Author: James C. Chapman

1Hero and Leander

By George Chapman and Christopher Marlowe

“Who ever lov’d, that lov’d not at first sight?”<br/><br/> The wonder-decade of the English drama was suddenly interrupted in 1592, when serious plague broke out in London, forcing the closure of the theatres. Leading playwrights took to penning languorously erotic poetry to make ends meet: so we have Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece - and Marlowe’s blazing masterpiece, Hero and Leander.<br/><br/> Marlowe’s poem became more notorious than either of Shakespeare’s, due not only to its homophile provocations but also to the scandal attaching to every aspect of Marlowe’s brief life, violently ended in a mysterious brawl, leaving the poem in an unfinished state.<br/><br/> The edition read here includes the wonderful continuation by George Chapman, a versatile playwright: tragedian as well as author of Jonsonian metropolitan comedies: in short, an all-round literary craftsman, whose Homer translation was famously admired by Keats. Chapman excels in extended allegory, but also in pithiest epigram –<br/><br/> “Love is a golden bubble, full of dreams,<br/> That waking breaks, and fills us with extremes.” <br/><br/> All these playwrights come from the generation of grammar-school alumni raised on the secular curriculum of Latin poetry: above all, Ovid – the source of the story of Hero and Leander, and their “love-death” in the Hellespont.<br/> (Summary by Martin Geeson)

Great as is the debt of gratitude which the brewing industry owes to the labours of scientific men, it has been more than repaid by the immense services which that industry has indirectly rendered to the advancement of modern science. It may be said without exaggeration that in respect of the number of scientific investigations of the first order of importance to which it has given rise, the brewing industry stands easily preeminent among the industries of mankind, and that without the stimulus furnished by the desire to arrive at the meaning of some of the more important phenomena connected with the brewing of beer, both chemical and biological science would probably be the poorer today by some of their most valued intellectual achievements. . . . The brewing of beer is regarded by many as an operation of a simple and more or less mechanical description, which is not of sufficient importance to merit study or of sufficient interest to claim a share of their attention. It is in the hope of doing something, even though it be but little, to correct this widely spread impression, that I have most willingly accepted the invitation to contribute this little work to <i>The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature.</i> From the Preface.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 22 recordings of <i>To a Dog</i> by John Jay Chapman, published in 1917. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 6th, 2011 to mark this year's festivals of remembrance.<br /><br />Chapman's son Victor was the first American pilot to lose his life in aerial combat, while serving with the Escadrille Américaine in the First World War. This poem tells of the heartbreak of a bereaved father; the sentiment, though attributed to the son's dog, is familiar to all who have lost someone they loved, in peace or war. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)

Lockwood, Brooks & Co. Have nearly ready the volume of “Easter Hymns” selected by Miss J.E.C. Chapman, an accomplished lady of Boston, and introduced by a note from her uncle, Rev. Dr. J.I.T. Coolidge. The hymns are excellently chosen, and the volume will be brought out in tasteful style. It will commend itself to the favor of all Episcopalians, and to the devout in all denominations, to whom Easter is not a mere churchly date but a day of deep and glad significance. – The Publisher’s Weekly, March 18th, 1876.

If you have ever wondered why Spain (and not Japan, which was so so much better positioned to do it) was first to “settle” the Golden State, this book is for you. Professor Chapman has produced a comprehensive and highly entertaining popular history of “the Californias,” beginning with a nod to geography and the native races and carrying on through to the arrival of Old Glory in 1848. What might in less capable hands have proved a heavy historical loaf to digest is lightened and leavened with the yeast of “interesting incident” throughout. Consider the plight of the newly-appointed Governor of Alta California, Pedro Fages, whose own wife, the fiery Catalan Doña Eulalia Callis, who, when she wasn't giving away to the “naked indians” all of her own clothes (and the Governor's, too) secretly petitioned the authorities in Mexico for his removal from office. The author relates at some length the romantic story of beautiful Conceptión Argüello, who chose to wait faithfully all her life for the return of the rascally Razánov the Russian, with whom she had fallen in love. The tragic conclusion of this affair is touchingly imagined in an extended quote from the famous poem by Bret Harte.(1) But not all is frivolity. The historical meat is here as well, in breadth and in detail. The author's stated purpose is “to show that California history is important as well as interesting,—that the great Anza expedition of 1775-1776 and the Yuma massacre of 1781 demand inclusion in any comprehensive history of the United States,—that California, while it indeed has a romantic history to tell, has also a great deal more than that to contribute to the cherished traditions of the American people.” (Preface) (1) Conceptión de Argüello. by Bret Harte, Presidio de San Francisco, 1800. - Summary by Steven Seitel

6Radio Boys Trailing a Voice; Or, Solving a Wireless Mystery

By Allen Chapman

Radio is an ideal boy’s hobby, but it is not limited to youth. Nevertheless it offers a wonderful scope for the unquenchable enthusiasm that always accompanies the application of youthful endeavor, and it is a fact that the majority of the wonderful inventions and improvements that have been made in radio have been produced by young men. - Summary by Tom Hirsch "Allen Chapman" is one of the house pseudonyms of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a children's book powerhouse throughout the 1900s.

7Rustlers, Beware!

By Arthur Chapman

Cattle rustling had gotten out of control in northern Wyoming, so Asa Swingley is tasked with assembling a host of men to tend to the matter using whatever means necessary. He selects Milt Bertram to be one of his lead assistants, but Bertram becomes sidelined during the trip from Texas, which causes him to grow suspicious of the true nature of this expedition. What ensues leads Bertram to better understand his possible conflict of interest and what he must do to set matters straight. - Summary by Roger Melin

8Radio Boys with the Forest Rangers

By Allen Chapman

Radio is an ideal boy’s hobby, but it's not limited to youth. It offers a wonderful scope for the unquenchable enthusiasm that accompanies the application of youthful endeavor, and it's a fact that the majority of the wonderful inventions and improvements that have been made in radio have been produced by young men. <br> The Radio Boys are school chums enraptured by the thrill and potential of wireless voice transmission in the early days of the 20th Century. These are adventures of American youth as captured in print by Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne and Franklin W. Dixon. - Summary by Tom Hirsch "Allen Chapman" is one of the house pseudonyms of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a children's book powerhouse throughout the 1900s.

The everyday doings, special occasions and tall tales of Cactus Center as related in verse by famed cowboy poet Arthur Chapman, author of Out Where the West Begins. (Summary by Brian Fullen)