Mendel's Many Books

    Readers of MM will know that I have often posted about libraries created by individuals. Here is a recent description of a book collection that was not appreciated by those who managed the building in which it was held.

   Mendel Uminer moved into a small studio apartment in Manhattan just over a year ago. He is a young Jewish scholar, so he brought with him around 10,000 books which came to occupy much of the 600 square feet. This description of his abode and lifestyle will appeal to any bibliophile:

  "Towering stacks of Judaica lined the walls, heaps of film criticism and opera history filled the prewar bathroom, piles of plays and poems blocked a window, and Uminer slept on a floor mattress engulfed in dog-eared novels. Waking up around noon, he spent his afternoons on his sunlit chaise, devouring the works of Yiddish writers like Chaim Grade and critics like Edmund Wilson, nourishing his mind while the city churned outside."

   Of course, such an existence could not last. He was evicted, not because of his Jewishness, but his bookishness. The notice reads, " “You are violating a substantial obligation of your tenancy,” it began. “You are maintaining the Premises in a severely overcluttered condition; permitting the over-accumulation of books in the Premises; creating a fire hazard by over-accumulating combustible books in the Premises.”
  His bookseller friend argued, “Of all the vices, I find books to be the least dangerous,” Mizrahi said. “I think it’s possible his landlord might have their priorities misplaced, or might not understand him. If you’re not steeped in his culture, maybe his library does look chaotic. But I’d argue it only looks like a mess. I’ll bet he can tell you where every single book is in his apartment.”
  The landlord was not moved by such an argument and Mendel recently moved out on a rainy day. One observer noted, “I heard he’s found a bigger apartment, so that means, more books."

Source: "Too Many Books?: Mendel Uminer Faced a Crisis When His Landlord Objected to the 10,000 Volumes in His New York Studio Apartment," Alex Vadukul, New York Times, July 9, 2026.

John Kenneth Galbraith

   I realized a while back that John Kenneth Galbraith died twenty years ago and that his name is not mentioned as much as it should be. So, on a fine summer day a few weeks ago, my wife and I drove the short distance from London to the Iona Station area where he was born over 100 years ago. For now, I will just focus on that trip and his local connection. When the weather is not so fine, I plan to write more about what he wrote.

The Trip to Dutton
   The library in Dutton is named after Galbraith and is located not too far from his homestead. The librarian on duty was helpful and offered me directions to it and the library has a good collection of his books.

  In 1993, Galbraith returned to the area to help raise funds for the construction of the library. Although he was Scottish, he donated his lecture fee to the cause. Apparently he once asked about the local reaction to his book, The Scotch, and learned that there were two of them: 1) those mentioned in the book and didn't like it, and 2) those not mentioned who didn't like it. Port Glasgow, by the way, is close by.

The photo above is found in Western News, April 15, 1993

  The map indicates where the field is located, in front of which are two plaques and an appropriately tall inukshuk.

  It is likely that the site honouring Galbraith is passed by without notice and it is on a dirt road not heavily travelled. Back in 2014, there is a letter found in the London Free Press, indicating that more should be done to improve the site. See, "GALBRAITH SITE OVERLOOKED" - Southwest of London, the municipality of Dutton-Dunwich, and specifically Iona Station, are known as the birthplace of world renowned economist (and Order of Canada recipient) John Kenneth Galbraith. The Galbraith farm is marked by two bronze plaques and a stone inukshuk honouring the Canadian roots of one of the world's most influential economists and advisor to several U.S. Presidents. Apparently people visit the site from many places about the world." C. Lloyd Brown-John, Aug. 30, 2014.

  There are good reasons for honouring Galbraith and I hope to post about them when the weather is worse.

Sources:
   This link to The Dutton Advance from April 14,1993 provides three pieces about the Dutton Library and Galbraith's visit in 1993.

