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The Hungarian governmtent's

SIX NONLECTURES, by e. e. cummings,
Atheneum reprint, 114 pages, $1.25.
IN THE ATHENEUM reprint of six
Charles Eliot Norton "nonlectures" de-
livered at Harvard University, poet e. e.
cummings attempts a definition of him-
self. "an aesthetic self-portrait of one
whole half" (the writing half) "of this
and no other indivisible ignoramus As Is."
Evolving his definition in terms of a
novel, two plays, twenty poems and half a
dozen essays wherein he purports to find
his "stance as a writer most, clearly ex-
pressed," cummings presents a unified
history of his development as a writer,
creating, in effect( another "Portrait of
the Artist as a Young Man"-an artist
whose self image grew from identification
with his parents to identification with the
dynamics of all humanity.
The six-sectioned work reads as a com-
prehensive whole, despite the somewhat
awkward transitions from prose to poetry
and back again, and is far more than the
product of a "galloping egocentricity" as
cummings suggests it might indeed be.
The works cummings chooses as the
clearest expression of his art are notably
good ones. especially the selections from
his play "Him" and the poem regarding
the procession through Lenin's tomb from
"ETMI." Ten sonnets included in the book
provide adequate examples of famed and
playful cummings syntax.
Along with his own poems, cummings
includes his favorites from the works of
other poets-immortal bards like Shakes-
peare, Dante, Keats and Shelley. These
are not irrelevant inclusions in "six non-
lectures," for they obviously had much to
do with cummings' formation of his self
image as a poet.
A word must be said for the narrative
that binds the makings of a good an-
thology into a well-integrated essay. It
taps lightly along without any autobio-
graphical dirge, occasionally itself sound-
ing the poetic note.
With his self-portait fully drawn, cum-
mings concludes that he is a trinity of
artist, man and failure-"a .givingly eter-
nal complexity . . .," "a feelingly illimit-
able individual; whose only happiness is
to transcend himself, whose every agony
is to grow," thus ending a fruitful search
for self identity. -Louise Lind
AMERICA AND WORLD REVOLUTION
by Arnold Toynbee, Oxford University
Press, 230 pages, $4.75.
ARNOLD TOYNBEE, in this newest set
of published lectures, issues a warning
and a way out to America.
He compares the United States with
Rome and finds that America, having
started the spiraling "revolution of rising
expectations" has forsaken her own revo-
lution and become an arch-conservative
power, immobilized by prosperity.
He compares her present situation with
declining Rome and then offers to Ameri-
ca the "road not taken" by Rome. The
rise of the Church to a dominant posi-
tion in Constantine's Rome was also the
period of Hellenization of the Church,
Toynbee states. In that assimilation, the
narrow and "insular" aspect of the insti-
tutional church was emphasized over the
charity and love aspect's of Christ's mes-
sage. The last two centuries of national-
ism and religious wars represent the secu-
larization of the insular aspect of the
Church.
Toynbee now calls for the secularization
of the love and charity aspect of the
Church in the form of aid to underdevel-
oped nations and trust in a world gov-
ernment.
Rome was forced into a decline by the
pressure of vigorous barbarian cultures
and religions. The same thing could hap-
_- nfl tn America. Toynbee warns, unless

