Bibliotheca: Lost Forbidden Texts Found After Scholar's Death

I am a book collector, however my library isn’t what it used to be because of a series of events and circumstances – but I love books, especially old books, texts, et cetera. Thus, my interest was sparked when I ran across the excellent article by Andrew Higgins in the Wall Street Journal entitled The Lost Archive. A section of my library contains books on theology – world religions and scholarly works on ancient and contemporary religious texts. One of the books in this category is one of my treasured volumes: A 1936 rare copy of the Qu’ran written in Arabic and English complete with footnotes in English. While stationed in Turkey I befriended the local bookstore proprietor and became a regular there, while also making regular stops at the Stars and Stripes bookstore in the American PX building in Izmir, Turkey where I obtained (through special order) a book containing Burl and Ives famous lithograph collection complete with its history from the time they opened their doors to the sad day they closed them. There, the proprietor, of whom I forgot his name (no, it wasn’t Mustafa, that was another Turkish friend), informed me one day that he had the rare 1936 bilingual Qu’ran. After examination, I was hesitant as to what it may cost. After a cup or two of Chi, Turkish tea, we discussed price. I ended up purchasing it for the equivalent US dollars in Turkish lira of $20.00. Actually, I should be ashamed – it was a steal. But I digress ...

DaVinci Code Revisited

I have written in the past matters concerning The DaVinci Code novel and film, written by Dan Brown, who uses his theory and beliefs and produces it in fiction form for readers to speculate on their own – causing a stir within Christendom and something to buzz about in blogs across cyberspace. Indeed, National Geographic made it a centerpiece for articles and a newer program concerning The Lost Gospel of Judas that is available on DVD. I wondered what the buzz was all about, considering it was written as a “what if” murder/mystery novel that takes place in modern times using excerpts from history and mysteries therein to create an interesting story and a movie of intrigue and action.