Wednesday, November 09, 2005

"Kapoot. The Narrative of a journey from Leningrad to Mount Ararat in Search of Noah's Ark" by Carveth Wells.
Printed in USA in 1934 by Robert M. McBride & Co.
First published in 1933 in UK.
Light Maroon Cloth with Balck Title. 264 pages + 19 b/w illustrations (including full page frontispiece) and maps on endpapers. 71 year old book

The author's journey took him across Soviet Union from Leningrad, through the Ukraine and across the Caucasus to Armenia and Mount Ararat. In the month-long journey of 'horrible hardship' the author describes the state of the people living under the 'Great Experiment' of Communism and their absolute ignorance of the outside world. Everything is Russia is broken or 'Kapoot'. In the Armenia he meets the local people and visits in Echmiazin, close to the Turkish border in the monastery seat of the Armenian Patriarch. Author is allowed to see the Church's relics amongst which is a piece of wood said to be from Noah's ark brought down from the mountain by a monk called Jacob many years before. This book is part of highly collectible field of Armenia.

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