Arthur Rimbaud: Poet, Arms Dealer

On October 22, 1885, the former poet Arthur Rimbaud wrote to his mother from Ethiopia, telling her he was giving up coffee trading in favor of gun-running. Rimbaud appears three times in A Book of Ages.

Bob Dylan at Big Pink

On July 29, 1966, Bob Dylan was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident near his home in Woodstock, N.Y. He was 25. A few months later he and The Band rented a house in West Saugerties that they called Big Pink. The recordings from Big Pink were never released, but would become coveted bootlegs in the late ‘60s. Mr. Dylan appears seven times in A Book of Ages, performing in Dinkytown coffeehouses, writing an anthem, dating Joan Baez and being compared to French poets, going electric (and being booed for it), and being "born again".

Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine

on July 10, 1873 Arthur Rimbaud was shot in the wrist by his friend Paul Verlaine. Verlaine received two years imprisonment. Inspired by all the hoo-hah, the 18 year-old Rimbaud wrote his domestic farce "A Season In Hell", a pioneering work in the Symbolist movement. A century after his death, his poetry would inspire some of the more louche poets of Rock 'n' Roll, notably Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Jim Morrison and Patti Smith. Soon after the Verlaine break-up, Rimbaud gave up poetry altogether. He spent the rest of his working life in construction, sales and the armaments business. Arthur Rimbaud appears three times in A Book of Ages, Verlaine twice.