sitions of ancient Rome and the United
States.
The uniqueness of the twentieth cen-
tury is 'that the combined forces of the
"industrial" and "American" revolutions
have made progress, material and spiri-
tual, available to every man. This, under
the threat of total annihalation by nu-
clear force, makes it imperative that the
United States reclaim the reins of her
revolution from Russia and lead the
world into a non-totalitarian progress.
The book represents a combination of
Idealism, dubious historical verification
and a message that has an ethical, if not
historical, validity. This message, and the
challenge of matching wits with a "vast
synthesizer", makes the book a worth-
while addition to any library.-
-Caroline Dow
AN ALTERNATIVE TO WAR OR SUR-
RENDER, by Charles E. Osgood, Uni.
versity of Illinois Press, paperback,
$1.45.
WITHIN THE evergrowing literature on
arms control and disarmament, it
is clear that all of the proposed alterna-
tives to the arms race fall into one of two
categories. They either call for some
kind of treaty, with or without inspec-
tion, for the mutual reduction or re-
moval of weapons, or urge unilateral
initiatives on the part of the United
States, hopefully to be followed by simi-
lar initiatives in Russia.
All of these proposals in one way or
another count on hussian self-nterest in
her own preservation and Russian ac-
ceptance of peaceful coexistence and, to
a great extent, the maintenance of the
status quo. These are both reasonably
likely propositions. Most of them, how-
ever, also include a third implicit propo-
sition-that it is possible to reach com-
promises in which both sides think that
they are givin and gaining equally.
Osgood, in "An Alternative to War or
Surrender," attempts to cope with this
problem by presenting a program which
calls for unilateral initiativesorganized
in a way that risks to our security are
placed at a minimum while our intentions
are made both clear and conducive to
Russiandreciprocal action.
The author, in attempting to make his
pronosal popular to the average citizen,
writs nn a level suitable to the "Nean-
derthal" whose misconceptions (to Os-
good. anyway) about Russia and her in-
tentions he explains psychologically. At
the same time he shows through alarm-
ing psychological models why tension
reduction is so important to world stabil-
ity, and that, if we can break away from
the Neanderthal in us long enough, we
can see that we should run the risks
inherent in any programdcalling for uni-
lateral initiative in order to reduce those
tensions.
Osgood has certainly not solved all
the problems inherent in ending the arms
race, but he has presented a very credible
program to annroach that end with a
very small risk to our security. At a time
when a foolproof written agreement
seems virtually impossible, it offers some
hope of at least slowing the spiraling
arms race and making the world a little
safer place in which to live. It deserves
to be read by everyone who shares such
a hone. thouh no one should beware lest
he lose too much of his "Neanderthal"
too quickly.
-Edward Herstein
THE RAILLAD MONGERS: RISE OF THE
MODERN FOLK SONG by Oscar
Brand. Funk andWagnalls, Inc., 232
panes, $4.50.
'THE BALLAD MONGERS" is much
Slike the modern folk song in its com-
nsiton. Tt sets the scene by describing

scribes their rise and fall, the reactions
of the crowd at the hanging and ends up
with a moral.
Fifty years from now it will be invalu-
able to social historians as a personal
commentary resource on an American
Phenomenon-the' rise -of the folk song
to hysterical, sustained popularity. Oscar
Brand relates the story utilizing his per-
sonal knowledge of the leaders of the
movement, from Leadbelly to Seeger to
Belafonte.
He defines the folk song as a "simple
noise" that has weathered the process of
oral transmission. The American folk
song is a blend of the immigrant folk
songs with a special debt to the British
Isles for the ballad form and to the Afri-
cans for blues, syncopation and choral
singing.-
According to Brand, the folk song is
popular in America because it is an ex-
tension of the "do-it-yourself" fad. It also
answers the paradoxical needs for com-
munal nationalism and an antidote to
conformity. The only real requirements
of the modern folk song seem to be sim-
plicity in lyrics and tune, and lyrics that
are meaningful in the modern world.
The rise of the modern folk song was
made possible 'by many factors: the
"singingness" of America, folk song col-
lectors making materials available, the
need of the labor unions for a unifier
and the despair of the depression. Most
important, however, was the development
of the mass media and communication
systems.
The needs were answered by many folk
singers, of which the Weavers were the
most famous and influential. They, and
the folk song with them, were catapulted
to public view' by the rapidly growing mass
media.
The most interesting and vital part of
the book is Brand's discussion of the im-
pact of the "Black Lists" in the enter-
tainment world. A part of the 1950's Mc-
Carthyism, these lists effectively banish
the Weavers and the like from mass me-
dia, forcing them into their present
strongholds of the colleges and coffee
houses.
In the wake of the Weavers came two
folk images. The clean-cut Kingston Trio
and "Washingtin Square" represented the
dichotomy of the folk appeal. It is inter-
esting to note that the foremost of the
present student protest songs, "We Shall
Not Be Moved" and "If I Had a Hammer"
had their birth in the folk singers-police
jousting in Washington Square.
The"Black Lists" have given way to the
"modern censors"-the people themselves,
according to Brand. The only freedom left
is in the military, he notes. Somehow pro-
test, bawdy, and political songs are re-
garded as "un-American" by civilians but
are a necessary part of the American
military life, Brand believes.
-Caroline Dow
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN: SYMPHONIES
Nos. 82-87 (the Paris Symphonies),
Ernest Ansermet conducting the. I'Or-
chestre de la Suisse Romande: LON-
DON Stereo CSA 2306. $17.94 (Mon-
aural CMA 7306, $14.94).
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN, who has prob-
ably composed more undeservedy ne-
glected symphonies than any other per-
son, now seems to be staging a "come-
back" of sorts, with many of his sym-
phonies and all other works returning
to the catalog after a long absence.The
credit for much of this renewal of inter-
est in Haydn's earlier symphonies, of
course, must go to the late Max Gober-
man, who had painstakingly recorded 45
of Haydn's 107 symphonies for the Li-
brary of Recorded Masterpieces before
his untimely demise in Vienna some time
ago. With his death, a stunned musical

