"This is a tale of those old fears, even of those emptied hells,
And none but you shall understand the true thing that it tells--
Of what colossal gods of shame could cow men and yet crash,
Of what huge devils hid the stars, yet fell at a pistol flash.
The doubts that were so plain to chase, so dreadful to withstand--
Oh, who shall understand but you; yea, who shall understand?"

All text in this column is taken from chapters in "The Man Who Was Thursday." Each webpage corresponds to a chapter in the book and is in order if one clicks through the site.

The poem above comes from the dedicatory poem to Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) in the first edition. He was a journalist friend of Chesterton's and is most known for his unique style of poetry. An example:

Sir Christopher Wren
Said, 'I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St. Paul's.'

Bentley would later return the favor of Chesterton's dedication in his own novel "Trent's Last Case." Both Thursday and Trent have been studied as complementary novels in a class at SUNY, Buffalo.

About This Project

This project originated in the Fall 2003 Class, "History of the Book," taught by Erik Delfino. As a final project, each class member was supposed to trace the history of a particular book, including editions, criticism, and any bibliographic lessons that might be learned from it. What follows is the results of this project.

Specifically, this one was done on Gilbert Keith Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare.

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