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1Cupid's Cyclopedia

By John Cecil Clay and Oliver Herford

This 1910 short work is by the English-born American humorist, satirist, and illustrator Oliver Herford, aided by another caricaturist and illustrator, John Cecil Clay. Herford’s books were usually short and quite popular in their time. He is a master of the witty remark and joke, i.e., “Many are called but few get up” and “Only the young die good”. Cupid’s Cyclopedia is a jesting alphabetical list of words and their definitions dealing with the course of true love; the book closes with an essay on the same subject entitled “Amoria,” a tongue-in-cheek imaginative travelogue on “the most ancient and honorable country upon the earth’s surface.” The text has many illustrations that make the author’s thoughts more entertaining and often clearer. There is an appendix, but the text indicates that it has been removed. (Summary by David Wales)

2Stories from Le Morte D'Arthur and the Mabinogion

By Beatrice E. Clay

"Among the stories of world-wide renown, not the least stirring are those that have gathered about the names of national heroes. The Æneid, the Nibelungenlied, the Chanson de Roland, the Morte D'Arthur,—they are not history, but they have been as National Anthems to the races, and their magic is not yet dead," is how Beatrice Clay unravels the magical journey through the most interesting adventures of King Arthur, his heirs and his companions. - Summary by AnaNaumoska