Enter the Lanthorn

Hello Stephen Crane fans! This week on the Stephen Crane blog we're taking a peek into the eerie world of a truly rare Stephen Crane related work, The Lanthorn Book! And if you notice how i drop the name of Stephen Crane more frequently than usual, it's because i am attempting to increase this blog's ranking on "Stephen Crane" Google searches. But that's a topic for another post!

Oh, The Lanthorn Book! What the heck is it? Stephen Crane and a few of his literary buddies formed a club in New York City. They'd write things to amuse eachother, get together, and drink lots of booze and smoke. In 1898 they cobbled together the funds to publish a "Lanthorn Book, Being A Small Collection of Tales and Verses and Read At The Sign O' the Lanthorn."

It contains the following, according to Williams & Starrett: "The Wise Men" by Stephen Crane, "The Answer of the Sea" by John Langdon Heaton, "The Night of a Thousand Years" by Irving Bacheller, illustrated by G.Y. Kauffman, "Larry and the Squg" by Willis Brooks Hawkins, illustrated by the author, "The Wheel" by Post Wheeler, illustrated by F.H. King, "It Came To Pass" by Charles B. Lewis (M. Quad), "Veiled Gods" by Charles Kelsey Gaines.

125 copies were printed and signed by some of the contributors. A quick online search turned up four copies of the Lanthorn Book. Copy #38 is being offered for sale by University Archives of Connecticut, for $5,000...not so much considering how rare it is & that it's signed by Crane. Click here to see the listing, and also an excellent description of the book & (praise John Reznikoff!) great photos of the front and back cover, plus the Crane signed page. Hurrah, i'll buy it if any of you want to loan me $5,000.

Another one is currently for sale, copy #9, for $6,000, by James Cummins Booksellers of New York City (click here to see the listing, if you're rich enough to buy it).

In 2006 copy #59 was offered for sale by Nate Sanders Auction of Los Angeles. Click here to see that listing and a good photo of the Lanthorn cover, title page, and signatures. In 2007 copy #30 was put to sale by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas (click here to see the listing & a photo of the book cover).

So with those copies floating around in recent years, and two still up for sale, i suppose The Lanthorn Book is surprisingly obtainable! Unlike the aptly titled (lost) Crane Brede Place collaboration, The Ghost! Still for us poor folk, a reprint edition of The Lanthorn would be nice to see... however since i'm not holding my breath for that i've taken the initiative to locate three of the tales from Lanthorn and placed links to them below.

The Wise Men by Stephen Crane

The Night of a Thousand Years by Irving Bacheller

Larry and the Squg by Willis Brooks Hawkins

And by the way in case anyone hasn't figured out what a "lanthorn" is, check it out. Super kewl!