   Galbraith has visited the area on other occasions. In 1978, for example as this photo indicates. "And in London, Ontario, the largest gathering of academics in the world comes to Western to unravel the issues of the day and share their scholarly insight. The year was 1978, the last time Western played host to the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Western was celebrating its 100th birthday at the time..."Looking Back at Congress, 1978," Dahlia Reich, Western News, May 26, 2005.
   On March 26, 2022, the London Free Press reprinted a piece originally done in 2003: "In a Wide-ranging Interview, John Kenneth Galbraith Spoke About His Hometown, About Canada, the War in Iraq and the Fate of Liberal Economics in the United States," Randy Richmond, LFP, Oct. 11, 2003: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – As he approached his 95th birthday, Dutton-born John Kenneth Galbraith – world-renowned economist, former adviser to four presidents and U.S. ambassador to India – met with Randy Richmond of The London Free Press at his home in Massachusetts. Galbraith, who would die at age 98, opened up in a wide-ranging Q-and-A that was first published in our print editions on Saturday Oct. 11, 2003."

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 30)

 A Heat Wave 100 Years Ago - 1926

Tragedy in Peterboro

Source: 

  Both reports are found on the front page of the Daily Kennebec Journal on July 22, 1926. It was published in Maine which explains the spelling of Peterborough.
   The Balsam Lake incident is described more recently by the CBC.
"Monument to 11 Who Died in Balsam Lake Canoe Disaster Restored: In 1926, Balsam Lake Was the Scene of One of the Worst Pleasure Craft Disasters in Ontario History," Michael Smee, CBC News, May 21, 2024.

   "Most of the victims were Toronto boys. Their funerals and subsequent burial beneath a massive, roughly four-metre-high cross at St. James Cemetery, near Bloor and Parliament streets, made headlines around the world, in July of 1926.

   As a poignant addition, a small stone perimeter around the graves was etched with the names of all 11 victims.

   But as the decades passed, so did the city's memories of  the tragedy.

   The engraved stone rim became overgrown with weeds. Vandals toppled the once imposing granite cross years ago; it was left as it fell.
  But now, thanks to Balsam Lake resident Doug Paterson, Toronto's St.James Cemetery has refurbished the site, landscaping the graves and replacing the stone cross. It'll all be officially unveiled at a special rededication ceremony, to be held June 20." [2024].

Henry Miller's Library

   

    A few months ago, Highway 1 along the California coast re-opened after landslides had made sections of it impassable. Right now, it is likely to be a road not taken by Canadians, given the political situation, but keep it in mind for a bucket list road trip. Admittedly, visiting a library along this route may be low on the list, but if there is fog, you may want to check out the Henry Miller Memorial Library which is mentioned in this article: “Tight Curves and Wide Horizons," Finn-Olaf Jones, New York Times,  April 28, 2026: 

 “Big Sur is a place of splendor, a savage beauty beyond words,” wrote Henry Miller, who lived here for nearly two decades. Farther up the highway, the Henry Miller Memorial Library echoes the lingering New Age energy that hums along this stretch of coast with poetry readings, tie-dyed patrons and pathways shaded by low, branch-woven canopies.

  At Henrymiller.org one finds this:

"The Henry Miller Memorial Library is dedicated to preserving and advancing the spirit of Henry Miller by fostering literature, art, music, and free expression.  Through public programs, education, and community engagement, the Library serves as a cultural gathering place that encourages open inquiry, creative exploration, and the preservation of Big Sur’s natural and cultural heritage." The website for the Henry Miller Memorial Library explains that it was established by Miller's friend: 
   "Created by Emil White, a longtime friend and confidant of Henry Miller. Miller dedicated “Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch” to White, describing him as “One of the few friends who has never failed me.” While he is known primarily for his association with Miller, White was one of Big Sur’s most colorful characters, a brilliant painter, and a remarkable person in his own right. After Miller died in 1980, White decided to maintain his property as a memorial to his friend and as a gallery where local artists could show their work. In 1981, with the assistance of the Big Sur Land Trust (BSLT), he converted his home into the Library. Emil spent the rest of his life as director of the new institution, which evolved into a local center for the arts. At his death in 1989, White bequeathed the “Henry Miller Memorial Library, Founded by Emil White,” to the Big Sur Land Trust. “With this bequest,” White wrote in his Last Will and Testament, “I am encouraging support and maintenance of said Library, and to promote and enhance the scholarly research and worldwide enjoyment of Henry Miller’s literary and artistic works.” I have mentioned in MM that there are often journals devoted to authors and there is one for Miller - Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal.

