Terrible Analogies

If you missed the initial post that ignited the flurry of e-mail and (on my part) fan-boy gushing, here’s the link to the initial blog entry where I wrote up some thoughts about an amazing book that I happened to stumble upon one fateful day while perusing my favorite used book store.  The day after posting this particular entry the author of the book contacted me and offered to sign my copy his book.

I was shocked.  Nay…I was stunned that William Drake took the time to not only respond to my post, but he generously offered to sign my copy of his book and even wrote to me in a follow-up e-mail catching me up on what he was currently up to.  Man, let me be the first one to say that Mr. Drake is not only a gentleman and scholar, but a damn fine human being to boot.

Sir, you have made the wife’s and my Christmas card list ’till the end of time.  And lemme tell ya, that’s not the easiest list to get on

My signed copy, minus my incriminating RL name...

Bill, I am in your debt.  It’s the rare breed that stands apart from the herd offering to do what most other people would not given the choice and the chance.  You’ve shown your true quality, and for that I offer my most humble thanks.

Bored during my one day off from work this week I found myself thumbing through my copy of Edward R. Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information when I happened upon this old advertisement from a 1938 Johnson & Smith Catalogue hocking “Luminous Glasses”.  Apparently these gimmicky eyeglass frames were coated with a layer of luminescent paint which, if worn in a dark environment, would glow in unusual patterns.  

Was this some sort of a fad in the late thirties?  Did people spend an unusual amount of their time in dark alcoves and gothic recesses, generating the desperate need for glow-in-the-dark eyewear?  Was this fad akin to wearing an onion in your belt, swallowing live goldfish, sporting conk hairstyles, or wearing Member’s Only jackets?

This fad must have stayed in the public consciousness long enough to allow the manufacturer time to expand their eyewear line to include “Window Spectacles” and “Spectacles & Nose” models, the latter making the wearer look like some sort of twisted neoprimitive medicine man running wild on an all night bender of illicit stimulants washed down with Red Bull & vodka.   

Ya know, the more I look at this advertisement, the more it gives off an awfully powerful psychedelic vibe making it seem more at home in a Timothy Leary testimonial, a Tom Wolfe / William S. Burroughs novel, or a Victor Moscoso poster than in a 30′s novelty catalogue.

I was introduced to the writings of Richard Brautigan through a friend while in high school.  His name was Daniel and he collected snakes.  Daniel had long blond hair which he wore in a ponytail, he wore flannel shirts which were popular at the time, and he walked with an assumed limp because he enjoyed the attention it brought.  

One afternoon he asked me if I had ever read the book Trout Fishing In America, which I hadn’t, and I told him so.  The next day while eating lunch on the grass behind the lockers Daniel came up to me and tossed a book into my lap, knocking my sandwich out of my hands.  ”Read this,” he said to me as he slowly turned and limped away, which I’m positive he did for dramatic effect.

It was this copy, published in 1973, the pages tanned the color of tea, that he dropped into my life.  

Inside, the book read:  ”GLASS/HANDLE WITH CARE/SPECIAL HANDLING/GLASS/DON’T SPILL/THIS SIDE UP/HANDLE THIS WINO LIKE HE WAS AN ANGEL”

I haven’t spoken to Daniel in over twenty years.  If you’re out there Daniel, I want to thank you for turning me on to authors I would have never been exposed to if you weren’t around.

Wandering the narrow, musty isles of a now defunct used bookstore in downtown San Diego, I happened upon an oddly shaped tanned book buried deep in one of the hundreds of overflowing and teetering dog-eared shelves.  Sliding it out of the shadows and into the flicker of the florescent lights I flipped it over in my hands and was greeted by an mesmerizing picture of a elderly pipe-smoking Asian from a time long past.  What I was holding was an amazingly well-preserved copy of The International Cultivator’s Handbook written by one William Daniel Drake Jr.

In this book, William Drake discusses the cultivation techniques and serving suggestions for hashish, coca, opium, and cannabis.  Contained within its pages were brilliantly amateurish photos snapped from around the world showing peoples from various cultures growing, harvesting, and ingesting a bevy of exotic and illicit substances.  I instantly fell for the low-fi, xeroxed, and pixilated black & white photos that were shuttered in a time long before computers and Adobe Photoshop existed.  I could imaging this William Drake person traveling the world with nothing more than a Kodak camera and an adventurous desire to understand not only how drugs are manufactured, but also to appreciate the cultures from which these drugs originated from.

Personally I don’t use drugs, but I could appreciate the amount of work that went into this book and the bravery it took to willingly travel into what I’m almost certain were potentially hostile environments.  I’m sure the world was a bit tamer in 1974 when this book was published, but I’m guessing that the dangers and threats from a society dependent on the production of drugs was still tangible and I’m sure very real.

I’ve been wondering what ever became of William Drake.  Has his pace slowed with the years, possibly enjoying his golden years content with the knowledge that he managed to get several books printed in his lifetime, possibly helping to shape the lives of countless numbers of people?  Did he lose his mind or did he find enlightenment?  Would he be available to autograph a copy of one of his books?  Is he still with us, or has he left this mortal coil?

Regardless, to cover all bases and honor his passing/non-passing, here are a selection of the photos found in The International Cultivator’s Handbook (click to embiggen):

UPDATE: William Drake was kind enough to comment on this post, and even offered to sign my copy of this book.  Mr. Drake is still very much active, running an info-heavy web site entitled Smoke And Illusion where you can order an online version of his latest book The Cultivator’s Handbook of Native, Natural Tobacco.

UPDATE 2: Mr. Drake was a man of his word, going out of his way to sign my copy of his book.  Check it out in this post.