[1 go back] The Ohio Hotel stands at the corner of East 7th and Ceres
[2 go back] The LA Weekly is an alternative local paper with club listings.
[3 go back] Evan mentions he got his supplies from Sierra Chemical Co. he probably means Sierra Color and Chemical on North Coolidge Ave.
[4 go back] In the closing months of World War II, Bulgaria was taken over by Communist forces September 9, 1944, in conjunction with the westward push of Soviet Red Army forces. By 1946, Bulgaria was fully a Communist Soviet Client state with wide collectivization of farms and industry.
[5 go back] Poppy’s use of Laudanum described here is more likely morphine or heroin. Laudanum, a type of opiate diluted with alcohol into a tincture, was popular in the 19th century as an analgesic. Her usage of the term here might be euphemistic.
[6 go back] J.E. McTaggart, a Hegelian Philosopher of some respect in his native England and a committed atheist, pursues some interesting facets of perceived reincarnation in Some Dogmas of Religion. Specifically he theorizes that interests, aptitudes and skills are inherited from our pervious incarnations. This would have no doubt been of interest to Evan Michaels.
[7 go back] The Evergreen Cemetery, east of downtown at the corner of 1st and Evergreen, is Los Angeles’ oldest and matches Evan’s description of being an oasis of quiet within the city.
[8 go back] Poppy’s use of this term is interesting. The word palingenesis is an arcane term used to describe the metaphysical doctrine of the transmigration of the soul or in lay terms, reincarnation.
[9 go back] Venice was a world leader in glass manufacture until the 18th century, but the glass is actually manufactured on the nearby island of Murano. Venetian glass furnaces were moved to Murano in 1291 due to safety concerns after several devastating fires.
[10 go back] Venice did indeed have a death penalty in place for any Murano glass worker who left the lagoon. This was in order to maintain their treasured glass manufacture monopoly in Europe. This is well detailed in many editions, specifically Mirror Mirror by Pendergrast p. 119
[11 go back] Poppy’s use of Cognomina here appears to be an archaic reference to the Roman naming convention of a third “known as” name called a cognomen. This name could either be inherited or adopted.
[12 go back] Poppy’s reference to being Louis Lucas de Nehon can be directly corroborated from several sources. Louis Lucas de Nehon (also spelled Nehou in some texts). In 1999 French author Jean-Claude Lattes worked with the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain to compile a comprehensive history of the company. Louis Lucas de Nehou was detailed as having been director of St. Gobain twice. There is even a photo of Nehou displayed on page 21. From Sun to Earth 1665-1999 A History of Saint-Gobain.
[13 go back] Pendergrast in his book Mirror Mirror, details “Louis Lucas de Nehou experimented with the new casting method and succeeded in making astonishingly large planes of glass, nearly five feet high. Few panes survived the complex manufacturing process.”
[14 go back] LeBrun may have had less of a say in the architecture of the palace if we are to believe modern historians who name Hardouin-Mansart as the architect and often at odds with LeBrun on the design and execution of the hall. Versailles by Jean-Marie Perouse de Montclos 1991
[15 go back] At the time, Tourlaville was a small village in Cherbourg, Northwest France. A fledgling glass native blowing industry (all previous glass blowing in Europe had been confined to Venetian Murano) had sprung up around this town due to the availability of natural resources (i.e. timber for fuel and sand for glass stock) and river transport. Later this factory would move to Saint Gobain. From Sun to Earth 1665-1999 A History of Saint-Gobain.
[16 go back] A legend in French royal politics, Jean-Baptiste Colbert served as King Louis XIV’s minister of finance after the disgraceful exit of his predecessor Fouquet. Colbert was also appointed the king’s overseer of buildings and was charged with complete control over the Versailles project. Versailles by Jean-Marie Perouse de Montclos 1991 p. 48
[17 go back] Today, the Saint Gobain is one of the larges companies in Europe with annual revenue of 40 Billion Euros.
[18 go back] Augustiner Strasse is a narrow pedestrian street in the old part of central Zurich.
[19 go back] The Fraumunster Bar is near the Fraumunster church on the west bank of the Limmat River.
[20 go back] Evan probably refers to the modern town of Vodica (also called Vodista), Bulgaria.
