If only he had thrown into the avenging fire his remaining works, which would cover with darkness the light of the most clear truth, the products of a wandering fantasy, the horrible specters of a devilish gateway, which should have been relegated to the hell they came from, had they been burned, would not drag the soul of any reader into flames that cannot be erased!
(Preface to the De Tribus Impostoribus, by Sebastian Kortholt)
(Preface to the De Tribus Impostoribus, by Sebastian Kortholt)
An Ancient, Cursed Book and Its Records
There was, there is still and there will always be a book in particular, the one that many believe to be unique or unusual. A lost, uncertain, ignored book. A forbidden book. A book for the perdition and madness of men. The Book, for which so many people dedicate years of their lives and the power of their sanity in incessant, but fruitless searches. There are books whose mere existence would precipitate their potential readers into the abyss of madness. And if this fearful book does not exist, we must invent it.
We at Raphus Press, in our quest for the enlightening experience of the clash between past and present, tradition and innovation, the past imagination and the future vision, propose to our readers an experiment in translation and narrative creation: six contemporary authors and four early 20th century authors together in the scope of a myth creation – a collection of poetry, a novel, a philosophical treatise, a fragments of madness, all these possibilities and many others were glimpsed in this strange, lost work whose title seems so strangely suggestive. We established our own quest for this pulp artifact through the visions and omens of some authors who in one way or another came into contact with this potential book. In the contemporary side of the series, we will have some of the most unique authors of the current weird fiction: Jonathan Wood, Thomas Phillips, Thomas Strømsholt, Damian Murphy, Ramon Lasalle, Alcebiades Diniz Miguel. Among the translations, remarkable and little known works by Octave Uzanne, Remy de Gourmont, Ruben Darío and Camilo Castelo Branco – pieces on the bibliophilic passion and the pleasures / tortures of the books.
So we proudly announce the first chapbook of this series, whose pre-sale starts now:
The Mendicant of the Books, an English translation of the brief nightmare, goyesquian-style titled “Le Quémandeur de Livres” by Octave Uzanne, originally published in his remarkable collection of bibliophilic essays Caprices d’un Bibliophile. This extraordinary piece of essay and fiction will be accompanied by three stories, contemporary creations: “The Dream” by Ramon Lasalle, “The Transgression” by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel and “Red Buried Memory” by Jonathan Wood. A volume with 6.1 x 9 in (155 x 230 mm), 36 pages with colorful illustrations, for US$ 30.00 (plus US$ 9.00 for the postage worldwide), in a very limited (will be only 32 copies), luxuriant edition, printed in the wonderful Buchmanufaktur workshop, at Switzerland. This chapbook is already sold out.
We at Raphus Press, in our quest for the enlightening experience of the clash between past and present, tradition and innovation, the past imagination and the future vision, propose to our readers an experiment in translation and narrative creation: six contemporary authors and four early 20th century authors together in the scope of a myth creation – a collection of poetry, a novel, a philosophical treatise, a fragments of madness, all these possibilities and many others were glimpsed in this strange, lost work whose title seems so strangely suggestive. We established our own quest for this pulp artifact through the visions and omens of some authors who in one way or another came into contact with this potential book. In the contemporary side of the series, we will have some of the most unique authors of the current weird fiction: Jonathan Wood, Thomas Phillips, Thomas Strømsholt, Damian Murphy, Ramon Lasalle, Alcebiades Diniz Miguel. Among the translations, remarkable and little known works by Octave Uzanne, Remy de Gourmont, Ruben Darío and Camilo Castelo Branco – pieces on the bibliophilic passion and the pleasures / tortures of the books.
So we proudly announce the first chapbook of this series, whose pre-sale starts now:
The Mendicant of the Books, an English translation of the brief nightmare, goyesquian-style titled “Le Quémandeur de Livres” by Octave Uzanne, originally published in his remarkable collection of bibliophilic essays Caprices d’un Bibliophile. This extraordinary piece of essay and fiction will be accompanied by three stories, contemporary creations: “The Dream” by Ramon Lasalle, “The Transgression” by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel and “Red Buried Memory” by Jonathan Wood. A volume with 6.1 x 9 in (155 x 230 mm), 36 pages with colorful illustrations, for US$ 30.00 (plus US$ 9.00 for the postage worldwide), in a very limited (will be only 32 copies), luxuriant edition, printed in the wonderful Buchmanufaktur workshop, at Switzerland. This chapbook is already sold out.
