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Vian's avatar
8dEdited

A tour down a lazy river, but not by a lazy commentator, wherein we eventually find ourselves in the Sea of MG. I did a little sleuthing of my own. Seems Mary Meade Harnett Claycomb may have been married to a Robert Claycomb in 1964. She established a publishing company called Claycomb Press in 1985 which published a variety of books, many YA. Would she have used the Claycomb name for her publishing company had they separated and divorced?

One of her authors was Everard Meade, some kind of familial connection between publisher and author - through the very prominent Virginia Meades, whose ancestors include other Everards. The Meade family has been traced back to 15th century England.

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Wendy Burton's avatar

The interconnectedness of all things. Thank you for this lively diversion from camping in the rain

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Bill Richardson's avatar

Hey Vian, thanks. Yes, she set up her own publishing company - the fellow who wrote the appreciation of her, after her death in 2020, noted that he did some editorial work on the Meade book. She was a distinguished student at Radcliffe in the 50's, and I imagine when she was in Chicago in 64 she was working in publishing - just a guess. Robert Claycomb! Good find! I couldn't discover any trace of whoever he might have been. Appreciate your assistance and kind words.

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Nancy Baele's avatar

What an intriguing oblique journey, netting so much

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Bill Richardson's avatar

thanks, Nancy!

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P.W. Bridgman's avatar

The wondrous serendipity that comes with what may appear to some to be idle, online rabbit-hole burrowing should never be discounted. Six-degrees-of-separation discoveries are always lurking there and they're often unearthed in the most unexpected places. Bill, this lovely meandering account of your tapping and scrolling proves the point perfectly. Your time was well spent. You may enjoy the blog post by Rebecca Foster on instances of "book serendipity" of a somewhat different kind that mirror some of what you have chronicled. And, serendipitously, wouldn't you know it? Fanny Howe comes in for mention: https://bookishbeck.com/2023/12/21/book-serendipity-october-to-december-2023/. Rebecca Foster's blog is always a delight. It will not surprise you that when she was prompting her readers a few years ago for ideas about short stories to read, an exchange with someone urging her to read MG resulted: https://bookishbeck.com/2018/09/28/short-story-collections-read-recently/ Ah, serendipity! Tom aka PWB.

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Sara O'Leary's avatar

That's all a little eerie, Bill!

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Bill Richardson's avatar

Hi Sara - always lovely to hear from you, trust you're doing v. well. I feel like I've lost track of you somehow, it must have been via X I used to get word. Anyway, hope you're prospering and writing up a storm and that's all well with you and your family. Are you in Nova Scotia for the summer? Take care.

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Sara O'Leary's avatar

Yes, I do miss the old days of Twitter. Substack has its attractions but I fear I am too indolent for longform these days. Still I do enjoy reading yours. And yes, NS. We bought a house near Lunenburg and are settling in. It's from 1912 so practically a new build for the part of the country. I do still miss Vancouver though. Hope you're well. S.

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