The Weaver Fish (27 page)

I thank the Office of the Trustees in Perpetuity
Reliquiae di Boccardo
in Florence, for permission to use materials in approved translation (by Lord Enright, with permission, and this author), including the unattributed epigram pair in Chapter 28. Negotiations were conducted through the London Trustee, Dr Barbara Bokardo, to whom I am greatly indebted.

I am grateful to the Libraire Satroit in Istanbul for allowing quotations from ‘The Guardianship of the Holy Land' and ‘The Betrothal'. Permission to reproduce ‘A Suitor's Reverie' was not sought as the Institute formally renounces this work, though the authorship is beyond question. The translation given is by the present author.

I thank Dr Edvard Tøssentern, the President of the Lindenblüten Society and the Syndics of Nazarene College, Cambridge, for permission to edit and publish the material of Chapter 1. The examination question (Chapter 31) was provided by the office of the Rede Professor of Logic in Nazarene College, and is reproduced also with approval of the College Syndics.

The content of Chapters 3 and 4 is reproduced with the permission of
Aviation Reviews
and Dr Anna Camenes (Chapter 3). I am grateful to Dr Camenes for sharing her ideas, both proven and speculative, on seki fruit. I likewise thank Dr Camenes and Dr Sigrid Blitt for assisting my understanding of credule theory and sekitriptyline pharmacology.

The anonymous Obituary of Chapter 5, the postscript by Professor Pioniv, the Review content of Chapter 10, the editorial Letter and Reply of Chapter 11, and the Editor's Note in Chapter 12 are reproduced with the permission of the publisher of the
London Tribune.
I am pleased to report that, following an unexplained absence, Simon Vestry has returned to the review pages of that august newspaper. Readers who have tired of weaver fish reportings and the documentary genre in general might enjoy his re-inaugural critical essay, entitled ‘In a regime of impossible truths, fiction is stranger than fiction'.

The email of Chapter 6 is reproduced by courtesy of Dr Linda Feckles, with the caveat that certain engineering concepts contained therein are protected by patent.

Discoveries concerning the Asiatic condor are presented without material input from the stated principal investigators. The author has ascertained facts as accurately as circumstances allow, and is confident of committing no serious error; the test of this must await peer-reviewed publication of the scientific data.

My attempts to correspond with Rev Barnabas Bending have been unsuccessful, despite repeated assurances from his curate that this would be welcomed. I am informed that the Postlepilty Symposia have been discontinued.

Readers interested in knowing more about swint ethology or physiology should note that the species designation
transmuta
in place of
tinctoria
appears commonly in the North American academic literature. An entertaining place to start is T Thurdleigh's ‘Prime factorization of avian flock counts' in
J. Numerical Ornith.,
and the references therein.

I regret to inform the reader that certain perfectly benign comments made by Dr Rodney Thwistle (recounted in Chapter 13) were overheard and misunderstood by a humourless drinks waiter, and a fatuous complaint lodged. Nazarene College is currently deeply divided between accusers and defenders, with a passion of enmities not seen since the Interregnum of the 1870s. The antagonists believe they differ on nothing less than what constitutes civilization; but in essence the central argument is whether irony is a human right. Thwistle is holidaying in Margaret River.

I am grateful to Dr Penelope Loom and Vissy Mofo (Captain Hate) for sharing their personal recollections of the dinner party in Chaucer Road (Chapter 15), and for permission to reproduce his letter and the poem ‘Z-words in Latin', as well as the soliloquy of the Cycladic figurine (about which he advises some technical reservations).

I thank Dr Penelope Hyffen-Dascher, who also contributed her version of conversations reproduced in Chapter 15. Any inaccuracies in the account of that event remain the responsibility of this author. I am further grateful to Dr Hyffen-Dascher for providing an introduction to UITA Press.

I have been unable to contact Professor Lecémot or his agent, despite all reasonable efforts including a personal survey of the Paris Métro. His letter is deemed crucial in elucidating other matters and is reproduced here without permission, in good faith, and without prejudice.

I am indebted to Sir Peter Magnacart, who generously shared the private family feud story with this outsider, and provided access to archival material, including a priceless Codex with commentaries on the Pontage chronicle commissioned by the Magnacart family in the sixteenth century. The earliest history of Mingle Common (Notes to Chapter 23) was sourced partly from this document.

The description, address and occupation of the unnamed philatelist in La Ferste have been fictionalized for that person's safety. Likewise, identifying details of certain other individuals have been altered in the interests of privacy, security, or protection from criminal proceedings. No imputation relating to any other person, or any other business or property (similar or otherwise) should be made from the facts stated concerning Humboldt Bank, Verita's Wines, or their related entities as here described, or the premises and activities of the place and business named as Grosvenor Apartments.

I thank Inspector Victor Spoiling for explaining aspects of forensic chemistry and police procedures, and for some informal and most ethical conversations regarding the person identified in this work as Richard Worse.

I am instructed to make clear that Dr Sigrid Blitt and Dr Emily Misgivingston provided no information regarding the identity or character of Richard Worse. Nevertheless I remain grateful, as what was not forthcoming proved most enlightening. My one question to him, kindly forwarded by Dr Blitt, as to whether he tracked Prince Nefari's satellite phone to a point in the Bergamot Sea, has not been answered.

I thank Abbess Magdalena Letterby on a thorough (if divinely insisted) reading of the manuscript, for clarifying several authorship anomalies, and for her very generous contribution in a foreword. I was astonished to discover that she is an accomplished pistolier and familiar with the Prussica gunsight; thereafter, on certain matters, I ensured that we spoke around corners.

And now, to Edvard Tøssentern: Without you, this history could not have been told. Indeed, without you, it would never have happened, and I owe you every gratitude.

And to the reader: When recounting events in the Ferendes, I have occasionally been questioned on the matter of veracity. I wish to place on record that all facts have been meticulously checked and witness statements where possible corroborated, with rigorous observance of the public's right to be truthfully informed and my own professional responsibility as an historian. Where I could only speculate on proceedings, this has been clearly stated and, I believe, argued impartially.

In assembling the material for this work, and attempting to make sense of it, I have been encouraged by a special group of individuals who are good writers, good listeners, and good friends, and I thank them.

I wish also to express my appreciation and admiration for the work of Alison Pilcrow, of UITA, who edited the manuscript. I am unable to explain how her addendum to Chapter 15 increases transparency.

I am grateful to all who have been my teachers.

Finally, to my family and dearest friends: I thank you for every affection, and for your interest and belief.