Heaven Knows What [antikvár]

1902 GRANT LEWIBy Carl Payne Tobey1951Grant Lewi has become a legend. He was the lad who quit teaching English at Dartmouth and became an astrologer. He was not surprised when his Heaven Knows What became the best selling astrological book of the twentieth century. He expected it to be. Yet, he didn't even sign his name to it. He signed it Scorpio, despite the fact that he had no planets in Scorpio. This has confused some people. He said, it was the first thing that came to his mind, and he dismissed it there.When he first courted Carolyn Wallace, his curiosity was aroused, when he discovered that her mother was an astrologer, for she was Atlene Gayle Wallace. What was this all about? He had to find out for hirri-self. All this was before there was an astrology magazine on a newsstand, and few people knew the difference between astrology and astronomy. While he was working on the manuscript of Heaven Knows What, Grant was also writing for the early issues of the first astrology magazine to appear on newsstands and stay there. Two earlier ones had failed. The magazine and its founder, Paul G. Clancy, are credited with making America astrology conscious. All this at a time when well-known Joanne Clancy, the current pubhsher, was in her early teens. Serving as Research Editor of American Astrology at the same time when Grant Lewi was on the staff, the writer first came to know Grant at the same time he was preparing Heaven Knows What.Heaven Knows What was originally published in 1935 by Doubleday Doran and Co. It was re-published in 1937 by the Sun Dial Press, and republished again in 1947 by the Morris Press. Since about 1953, it has been out of print. Rare book shops have been combed for it. Librarians assert that library copies have been stolen. For nine years, the writer has had to answer letters explaining that he does not know any secret place where there might be a copy at any price.Grant left the staff of American Astrology Magazine to become editor of Dell Publications' Horoscope. Many other astrology magazines also came into the field, but under his editorship, Horoscope came to lead the field in two years with a monthly circulation of nearly 200,000 copies. He remained in this position for a decade. Although there was a desk at Dell with Grant's name on it, you would not be likely to find him there. He was a restless Sun-in-Gemini conjunct the node of Uranus, with Leo on the Ascendent, and he was usually in motion. The Sun was also in opposition to Uranus to increase his rating as a rebel. He was a true intellectual. He believed that man should have a better destiny. It bothered him to see people Hving in slums. He liked people, and he met them wherever he found them. Money nearly always seemed to come his way to the extent that he needed it, but he wasn't much interested in money. Although Grant was usually moving around somewhere, by some miracle he always seemed to arrive in time to meet deadlines. He