BLEST BE THE TIE is the first volume of THE GOINS BRICOLAGE, a comic history of a visionary and his family, and the time and place in which they live. It is the story of Wilton Fox Goins, a highly competent and driven businessman of the first half of the 20th century who aspires to wealth, power and influence for himself, his family, his church and his beloved community of Aschburgh.

A clear-eyed fellow, determined to get what he wants out of life, while at the same time doing God's will, Wilton's dreams and aspirations are all too often thwarted by the even greater artistic aspirations of his wife Marva, by the Great Depression and the triumph of his bete noire Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as by the grinding provincial realites of life in Tecumseh and Stonewall Counties in the great Hoosier State of Indiana.

In this collection of NOTES Alexander Lawrence speaks in poetic form of some of the ordinary people and places which have strongly influenced his life. Responding in a human rather than clinical fashion to the ugly realities of child abuse and drug addiction, as well as to the heroic effort of ordinary folks to live with dignity despite grinding poverty, the author shares feelings about some of the children, parents and grandparents he knew and loved during his years as a child abuse investigator in New York City.

Glancing back at other parts of his life, Lawrence records short and often humorous NOTES on love, lust, marriage and the human condition. A fascination with the streets and people of the towns and cities in which he has lived and worked is evident throughout the collection. Of special interest are his NOTES on the streets of Williamsburgh in Brooklyn as it was forty years ago, a community of several ethnic groups struggling and sometimes battling to work out a shared life in a small space.

"HAVE THINE OWN WAY" is the fourth volume of THE GOINS BRICOLAGE, a saga of Tecumseh and Stonewall Counties in the State of Indiana. In this volume Lamar Ainsley Goins, an inept, middleaged minister of the Gospel who despite himself achieves national and international success, is driven from the pulpit of The Temple of Holy Truth & World Outreach Center of Aschburgh by his arch-enemy The Reverend Doctor Carter Bald.

After a prolonged period of depression Lamar Ainsley begins a second career in Philately as the Assistant Editor For Oddities and Rarities (AEOR) of Mingold Philatelics, Ltd. of Wapakeneta, Ohio. Frustrated in this new career by the indecisiveness and personal agendas of his employers, Lucius and Mindy Mingold, Lamar's life comes to an abrupt end under murky, if not suspicious, circumstances.

As Lamar's life and careers are spiraling out of control, his wife Starla Leanne and his sister Step Goins Perkins are busy reinventing and reinvigorating the town of Aschburgh. When Starla Leanne gives birth to Hans Ainsley Winslow Goins, the heir to the entire Goins Empire, she is prophetically declared both the Blessed Mother and the Handmaid of the Lord, and begins to move decisively into the position of head of the Goins Family and fortune.

"He was a poet of the first order, a humorist, a philosopher, a man of affairs. He achieved fame as an English-Indian dialect writer and journalist. He was the leading man of the Creeks and the one great man produced by the Confederacy known as the Five Civilized Tribes." Published posthumously in 1910, The Poems of Lawrence Alexander Posey both a collection of poetry and short memoir by one of the late nineteenth century's leading Native American voices, Alexander Posey. Born near Eufaula, Posey was the eldest of twelve children who were raised within the Creek Nation but incorporated into European culture. Being fluent in the Muscogee language, Posey would be encouraged by his father to learn English, ultimately leading to his love of the written word and his exposure to the Indian Journal where he would go on to submit his poetry. Professionally typeset with a beautifully designed cover, this edition of The Poems of Alexander Lawrence Posey is a classic of Native American literature reimagined for the modern reader.

Once a vibrant part of religious life for many Pennsylvania Germans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Fraktur manuscripts today are primarily studied for their decorative qualities. The Word in the Wilderness takes a different view, probing these documents for what they tell us about the lived religious experiences of the Protestant communities that made and used them and opening avenues for reinterpretation of this well-known, if little understood, set of cultural artifacts. The resplendent illuminated religious manuscripts commonly known as Fraktur have captivated collectors and scholars for generations. Yet fundamental questions about their cultural origins, purpose, and historical significance remain. Alexander Lawrence Ames addresses these by placing Fraktur manuscripts within a "Pietist paradigm," grounded in an understanding of how their makers viewed "the Word," or scripture. His analysis combines a sweeping overview of Protestant Christian religious movements in Europe and early America with close analysis of key Pennsylvania devotional manuscripts, revealing novel insights into the religious utility of calligraphy, manuscript illumination, and devotional reading as Protestant spiritual enterprises. Situating the manuscripts in the context of transatlantic religious history, early American spirituality, material culture studies, and the history of book and manuscript production, Ames challenges long-held approaches to Pennsylvania German studies and urges scholars to engage with these texts and with their makers and users on their own terms. Featuring dozens of illustrations, this lively, engaging book will appeal to Fraktur scholars and enthusiasts, historians of early America, and anyone interested in the material culture and spiritual practices of the German-speaking residents of Pennsylvania.

A lavishly illustrated volume showcasing some of the most important bookplates produced in America from the collection of the Grolier Club. A miniature work of art, a bookplate may be viewed as a metaphorical portrait of a collector or library, using the designer’s personal graphic style. It also tells a story about the relationship between the artist and the patron. Illustrious collectors ranging from Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Elkins Widener, J.P. Morgan and Paul Mellon come to life through bookplates by such celebrated figures as Dorothy Sturgis Harding, Eric Gill, Walter Crane, Rudolph Koch, and Rockwell Kent. Grolier Club Bookplates, Past & Present is a veritable who’s-who of both book collectors and the graphic artists who created their personalized ex-libris over the past 130 years, down to the present day. This carefully researched and amply annotated book not only provides a feast for a bibliophile’s eyes but also explores the meaning behind bookplates and their legacy as cultural indicators in book history.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

In this collection of NOTES Alexander Lawrence speaks in poetic form of some of the ordinary people and places which have strongly influenced his life. Responding in a human rather than clinical fashion to the ugly realities of child abuse and drug addiction, as well as to the heroic effort of ordinary folks to live with dignity despite grinding poverty, the author shares feelings about some of the children, parents and grandparents he knew and loved during his years as a child abuse investigator in New York City.

Glancing back at other parts of his life, Lawrence records short and often humorous NOTES on love, lust, marriage and the human condition. A fascination with the streets and people of the towns and cities in which he has lived and worked is evident throughout the collection. Of special interest are his NOTES on the streets of Williamsburgh in Brooklyn as it was forty years ago, a community of several ethnic groups struggling and sometimes battling to work out a shared life in a small space.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.