CANCON
  Of course, Miller's work was controversial in Canada as well, and not just because of the sex. The question, "Why Henry Miller's Work Was Banned?" was answered back in 2004 at York University, from which this is taken:
   "He had a forthrightness about life as he was experiencing it," said Susan Swan, a humanities professor in York University’s Faculty of Arts, as well as the author of The Wives of Bath, The Last of the Golden Girls and the upcoming What Casanova Told Me. "He didn't bow to any literary conventions of the time, that literature should be artful and describe sex elliptically. He wandered right in and said what he saw, and I think in that way he had a profound influence on other writers. It was a call to describe the world as it was rather than something that was more idealized." Even more subversive, said Swan, was Miller's dismissal of the puritan work ethic driving his fellow citizens back home – a notion that might shock contemporary society far more than Miller's shattering of sexual boundaries. "He was one of the first North American writers to tackle the subject of pleasure in our lives and critique the notion of life to be lived for the bottom line," she says. "He wanted to appreciate life as it was lived. He was kind of a hippie that way. That, too, is revolutionary and still rather suspect....If he was around today, he'd probably laugh at the way technology has made us work that much harder."

  He was even censored on the more liberal left coast of Canada. The image above is from: "This Week in History: 1961, RCMP Raid the Vancouver Public Library Over a Notorious Novel: Tropic of Cancer Was One of the Most Controversial Books of the 20th century," John Mackie, Vancouver Sun, Oct. 12, 2018.

   "October 13th, 1961, fell on a Friday. And it was definitely unlucky for Vancouver fans of writer Henry Miller.

“Royal Canadian Mounted Police swooped down on bookstores and the Vancouver Public Library Friday in a hunt for copies of author Henry Miller’s sex-in-Paris novel, Tropic of Cancer.

“They were armed with a little-used blanket warrant called a ‘writ of assistance’ which enables them to enter public buildings, commercial establishments and even private homes to search for the controversial novel.

“Two plainclothes officers seized one volume at Duthie Books and learned three other volumes were in circulation from the public library."

 "Tropic of Cancer was one of the most controversial books of the 20th century. It was published in Paris in 1934, in a limited run of 1,000 copies. But the “sex-packed confession of Bohemian life in Paris” quickly became notorious and was banned most everywhere, including in Canada and the States."

The Bonus: 
   Miller had a relationship with Anaïs Nin. I wrote about her library which is in Los Angeles. See: "Anaïs Nin's Library".
This is from, "True Love: Anais Nin & Henry Miller":

  " Nin and Miller were both separately married when they met in 1931 but the attraction was so palpable they began an illicit affair, amongst a cavalcade of wife-swapping and threesomes of course.

  Nin and Miller’s literary friendship and stretching of sexual boundaries moved into an intense romance that lasted for decades, and she aborted his child 1934.  It is worth noting that Nin documented her life in her colossal collection of diaries, within which she offered inexhaustible exploration and insight into her relationships. They were both consistent, insistent lovers; he wrote sexually detailed passages, she was deemed one of the finest female erotica writers, undoubtedly both encouraged by their passionate addiction to one another. In France, the triangulated love affairs were as common as the flow of wine."

Marilyn Monroe

 HAD A LIBRARY
   Most will have seen the photo of Monroe standing over a subway grate, but it is likely that few will have pictured her sitting, reading a book. She had a core collection of 400 that moved with her and had collected many more.

    Monroe, who died 64 years ago, would have turned 100 this year. She is the subject of a new book which is about her books rather than her body. Information about, Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe, by Gail Crowther, is easily found on Amazon and the London Public Library has ordered an audio and a print copy. To help you determine if you should buy or borrow this book, here are some reviews.

