Library Sale Day

Today at the quarterly sale at Alden Library, I came across some great finds. I got two - TWO! - books by Flannery O'Connor. I got a Graham Greene novel and an Evelyn Waugh novel - a first edition of The Loved One.

I also got A Canticle for Leibowitz, one of my old favorites.

And all for just five dollars!

I found a really amusing book, too, which I did not buy, although I was tempted. It was The Vatican in World Politics, published in 1949. At first I thought it might be an interesting treatise, but when I started to page through it, I got some laughs instead. It was basically a long screed about the Vatican's Spiritual Totalitarianism, and its links with the Soviets, etc. Now that I Amazoned the author, Avro Manhattan, I find, surprise surprise, that he basically writes nothing but anti-Catholic stuff. For instance:

The Vatican-Moscow Alliance

The Vatican Moscow Washington Alliance (Ooo! A three way conspiracy!)

Vatican Imperialism in the 20th Century

Murder in the Vatican: American, Russian, and Papal Plots

Vatican Billions

Do we obsess much? I basically just started scanning the list to see if I could find a title without the word "Vatican" in it. And there were a few:

Catholic Terror in Ireland

The Catholic Church against the Twentieth Century

This guy needs help.

Many of these were written for our old and notorious friend, Jack Chick, and his publishing house, Chick Publications. Not much of a surprise. But then again, another one of his books was published under the title Catholic Imperialism and World Freedom (Atheist Viewpoint Series). And the 1949 book I saw at today's sale was part of a series dedicated to helping humanity throw off the chains of superstitious religion, etc. Perhaps Mr. Manhattan was just freelancing his hate to Mr. Chick. Funny how loathing the Catholic Church can win you some pretty odd bedfellows...