Amateur Press. F.G. Davis, "El Gasedil" 1901—American Society of Volapük — invented language

[Amateur Press]. - Frank Graeme DAVIS (1881-1938)].  El Gasedil. Vermillion, S.D. : F.G. Davis. 1901.  Official organ of the American Society of Volapük : a journal devoted to the propagation of the universal language Volapük.

An ephemeral and fragile 4 page journal in printed wrappers, edge-worn,  approx. the height of an iPhone.  The last page has lessons, nouns and grammatical tips relating to Volapük, defined by Google as “an artificial language devised in 1879 and proposed for international use by a German cleric, Johann M. Schleyer, and based on extremely modified forms of words from English and Romance languages.” 

A site called Queer Places (ElisaRolle.com) offers a revealing biography of the author/publisher Frank Graeme Davis (July 23, 1881 - June 19, 1938),   focusing on his decades-long interest in the world of amateur press journalism as printer, producer, collector (later destroyed in a fire) and evangelist.  often entangled  with other passions including various religions—he was, for a time,  an ordained Episcopal priest with strong ties to esoteric philosophies such as  theosophy, Rosicrucianism, & Buddhism—as well as a complicated Lovecraftian relation. For a brief while Davis left it all behind to become the lover of a younger pressman,  Roswell George Mills, whose landmark underground magazine Les Mouches Fantastiques is considered Canada’s first openly LGBTQ publication.