The Secrets of Dellschau
The Sonora Aero Club & the Airships of the 1800s, A True Story
by Dennis Crenshaw in collaboration with P.G. Navarro
Trade Paperback, 285 Pages, 89 Illustrations
$19.95, ISBN: 1933665351
Genre(s):
UFOs
Historical Mysteries
Charles A. A. Dellschau was born on June 4, 1830, in Brandenburg, Prussia, and immigrated to the United States in 1853, first settling in Texas. The historical record falls silent until 1860, when he is again shown living in Texas, where he marries Antonia Hilt the following year. The so-called “lost years” of the secretive Dellschau's life became a matter of controversy when his voluminous, illustrated notebooks surfaced nearly a half-century after his death in 1923 at age 93.
Dellschau literally spent the last 20 years of his life closeted away in an attic apartment, creating a fantastical body of art that continues to fascinate. Indeed, today Dellschau is recognized as one of America's leading visionary artists, ranked alongside such world luminaries as Henry Darger and Adolf Wölfli. A single page of one of his notebooks now fetches thousands of dollars—and there are thousands of such pages, frenetic productivity being a hallmark of visionary artists.
But Dellschau's work—consisting of ink and watercolor illustrations of fanciful flying machines to which he frequently pasted newspaper clippings, or “press blooms” as he called them —appears to tell a coherent story of the Sonora (California) Aero Club. Using an anti-gravity gas purportedly invented by one of its members, The Club allegedly turned out a series of experimental aircraft some 50 years before the Wright Brothers first took wing.
The Secrets of Dellschau: The Sonora Aero Club & The Airships of the 1800s is the first book-length account of Dellschau's life and work.
About the Author: DENNIS CRENSHAW, recently retired, uses his newfound time to edit a series of continuing research reports, “Unraveling the Secrets,” which can be accessed online at: www.thehollowearthinsider.com. He lives with his better half Marsha and their cat, Popeye, in Jacksonville, Florida.
PETE NAVARRO, a graphic artist, was instrumental in saving much of Dellschau's work from obscurity. Now 89, he is completing a collection of oil paintings based on his experiences in the Pacific Theatre during WWII. He lives with his war-bride, Millie, in The Woodlands, Texas.
*** "LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK" HERE
*** Read the New York Times story:
"A Saddler Who Dreamt Of Flying Machines"
*** Dellscahu's works for sale by Stephen Romano
CONTENTS
Prelude: A Bit of History According to Dellschau
The Researcher and His Art
Part 1 — Dellschau Discovered
Chapter 1: Rescued from the Dump
Chapter 2: Strange Orb of Light
Chapter 3: A Quest Begins
Chapter 4: Dellschau Remembered
Chapter 5: A Crack in the Code
Chapter 6: Three Books Become Four
Chapter 7: Another Mystery Solved
Chapter 8: Pete Breaks the Code and Fred Washington Gives In
Chapter 9: German Translations
Chapter 10: Press Blooms
Part 2 — Dellschau’s Story
Chapter 11: America Calling
Chapter 12: The Man From NYMZA
Chapter 13: NB Gas and the Goose
Chapter 14: Inventions and Intervention
Part 3 — In Search of The Truth
Chapter 15: A Short Look at Aviation History
Chapter 16: A Man Named Wilson
Chapter 17: More Possible Connections
Chapter 18: A California Trip
Chapter 19: Water, Water Everywhere
Chapter 20: Forbidden Science
Chapter 21: An Analysis of One of Dellschau’s Aeros
Chapter 22: Secret Connections
Chapter 23: Peter Mennis, Making it all Work …With Alien Technology?
Chapter 24: Aero Fuel and Power Plants
Chapter 25: Outside Interest
Chapter 26: Th e Death of Peter Mennis
Chapter 27: Dellschau: The Enigmatic Man
by Jimmy Ward and Pete Navarro
Chapter 28: Jimmy Ward, Psychic Findings and … Murder?
Chapter 29: Speculations and Ideas
Chapter 30: New Homes
Chapter 31: Pete’s Dilemma and The Author Writes Himself Into the Story
Part 4 – The Wonder Weavers Findings: “A Stock of Open Knowledge”
Chapter 32: The Sonora Aero Club: Members Roster
From P.G. Navarro’s Unpublished Manuscript: The Dellschau Books
Chapter 33: Plate Notes
From P.G. Navarro’s Unpublished Manuscript: The Dellschau Books
Chapter 34: Insights into the Workings of The Sonora Aero Club and The Process Whereby an Aero Proposal Was Chosen for Further Study
An Unpublished Paper By P.G. Navarro
Chapter 35: From P.G. Navarro’s Unpublished Manuscript:
"The Riddle of Dellschau’s Books"
And an Update on Missing Plates
Acknowledgements |
