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The chemical control of conception
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Millroy the Magician
Rare Books
Jilly Farina is fourteen, but so small that she wears younger kids' clothes. Her father is drunk on the day of the Barnstable County Fair, so she goes by herself, and by that night her life has been transformed. When she walks into a tent to see Millroy the Magician, his eyes lighten from brown to green and fasten upon her. He performs miracles in front of Jilly's spellbound eyes and tells her he wants to eat her. He spirits her into his trailer, and for the first time in her forlorn young life, Jilly feels safe. He tells her that he has command over nine bodily functions, that he will train her to be his assistant, and that he will give her a sequined costume. But this is only the beginning. Millroy is a man like no other, a magician not simply of mere conjuring, but of true, baffling magic. He is a healer, too, a vegetarian and health fanatic with a mission to change the eating habits of his beloved United States. In search of the perfect platform, he finds it in television as an evangelical preacher, touting hygiene and the simple pure foods mentioned in the Bible. From fairground magician to cult leader, Millroy is unstoppable. In his portrait of a man who is part genius, part eccentric, and part miracle worker, and of his complete and uneasy relationship with young Jilly, Paul Theroux has created a remarkable parable of America today. A work of breathtaking imagination and resonance, Millroy the Magician displays the author at the height of his fictional powers, and in Jilly and Millroy he has created two truly unforgettable characters.
646365
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Millroy the magician
Rare Books
Jilly Farina is fourteen, but so small that she wears younger kids' clothes. Her father is drunk on the day of the Barnstable County Fair, so she goes by herself, and by that night her life has been transformed. When she walks into a tent to see Millroy the Magician, his eyes lighten from brown to green and fasten upon her. He performs miracles in front of Jilly's spellbound eyes and tells her he wants to eat her. He spirits her into his trailer, and for the first time in her forlorn young life, Jilly feels safe. He tells her that he has command over nine bodily functions, that he will train her to be his assistant, and that he will give her a sequined costume, but this is only the beginning. Millroy is a man like no other, a magician not simply of mere conjuring, but of true, baffling magic. He is a healer, too, a vegetarian and health fanatic with a mission to change the eating habits of his beloved United States. In search of the perfect platform, he finds it in television as an evangelical preacher, touting hygiene and the simple pure foods mentioned in the Bible. From fairground magician to cult leader, Millroy is unstoppable. In his portrait of a man who is part genius, part eccentric, and part miracle worker, and of his complete and uneasy relationship with young Jilly, Paul Theroux has created a remarkable parable of America today. A work of breathtaking imagination and resonance, Millroy the Magician displays the author at the height of his fictional powers, and in Jilly and Millroy he has created two truly unforgettable characters.
647093
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John Charles Frémont letter to "Mr. Wright,"
Manuscripts
In this letter to the otherwise unidentified "Mr. Wright" of Washington, Frémont writes thata French company called "the Belgian Miners" has arrived in San Francisco, and are under lease to him. He shall put them to work immediately "on a good vein" and writes that "their report to France will be of great importance." During his time in the South, Frémont reports that he "obtained a great deal of information relative to mines." He has found another rich vein, but is not sure of the ore it contains - he has sent a piece to England for identification - and has acquired a large amount of land that may be of considerable value. Frémont states that they have no commissioner, but hopes the President will "send out others without delay." He hopes Mr. Wright will act on his behalf in this and other matters.
mssHM 21240
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On the Ukara, or the Ukerewe Lake of Equatorial Africa
Rare Books
"In this paper the author repeated his conviction that the so-called Victoria Nyanza is not a lake, but a lake region. He had found new matter in support of this opinion in the able paper upon Routes in East Africa, published by the Rev. Thomas Wakefield, of Mombasa, in the last volume of the 'Journal' of the Society. As these routes were wholly taken from native authority, the President, Sir Henry Rawlinson, had remarked that the "Pundit system" might be found as useful in Africa as it has proved to be in high Asia. Mr. Wakefield's notes had been ably and judiciously commented upon by Mr. Keith Johnston, and Captain Burton's object was to add emphasis to that geographer's remarks, and to the supplement them with the experiences of a practical traveller"--from abstract.
635844
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John Muir letter to Katharine Putnam Hooker
Manuscripts
In this letter to his friend Katherine Hooker, John Muir responds to the news that she is sick in bed with some surprise as she seems so strong to him. He suggests rest and then "plain pure white love-work" with Marian (Dr, Marian Osgood Hooker) tending to their fellow creatures. Muir is glad that Marian is not with him as yellow fever and malaria are rampant. Muir briefly describes life on the river with him staring and sketching. Muir described a week of beauty and fellowship at Manaos on the Rio Negro tributary. He ends the letter with a surprise find of a copy of Katherine's book, Wayfarers in Italy in a lonely house in the Amazon Basin. He fears telling the story in full as Marian might think he's in a fever dream.
mssHM 31154
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Engert, Cornelius Van Hemert. 1 letter (1922) to Lady Agnes Adams, Washington, D.C
Manuscripts
Upon returning to the States he was ordered to Washington. As he was passing through New York he renewed the acquaintance of a woman he had met three years before and they are to be married.. Mr. Engert has just been made First Secretary of Embassy and Assistant to the Chief of the Near Eastern Division of the State Department.
mssAdams