The Woman Who Was Pope: A Biography of Pope Joan, 853-855 A.D.

New York: William Faro, Inc.. Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. 1933 (c.1931). 3rd printing. Hardcover. [just a touch of shelfwear, modest age-toning to edges of text block; the jacket is lightly edgeworn, and has some random spotting on the rear panel]. Or, not. A "biography" (if we may call it that) of the woman who purportedly reigned as Pope of Rome for a couple of years during the 9th Century, but whose actual existence had long been a matter of dispute in church circles, and which is today now widely regarded as a myth. So basically what we have here is "historical fiction" with not much actual history underpinning it, although the author (rather grandiosely claimed in the jacket blurb as to be "probably the greatest student of Christianity in America") gives it the old college try: Part One of the book, "Pope Joan in History," purports to demonstrate "that Pope Joan was a definite historical figure, whose existence is as definitely established as that of any of her contemporaries." (Basically it runs through the evidentiary chronicle, then posits a conspiracy theory about the "smothering" and "suppression" of the truth.) Part Two, "The Life of Pope Joan" -- by far the largest part of the book -- is a pretty much made-up-from-whole-cloth account (with lots of dialogue) of Joan's life from conception to death (in childbirth, of all things). And just the bring the whole story home, I guess, there's a 4-page Appendix explaining the origin and playing rules of "The Card Game, Pope Joan." (Although it's tempting to believe that Wood -- famously the co-author, with his wife Gloria Goddard, of "The Complete Book of Games" -- just made that up, too, it was in fact a thing: per Wikipedia, "a once popular Victorian family game....an 18th-century English round game of cards for three to eight players.") .