sibly cariy on where Goberman had left
off.
Now a new name is added to the list
with Ernest Anserniet's recent issue for
London Records of six of Haydn's lesser-
known symphonies, a set of performances
which will surely decide many Haydn
fans in Ansermet's favor. Ansermet's re-
cording of the "Paris Symphonies" is es-
pecially propitious because of the lack of
serious competition where these particu-
lar symphonies are concerned, especially
in stereo; in fact, the current Schwann
catalog lists no other versions of Sym-
phonies Nos. 82, 86, and 87.
The "Paris Symphonies," composed by
Haydn in 1784-1789., were commissioned
for a society called "Les Concerts de la
Loge Olympique" for a fee of between
1600-1800 francs. When the symphonies
were completed, they proved to be highly
successful and, Lawrence Oilman notes,
"attracted audiences of the highest dis-
tinction to the Salle des Gardes in the
Tuileries . . . (where the orchestral play-
ers fiddled and blew in ruffles and em-
broidery, and wore pretty shining swords,
and the lace on their cuffs often inter-
fered with the bowing of the fiddlers, un-
less they were unusually deft.")
With no such frilly embroidery to get
in the way nowadays, it is to be ex-
pected that these symphonies may be
performed rather more effortlessly in to-
day's concert halls and recording studies.
At least, it seems entirely effortless and
stylishsin the canable hands of Ansermet
and the Suisse Romande Orchestra. This
should not be taken as an idle compli-
ment, for I must admit that Ansermet
was one of the last persons I might have
expected to turn out an accomplishment
of such stature. But whatever doubts I
might have had dissipated upon hearing
the vigorous tempo of the first movement
of the Symphony No. 82 under Ansermet's
baton. Or perhans it was the music itself.
for this particular movement almost
bursts at the seams with motor energy,
helped along by prominent fanfares from
brass and tympani.
Throughout the eitire set of six sym-
phonies, in fact, Ansermet's tempos were
never less' than convincing; the fast
movements may have been done a mite
faster elsewhere, but no matter; for An-
sermet conducts these portions with "vi-
gah," while the slow movements are
beautifully elevant and the minuets make
one wonder why that dance could have
gone out of style. Lengthy detailing of
the symphonies would be beyond the
scope of this review; but I found the final
movements of Symphonies Nos. 83 and 86
(as well as the first movement of No. 82,
mentioned above) particularly hard to re-
sist. Three of the symnhonies have been
given nicknames, possibly in an attempt
to make them stick in the public's mem-
ory (18th century subliminal advertis-
ing?) ; thus Symnhony No. 82 is the
"Bear." No. 83 is the "Hen," and No. 85
the "Queen." The ,other three seem to
have escaped such a fate, at least for the
time being.
The members of the Suisse Romande
Orchestra respond to Ansermet's admir-
able leadership with eually distinguished
performances, and the engineers have
furnished sound which is a fine blend of
brilliance and warmth-at least until the
louder portions, when it tends toward
harshness and fuzziness (the finale of the
Symphony No. 86 is an unfortunate case
in point). The stereo qualities are quite
good, and the surfaces are relatively quiet.
'It is highly doubtful that Ernest Anser-
met will switch labels and finish out the
LRM set of Haydn symphonies; but until
such time as a capable successor to Max
Goberman is selected by that worthy re-
'cording society. London's fine set of the
six "Paris Symphonies" will fill one of
the many unfortunate voids which still
exist in the extant recordings of the com-

