Looking for Morritt book

[Fungineer]

I’m looking for and wish to buy—

Charles Morritt: His Life and Inventions by Christopher Brinson

This was featured in the July 2014 issue of Genii.

It seems to be very difficult to find. Google has not been much help.

Fellow magi, please help! If it’s gathering dust, make me a deal, I pay promptly!

Thanks in advance.

[Marco Pusterla]

Christopher Brinson passed away at the end of 2017. His collection has been disposed of. His own two copies of the Morritt book (a regular one, and the last draft) are in a private collection. The book has never been reprinted. The publisher, John Alexander, of Arcady Press, passed away in 2018 and his catalog of production is no longer available. The print run of the Morritt book was very small and copies rarely come out for sale, unfortunately.

[Joneseymagic]

I managed to find a copy last year for a reasonable price, so it's still possible with a bit of luck. Probably easier in the UK though.

[Bill Mullins]

The review doesn't make it sound as if it is a very good book.

[Marco Pusterla]

The review doesn't make it sound as if it is a very good book.

It ain't...

[Fungineer]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I’m really interested in the subject matter, but it doesn’t sound like I’m missing much.

Years ago, I heard an interview (podcast?) with Jim Steinmeyer and he mentioned he was working on a Morritt book. (He called it an “inside baseball” story)

I did see that he published a relatively short Lecture note, “Lost Morritt,” and I bought it, but it seems like there needs to be a definitive biography and catalog of Morritt’s work.

Anyone know more?

[Marco Pusterla]

I'm sure you know it, but Jim Steinmeyer has two long essays on Morritt in "Art and Artifice" (and the lecture you mention corrects some of the theories put forward in that book). Maybe that was the book Steinmeyer was talking about?

[Fungineer]

Thanks Marco, I am aware of “Art & Artifice” and indeed have that as well.

The interview was fairly recent, so after A&A was published.

[Richard Kaufman]

Jim's Morritt lecture notes were created for a lecture he gave at the Genii Convention in 2019. They're excellent. He is working on a Morritt book, but that will be some years down the line.