John G. Nicolay and John Hay - "Abraham Lincoln: A History V1"

David Hume - "An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals"

Sir Walter Scott - "The Monastery"

J.B. Moyle, Translator - "The Institutes of Justinian"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: Imperial Purple

E >> Edgar Saltus >> Imperial Purple




It would have been curious to have seen him in that wonderful
palace, clothed like a Persian queen, insisting that he should be
addressed as Imperatrix, and quite living up to the title. It
would not only be interesting, it would give one an insight into
just how much the Romans could stand. It would have been curious,
also, to have assisted at that superb and poetic ceremonial, in
which, having got Tanit from Carthage as consort for Elagabal, he
presided, girt with the pomp of church and state, over the
nuptials of the Sun and Moon.

He had read Suetonius, and not an eccentricity of the Caesars
escaped him. He would not hunt flies by the hour, as Domitian had
done, for that would be mere imitation; but he could collect
cobwebs, and he did, by the ton. Caligula and Vitellius had been
famous as hosts, but the feasts that Heliogabalus gave outranked
them for sheer splendor. From panels in the ceiling such masses of
flowers fell that guests were smothered. Those that survived had
set before them glass game and sweets of crystal. The menu was
embroidered on the table-cloth--not the mere list of dishes, but
pictures drawn with the needle of the dishes themselves. And
presently, after the little jest in glass had been enjoyed, you
were served with camel's heels; combs torn from living cocks;
platters of nightingale tongues; ostrich brains, prepared with
that garum sauce which the Sybarites invented, and of which the
secret is lost; therewith were peas and grains of gold; beans and
amber peppered with pearl dust; lentils and rubies; spiders in
jelly; lion's dung, served in pastry. The guests that wine
overcame were carried to bedrooms. When they awoke, there staring
at them were tigers and leopards--tame, of course; but some of the
guests were stupid enough not to know it, and died of fright.

All this was of a nature to amuse a lad who had made the phallus
the chief object of worship; who had banished Jupiter, dismissed
Isis; who, over paths that were strewn with lilies, had himself,
in the attributes of Bacchus, drawn by tigers; by lions as Mother
of the Gods; again, by naked women, as Heliogabalus on his way to
wed a vestal, and procure for the empire a child that should be
wholly divine.

It amused Rome, too, and his prodigalities in the circus were such
that Lampridus admits that the people were glad he was emperor.
Neither Caligula nor Nero had been as lavish, and neither Caligula
nor Nero as cruel. The atrocities he committed, if less vast than
those of Caracalla's, were more acute. Domitian even was surpassed
in the tortures invented by a boy, so dainty that he never used
the same garments, the same shoes, the same jewels, the same woman
twice.

In spite of this, or perhaps precisely on that account, the usual
conspirators were at work, and one day this little painted girl,
who had prepared several devices for a unique and splendid
suicide, was taken unawares and tossed in the latrinae.

In him the glow of the purple reached its apogee. Rome had been
watching a crescendo that had mounted with the years. Its
culmination was in that hermaphrodite. But the tension had been
too great--something snapped; there was nothing left--a procession
of colorless bandits merely, Thracians, Gauls, Pannonians,
Dalmatians, Goths, women even, with Attila for a climax and the
refurbishing of the world.

Rome was still mistress, but she was growing very old. She had
conquered step by step. When one nation had fallen, she garrotted
another. To vanquish her, the earth had to produce not only new
races, but new creeds. The parturitions, as we know, were
successful. Already the blue, victorious eyes of Vandal and of
Goth were peering down at Rome; already they had whispered
together, and over the hydromel had drunk to her fall. The earth's
new children fell upon her, not one by one, but all at once, and
presently the colossus tottered, startling the universe with the
uproar of her agony; calling to gods that had vacated the skies;
calling to Jupiter; calling to Isis; calling in vain. Where the
thunderbolt had gleamed, a crucifix stood. On the shoulders of a
prelate was the purple that had dazzled the world.