Treasures from the Crypt: An Exaltation of Larks or, the Venereal Game by James Lipton

  I stumbled upon this book while looking though the basement collection of nonfiction. What a delight! A bouquet of three word poems accompanied by 250 beautiful, apt, and sometimes hilarious engravings.

                     

Just to be clear, “venereal” in this context describes collective nouns, rather than sexual activities, and is an adjective the author uses with great teasing pleasure. Some of these terms are familiar to everyone—a litter of puppies, a school of fish, a band of men (think Robin Hood and his merry…).

Many have long histories in our language. In fact, there were 164 venereal terms in The Book of St. Albans, printed in 1486. Seventy of these referred to groups of people—how about “a herd of harlots," a “converting of preachers,” or, “a goring of butchers?” According to Lipton, knowledge and use of these 15^th century terms marked the difference between an educated man and a common man., which makes me think of American spelling before Noah Webster compiled his first dictionary in 1806—before which, it’s said, a learned man knew many ways to spell a word, and a churl, well, wouldn’t know how to spell at all.

Lipton insists that the real venereal game is poetry, not jokes, and sets rules for playing along. For me, I’m satisfied knowing that “an unkindness of ravens” lives in my neighborhood.

So—"an exaltation of larks," a "murmuration of starlings," a "bouquet of pheasants," a "paddling of ducks." Rich visual language brings laughter and joy to my heart—having once been a member of a "rage of maidens" (for clarity on this one, see page 76), and then matured into a member of the "impatience of wives," now I can only wish I could join a "worship of writers."

CALL NUMBER: 427.09 Lipton. Ask us and we’ll run to the basement and retrieve it for you, or you can reserve a copy through our catalog.

Reviewed by Anne Shirako, Reference Librarian, Ukiah Branch, Mendocino County Library, 12/2012