to consult were out of copyright by the end of the nineteenth century they should all be easily available. Many of them are.

But technology really is a word for something that doesn’t work yet. Here is the title page of a book on Derbyshire. It can’t be searched because the words one searches for don’t exist. ‘Derbyshire’ is transcribed as ‘Derbyshirjb’ or ‘ Derbyshiril’ or ‘Derbys’hii^e*’. ‘Fountain’ becomes ‘afountam’. It is unsearchable and unusable.

So it’s back to the libraries, chaps.

Here’s what Google has to say:

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned [sic] by Google as part of a project
to make the world’s books discoverable online.

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians.

; (
NEW / ^^^
HISTORICAL AND DBSCRIITIVE
VIEW
OP
DERBYSHIRJB,
* 9BOM THB
RBMOTBST PSBIOD TO THB PRBSBNT tlMB^
BY THE REV. D. P. DAFIES.
-V
EMBBLLISHSD WITH A MAP AND PLATES^
Antiquam ffiquirite Matiem— ^ixg.
9tlpnx
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY AND FOB 8« MASONS
Sold also, bf Drorf, WiUdnt, Pritchard, and Stensoo, Derby i Bradlen
mod Fold, Chesterfield t Pirkes, Ashboumi Cotes, Wirkswortht
Dunn, Nottingham t Gale% Sheffield i Longn^n, Hurst, Keen
Ormcy and Browi^ Patemoster^Row, and B. Crosbf andCs*
•utioners-Coert, Lottdto.
1811.
YA/\
‘•’.’ •’

[Herewith part of a description of Chatsworth]

Ikeaarih «iid of them «re two S/iAmMt, mi
laj^baM»,.^»kbMaanMDteio good taMe, well
executed by Cibber; in this«€aaal is afountam
er jetdVeau^ wjbieh throws 4be water Mnetgr
feet high ; -and ip a basin near the hotMe, m$e
font Sea Horses and a TrtloM,.frDvi whcMie’iiteds
uDall streams issue. AH these works,- are su|i«

Too hard for me!