1. “Books Are a Star’s Best Friend: The Little-known Reading Habits of a Hollywood Icon,” Noah Isenberg, The American Scholar, May 28, 2026.
   "Her sex appeal proved inescapable, but Monroe was far more than just a pin-up; she was fiercely intelligent, ambitious, and savvy in her professional life. Author Gail Crowther, whose previous subjects include Dorothy Parker, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton, shifts the focus to this formerly neglected terrain in her highly illuminating, jauntily-paced Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe....
   "On set, Monroe was known to carry her prized possessions with her—when making All About Eve (1950), she brought with her to the set a copy of Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. She was especially fond of verse and owned numerous volumes by various poets from Shakespeare, Milton, and García Lorca to Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marjorie Tilden, and Heinrich Heine. “I read poetry to save time,” she once remarked with the kind of playful, witty nonchalance she often exhibited on screen...."
  "Crowther makes abundantly clear that Monroe was far more than the “dumb blonde” or Hollywood sexpot she was all too often made out to be. Marilyn and Her Books offers a more nuanced, complex narrative and is a powerful corrective to received wisdom—arguing convincingly, on the eve of Monroe’s centennial, that she must be “recast and reimagined: not the late, not the ditzy, not the bombshell, not the difficult, but the intelligent Marilyn Monroe.”

2. "Some Like It Literary: How Marilyn Monroe Gave a Smart Gloss to Her Image," Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, May 24, 2026.
 "In MARILYN AND HER BOOKS: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe (Gallery, 290 pp., $30), Gail Crowther attempts to debunk Monroe’s dumb-blonde reputation through the Murphy door of her private library...."
  "It is refreshing to contemplate Monroe as reader, for as muse she has been stretched thinner than the diaphanous scarves in a Bert Stern photo. Someone so holographic is far more humanized by what was on her shelves than by some rotten rouge or the moth-eaten, Kardashian-appropriated frocks from her closet....
  "She dined on oysters and champagne with Carson McCullers and Isak Dinesen, who likened her to a lion cub; and summited with Edith Sitwell, who remarked that “in repose her face was at moments strangely, prophetically tragic, like the face of a beautiful ghost. A little spring-ghost, an innocent fertility daemon, the vegetation spirit that was Ophelia...." 
“She showed an interest in intellectual subjects which was, to say the least, disconcerting,” remarked the acidulous George Sanders, who appeared with her in “All About Eve.” “She was somebody in a play not yet written.”

3. "Marilyn Monroe Read books. A Lot of Them," Mark Judge, Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, April 30, 2026.
   "That’s the revelation of Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe, a fascinating new volume by Gail Crowther. It isn’t a grasping-at-straws attempt to make Monroe a literary figure based on her love of a few good novels. Crowther has done her research, itemizing the books Monroe owned when she died, finding receipts for books she bought at the Ivy Bookstore in Los Angeles, and going through old letters in which Monroe discussed her favorite books. Monroe was a reader, which may explain why she was drawn to one of her husbands, the playwright Arthur Miller—a man who made his living with words...."
 "Most of Monroe’s books went to private collectors. One anonymous woman from Boston purchased five of her books and then donated them to the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The books were each written by an American woman: My Ántonia and Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather; The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker; The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers; and The Little Disturbances of Man, a collection of short stories by Grace Paley. In January 2000, the library put the books on public display, and the then-acting director, Jane Knowles, said, “We are thrilled to receive these books from the library of Marilyn Monroe. This just goes to prove that there was more to Marilyn Monroe than the movie star and popular icon. She was also a reader. We are delighted to add her books to those of other illustrious women at the Schlesinger Library.” 
  Many of Monroe's items, including some books, can be seen on Julien's Auctions. Toynbee's, A Study of History, sold for almost $4000.
  
  For a related post about women book collectors see, "Women and Books". 

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 29)

 Rail Travel - The Good Old Days

From Chicago to the Western Fair in London -1896

  It was easier 130 years ago to travel by train from London to Chicago.

Source: Chicago Daily Tribune, Sept. 8, 1896.
   The St. Thomas Public Library published a "Railway History Chronology".
For more about the Wabash Railroad see "History of the Wabash Railroad" from which the following was borrowed:

For a related railroad post in MM see, "Slow-Speed Rail." 

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 28)

Royal Interest High Even During the Depression Decade 

Source: Globe & Mail, May 4, 1937