[21 go back] Mithraic temples, or Mithraeum, were common in all corners of the Roman Empire and were normally constructed in grottoes or caves to imitate the location where Mithra slew the sacred bull. James, E.O. The Ancient Gods (1960)
[22 go back] Bulgaria entered the first World War in October 1915, with mass conscription and mobilization. November 1918 by Gordon Brooks-Shepard p. 116
[23 go back] Evan’s description of the Bulgarian collapse is fairly accurate. By the third week in September 1918, the whole of the Bulgarian front had failed and was in full retreat. The Marshall Cavendish encyclopedia of World War I / editor-in-chief, Peter Young 1984
[24 go back] “Shook his head yes,” a subtle but interesting point. Bulgaria seems to be unique in Western culture in that they shake their heads side to side to indicate yes, up and down to indicate no. Culture Shock! Bulgaria, by Agnes Sachsenroeder (Marshall Cavendish 2008)
[25 go back] This was indeed Bulgaria’s highest combat honor at the time, but stating that Captain Hoxa won the First Class of this Order is almost surely an exaggeration as classes for this Order were segregated by rank, with junior officers being assigned III or IV grades. World Orders of Knighthood and Merit, by Sainty & Mankoo (Burke 2006)
[26 go back] Samas’ account of his life as Juan De Victoria is interesting, as there was a man on Coronado’s expedition by that name and the man was from Borgos, Spain. Fundadores de Nueva Galicia Tomo I by Guillermo Garmendia Leal 1996
[27 go back] Antonio de Mendoza was indeed the Viceroy of New Spain at the time of this letter. The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Genaro García, Alfred Percival Maudslay 1967
[28 go back] The name Bando uses for his village, Latsei, is a bit of mystery. No record of any such pueblo or peoples exists in the region. It could be a corruption of Zia, a historic village NW of Albuquerque, but that is only speculation.
[29 go back] Samas’ description Hernando de Alvarado as being a captain and finding the Zuni’s of Hawikuh is accurate. The Journey of Coronado, Fulcrum Publishing, 1990
[30 go back] This dramatic description of the start of the battle of Hawikuh, could be corroborated by the author Mangum, in his book In the Land of Frozen Fires, in which we described Coronado such; “Coronado probably still carried evidence of facial bruises received when he was pummeled in the face with stones during the battle for Hawikuh.” In the Land of Frozen Fires (A history of occupation in El Malpais Country) Neil Mangum 1990
[31 go back] Captain Pedro de Tovar did indeed venture out ahead of Coronado in a Northwesterly direction. He ventured all the way to the edge of the Grand Canyon. Coronado's expedition in 1540 from the City of Mexico to the seven cities of Cibola by Merrill Freeman 1917
[32 go back] The Vermeer described by Samas here and detailed by the author later in the notebooks as “The Rendezvous” does not match the description of any of the known 37 paintings, though 19th century art critic Thore Burger details 66 additional works attributed to Jan Vermeer in an essay detailed in Thore-Burger and the Art of the Past. Burger is widely credited with having “discovered” the 17th century Vermeer.
[33 go back] This was written as bird of the cow (птица член крава) in the notebooks. There is no word for this in Bulgarian; the cowbird is found only in North America.
[34 go back] Evan’s dismal description of modern day Mocha is accurate. Author Brouwer describes the place “"Nowadays al-Mukhâ is little more than a sloping field of ruins, anything but a pulsating port." C. G. Brouwer (1997) Al-MUKHA. Profile of a Yemeni Seaportas p. 377
[35 go back] Mocha has been synonymous with coffee since the Islamic hermit al-Shadhili reputedly discovered the drink and its stimulating effects around 1200 A.D. The Devil’s Cup by Stewart Lee Allen 1999 p. 44
[36 go back] The Trade’s Increase was the ship of English trader Henry Middleton, who having been taken prisoner by authorities of Pasha months before, had escaped and returned to Mocha to wreck havoc on the city. The Honorable Company, a history English East India Company by John Keay 1991
[37 go back] When Clovis uses the term “the singers of goat songs” he is likely referring to the origins of tragedy, specifically the ancient Greek meaning which is tragōidiā contracted from trag(o)-aoidiā = "goat song" from tragos = "goat" and aeidein = "to sing" .
“We are Zeus' Dioscuri sons,” here he is likely referring to a little know fact about the Greek gods, twin brothers Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri), in that they spent alternate days as gods on Olympus and as deceased mortals in Hades.
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The Reincarnationist Papers Page 41