21 October 2010

Forgotten Books: CRIME FOR THE CONNOISSEUR, Gerald Sparrow

This week's contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books appears in my records in April 1981, and really remains almost a mystery.

This cover image (to the right) appears on at least a couple of sites, but I haven't been able to find a blurb. Frustratingly those who list it in their second hand stock don't tell us what it is about.

It seems that Gerald Sparrow (1903-   ) [though surely now deceased] published at least 46 books between 1954 and 1975, some of them with at least 2 different editions.

CRIME FOR THE CONNOISSEUR was one of his last books, published in 1974.
I think it is likely that his books were mostly "true crime" rather than fiction. CRIME FOR THE CONNOISSUER appears to have consisted of case studies, was 199 pages, and had 8 illustrated plates.

Other "facts"
  • Justice Gerald Sparrow, a 20th century British barrister who served as a judge in Bangkok in the International Court for two decades
  • A British Judge, however, favours polygamy for totally different reasons. Polygamy, to him, is a solution for the problem of the numerical inequality in the sexes.
    Mr. Justice Gerald Sparrow. who recently returned to England after 23 years in Siam, and who is now. 60, [1955?] declared: "Unless we come to it, thousands of women who now have to lead unwomanly lives will remain unhappy."
    "At present we have about a million women in Britain who cannot have husbands. It is a tragedy. Many of these women suffer terribly from frustration."
    But Mr. Sparrow himself has decided to settle for only one wife, a pretty Siamese whom he married secretly. source
  • He appears to have been a regular contributor to Argosy Magazine beginning in 1961. For example in 1973 he contributed a story titled The Scourge of the West Country.
  • In 1974 during a visit to South Africa Sparrow became involved in a protest against the sporting isolation of South African teams through the Club of Ten.
So, who remembers Judge Gerald Sparrow?

2 comments:

Dorte H said...

I think the blog world is teeming with posts about e-readers right now. Well, I know I´ll probably buy one within a year or two, just not yet ...

pattinase (abbott) said...

You get to be real detective with some of these, Kerrie.

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