Miracle of Theophilus, an English translation of the essay “Le Miracle de Théophile” by Rémy de Gourmont, originally published in the extraordinary magazine L’Ymagier in October 1895. It is an introductory text for a medieval mystery about such saint, so close to the devil at certain times of his existence. This provocative, exquisite piece will be accompanied by three stories, unpublished creations: “The Foundry” by Ramon Lasalle, “Death of the Reader” by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel and “Haptic Words, Voids” by Thomas Phillips. A volume with 6.1 x 9 in (155 x 230 mm), 50 pages with colorful illustrations, for US$ 30.00 (plus US$ 9.00 for the postage worldwide), in a very limited (will be only 32 copies), luxuriant edition, printed in the wonderful Buchmanufaktur workshop, at Switzerland. This chapbook is already sold out.
In a book of posthumous prose, entitled meaningly El mundo de los sueños (The world of dreams), there is an intriguing essay by the great Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío (1867-1916) dedicated to the fantastic, dreamlike and disturbing universe of the French cartoonist and illustrator J. J. Grandville (1803-1847), whose simple title is Grandville. The result is not only the analysis of the work of a creative and daring illustrator, but the intricate cartography of a dream territory that, at the beginning of the 21st century, is still awaiting other pioneers. The brief prose-poetic treatise by Darío (translated directly from the Spanish source) is followed by three stories, unpublished creations: Ramon Lasalle’s “The Collection”, Alcebiades Diniz Miguel’s “In the Chapel of Bones” and Thomas Strømsholt’s “Reading in the Absence of the Text: Notes on the Spiritual Meaning of the Massacres”. A volume with 6.1 x 9 in (155 x 230 mm), 35 pages with colorful illustrations, for US$ 30.00 (plus US$ 9.00 for the postage worldwide), in a very limited (will be only 32 copies), luxuriant edition, printed in the Buchmanufaktur, at Switzerland. More information, see our Catalogue.
Camilo Castelo Branco (1825-1890), a writer celebrated for his elaborate romantic constructions, wrote in the year 1866 a singular narrative about bibliophilia, desire, and misery, entitled "O parente de cinquenta e três monarcas", for the collection Cousas leves e pesadas. And now this paradoxal piece, between tragedy and comedy, emerges translated to English as "The Kinsman of Fifty-Three Monarchs". This extraordinary short story is followed by three other tales, unpublished creations: Ramon Lasalle’s “The Oblivion”, Alcebiades Diniz Miguel’s “The Horror in the Table of Contents” and a new classic in weird story by Damian Murphy, this exquisite and prodigious account named "The Bastion Overwhelmed". A volume with 6.1 x 9 in (155 x 230 mm), 45 pages with colorful illustrations, for US$ 30.00 (plus US$ 9.00 for the postage worldwide), in a very limited (will be only 32 copies), luxuriant edition, printed at the Buchmanufaktur, in Switzerland.
The next chapbooks in the series, which will be released:
- Grandville, a translation of the imaginative essay with the same title by Ruben Darío, originally published in the book El mundo de los sueños, prosas póstumas (1917). This translation will be accompanied by: “The Collection” by Ramon Lasalle, “In the Chapel of Bones” by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel and “Reading in the Absence of the Text: Notes on the Spiritual Meaning of the Massacres” by Thomas Stromsholt.
- The Kinsman of Fifty-three Monarchs, a translation of a rare story by Camilo Castelo Branco, accompanied by three tales: “The Oblivion” by Ramon Lasalle, “The Horror in the Table of Contents” by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel and “The Bastion Overwhelmed” by Damian Murphy.
- Grandville, a translation of the imaginative essay with the same title by Ruben Darío, originally published in the book El mundo de los sueños, prosas póstumas (1917). This translation will be accompanied by: “The Collection” by Ramon Lasalle, “In the Chapel of Bones” by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel and “Reading in the Absence of the Text: Notes on the Spiritual Meaning of the Massacres” by Thomas Stromsholt.
- The Kinsman of Fifty-three Monarchs, a translation of a rare story by Camilo Castelo Branco, accompanied by three tales: “The Oblivion” by Ramon Lasalle, “The Horror in the Table of Contents” by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel and “The Bastion Overwhelmed” by Damian Murphy.