Varied Government Goofs
Make Stamp Collection Inte

The,
By MICHAEL JULIAR
PHILATELISTS are romantics. Philat-
elists-or stamp collectors-are some-
times thought a little crazy by those who
don't engage in the stamp-collecting
game. Imagine, for example, paying $50,-
000 for a little piece of paper with some
faded ink on its face when another much
more attractive sample costs only a few.
pennies. But for the seasoned collector
there is romance in that first piece of
paner. It glows of uniqueness-there is
not another one in the world like it. It
glows, too, of history and the moment
when a boy sold it for a few British
poinds, unawsre of its rarity.
Stamp collectors have seldom known
such excitement as with the tale of one
stamp first issued on October 23, 1962 in
New York City in memory of Dag Ham-
marskjold. The commemorative stamp is
brown and yellow; through an unfdrtu-
nate printing error which occurred at the
United States Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, at least 400 of the stamps were
printed with the yellow background up-
side down and off center. The error es-
caped a rigid manual and mechanical in-
spection. The Post Office, generally proud
of a record of dependability in coming
out with perfect stocks of stamps, had
made a mistake which portended great
wealth for a few observant collectors.
The agency, however, follows policies
which prevent inflated stamp values re-
sulting from government printing errors.
The same policy is intended to enable less
wealthy collectors to amass complete se-
ries of stamps.
Thus, in pursuit of these policies, the
Post Office Department printed several
million extra copies of the Hammarsk-
jold misprint-with the original error in-

Romancleof Philatel

cluded. Stamp collectors who thought they
would cash in on U.S. government errors
disputed the move and asked: should the
Post Office have flooded the marget with
an artificial misnrint to undercut the in-
flated value of true misprints? No mat-
ter how sound a case they may present,
there is little evidence that the Post Of-
fice will in the ,future reverse directives
for market flooding.
THE RECORD SHOWS that the Post
Office prints some fifteen to twenty
commemorative stamps each year, with
each of the releases of about one hundred
and twenty million stamps being distrib-
uted to post offices around the country.
Demand is sometimes greater than the
initial printing. A good example is last
year's Project Mercury issue, printed in
secrecy and released minutes after Col-
onel John Glenn's safe return after orbit-
ing the earth three times. Americans who
had seen history in the making wanted
souvenirs of the momentous occasion;
the stock of 120 million stamps quickly
ran out, and a new order was placed to
meet the enthusiastic demand.
THE LAST MAJOR post office blunder
. came in 1918 when a multi-colored air,
mail stamp was misprinted with a red bi-
plane flying upside-down inside a blue
border. Checkers, who are commissioned
to discard thousands of stamps for the
smallest of errors, neglected to notice this
major one. Only one sheet of the biplane
issue-100 stamps-got through to the
oublic. A single biplane stamp brought $9,-
750 at a recent auction. The government
keeps close tab on those who profited
from its mistake: the owners of the 100
stamps are catalogued and the location of
the rare stamps is recorded as conscien-
tiously as is the whereabouts of Stradi-
varius violins.
ANOTHER KIND of U.S. Post Office
blunder was recently disclosed with the
issues of the 1959 stamp commemorating
Oregon's statehood. A Philadelphia deal-
er says he has a sheet of 50 improperly
perforated stamps. The upper left section
of the sheet has perforations running
through the stamps-an error probably
caused by post office checkers who in-
spected the other end. The dealer says the
stamps could be worth "up to a million
dollars"-an inflated improbability. The
Post Office is not likely to reproduce the
error in order to deflate the value of the
stamps, for the dealer held them some
time before making the mistake public.
It is a move future discoverers of Post
Office errors will probably heed.
On the whole, the United States has a
right to be proud of accuracy and post
office policies like those articulated by
Postmaster General J. Edward Day, whose
flooding of the market with"rare" stamps
is consistent with the assertion that "we
are not in the stamp lottery business."

The infamous Hammarskjold

printed stamps are thus not as inflated as
might be expected.
The Panama Canal Zone, whose stamps
are also printed by the U.S. Department of
Engraving and Printing, recently experi-
enced an error as noteworthy as the Dag
Hammarskjold inversion. A picture of the
Western Hemisphere continents on one
stamn was intended to include a silver
bridge connecting the two major land
masses. About 200 stamps got through
without the bridge and left an imnortant
error in the hands of several collectors.
The Canal Zone followed the same pro-
cedure initiated in the Hammarskjold
case,and a flooding of the market with
the stamps sans bridge was effected.
OTAMP EXPERTS have noted, however,
that holders of the original misnrints
might have salvaged their value by having
the stamps cancelled and thus dated. La-
ter renorts showed that one of the holders
of the original misprints had, before
making the discovery of the printing er-
ror, mailed some thirty-one letters to vari-
ous friends using the rare stamp. It is
probably these people who possess the
most valuable of the stamps to come out
of this comedy of errors.
In Canada, one error remained un-
checked by government action, and a cer-
tain stamp issue thus reached extraordi-
nary value. Three years ago, the U.S. and
Canada co-issued stamps commemorating
the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Identical designs were employed by each
country. Several hundred of the Canadian
stamps, however, were discovered with
the frames inverted. The government took-

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