The Orchard Beach Codex

[David Stafford]

Some of you may remember the Orchard Beach Codex. For those who don't a quick recap. The OBC, so-called because it washed ashore in Old Orchard Beach, Maine in 1947, is an obscure collection of medieval documents cobbled together some around the turn of one of the centuries. At one time, many scholars say, the OBC was over 6,000 pages long, its pages consisting of a compendium Bible quotes, language primers, advice for the lovelorn and recipes for kippered snacks. Over time the OBC was whittled down to a few precious pages which happened to find its way into my mailbox by way of Nancy Bell Scott who by strange coincidence lives in Old Orchard Beach. Amazing. Wrapped in this colorful chapbook and festooned with what many think may be Gaelic runes or Asemic Kanji....

it contained a few precious pages, perhaps all this is left of the OBC including this treatise on Gluck....

which Nancy has freely translated from the Old German. Also included were these pages....

 a page from the graphic novelization of the Icelandic epic poem Gevorsk (I'll be including a translation as soon as all the St Paddy's day hoopla subsides) and a Post Toasties ad which includes the timeless copywriting line: "or for supper when something particularly dainty is wanted..." Many scholars believe this is the last time food was referred to as "dainty." Nancy, I will not rest until the entire OBC has been reassembled, annotated and digested. A hearty thanks for this invaluable contribution to medieval scholarship.

 

[DKeys]

These are some great art-ifacts   I'd love to see an English/David Staffordish translation of that cartoon. is it written in German? I only recognize a couple words from it:  sex and laboratory

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Yah, and advice for the lovelorn that I could have used in the past, please.

[vizma bruns]

the wee girl...hmm, I could use this nom de plume..

Hats off to you Nancy, this is a ripsnorter of a mail art!

and fab blog, David, can you give us a recipe for kippered snacks? ;-)

[Nancy Bell Scott]

KDJ, you are on TOP of it!!! Yes, absolutely! What a meaningful and darling reminder, T.Y.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Who but David would figure out what to do with this mess? Every single sentence has me laughing as not in ages. It has always been a grandiose goal of mine to contribute to medieval scholarship in this significant a way, and how lucky for it to end up taking no conscious effort. Thank you for the enlightenment, David. And thank you KDJ, Marie, and Lisa, but of course the star of this blog is presidential candidate David Stafford, most well deserved. Rah rah!

[Marie Wintzer]

I see. I like "Stuck on Gluck" :-))

[David Stafford]

It looks like a poster for an art show in the 50s...available in the museum gift shop....

[David Stafford]

Marie, that's all Nancy....painted on old book paper....very classy.... 

[Marie Wintzer]

David, is this "authentic" NBS yours? The very first picture, I mean. Is it an NBS or a DS? I think she will love that!