午夜剧场

Nine years have passed since I published "The World of Books is a Strange World," and I have not been idle during that time. Together with a publishing executive, I conceived an irregular series called "Bibliology" dealing with various aspects of book reception, and serialized "A Genealogy of British Bibliophiles." I featured 16 individuals, ranging from famous figures like Queen Elizabeth I's magician John Dee and the King of Comedy Charlie Chaplin, to lesser-known figures like "Honest Tom" Martin and Peter Heylyn, who angered the King. To compile this into a single volume, I added others such as the younger brother of economist Keynes and Graham Pollard—who exposed T.J. Wise's forgeries but was himself a spy—bringing a total of 19 eccentrics and oddballs to the table.

In each chapter, I proceeded by clarifying the background of one bibliophile and then introducing the hand-annotated books from their humble abodes. In the final chapter, "Bibliophiles Forever," I included a photograph of Prime Minister Tanaka receiving a gift of the "Chu Ci Jizhu" from Chairman Mao Zedong during the 1972 talks to normalize diplomatic relations between Japan and China. Is it asking too much to hope that this profound culture continues?

As any old book enthusiast may have experienced, gems are often found just as a bookstore is about to close. One time, exhausted from transcribing manuscripts at the library, I peered into the window of G. David Bookseller near the market in Cambridge. This is a shop where many bibliophiles have been nurtured since before the war. The bookplate of a poetry collection that was by the window is what I used for the cover of this book.

Only a few minutes until closing. It takes less than a minute to purchase the book in question. It was "A Shropshire Lad," the masterpiece by the Cambridge classical scholar, poet, and homosexual A.E. Housman. But what was visible in the window was not the title page, but a bookplate. At the very top, it said "Chaplin." I leave the iconographic interpretation of that to this book. The dedication read: "To Charlie, on his birthday, from Florence, April 16, 1920."

Searching for "Florence" along with "Chaplin" revealed her surname to be Deshon, a minor silent film actress. She does not appear in the King of Comedy's autobiography, but there is a melancholy photograph of her in the memoir "Love and Revolution" by his friend and critic Max Eastman. Florence was playing both sides: with Eastman in New York and with Chaplin in Hollywood. Carrying an unborn child, she died young—whether by suicide or accident.

I am curious about why Florence gave "A Shropshire Lad"—a book sung passionately by young men heading to the battlefield—to Chaplin as a birthday gift, but I have run out of space.

Toshiyuki Takamiya

Bensei Publishing

256 pages, 4,180 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.