The Orchid Transfigurations, on the South Coast
Last week, I mentioned the package I’d received from ‘A Well-Wisher’, containing two volumes of the 1925 edition of ‘The Locksmith’s Dream’. I also mentioned also that the package included a postcard from Galmier herself, from a seaside town on the south coast. Since then, I’ve realised two things.
Firstly, the town named on the postcard doesn’t exist on any map of the UK. This is unnerving, but it’s to be expected. The Histories diverge much more recently than 1927, and it’s not surprising that a minor urban centre would be out of luck in the Hours’ consensus. In any case, I’m glad I didn’t reproduce it online.
Secondly, I said that Teresa ‘wrote very winningly about the wind.’ The phrase was familiar, and now I think I know why. It’s a paraphrase of something that ‘Fludd’ (though no-one seriously believes it was actually Fludd) wrote in the ‘Orchid Transfigurations’. I had come across a running joke that a copy of the Transfigurations was on display in one of those little provincial museums in Sussex.
At least, I’d always thought it was a joke. I’m inclined to look into it. I wouldn’t mind a drive over the Sussex Downs.
