When Mercury Online Editor Eileen Faust suggested I blog about this book, I had to laugh. The title "Leather Man" to me conjures an image of the gaunt, older fellow my family so nicknamed because he likes to sun himself every single day of the summer, with no sunscreen or shade, wearing only a Speedo, all the while chain-smoking cigarettes, and, I'm pretty sure drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, on the beach next to my mom's lakehouse in Western Pa.

Leather Man has been sunning himself to a bronze crisp in the same spot, on a tri-fold lounger, for probably my entire lifetime. Incidentally, he has a similarly sun-worshipping lady friend we call "Leatherette." I saw them both last over Labor DAy, in their usual spot beside the lake. I joked with my mom, as we sat in the shade playing cards, that Leather Man is probably only in his mid-40s, but looks about 90.

Eileen, however, was talking about this intriguing book on a Connecticut legend, the Old Leather Man, who supposedly roamed around in a crude leather outfit. Incidentally, Eileen is a fan of folklore, and just last week explained to me what the New Jersey Devil was (is?) in her home state.

Book chronicles hunt for lore on 'Old Leather Man'

By LESLIE HUTCHINSON

Record-Journal of Meriden
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. (AP) - The first known photograph of the Old Leather Man was taken without his consent.
It shows a blurry image of his silhouette complete with walking stick, hat and leather bag. The photo was taken in Forestville by a photographer who concealed himself behind a blanket and then snapped the picture when the Old Leather Man was offered a plug of tobacco.
The image was published in the Meriden Daily Republican in May 1885.
That photo and 19 others of the Old Leather Man can be found in a new book by Dan W. DeLuca of Meriden called "Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend." It contains pictures, memories and newspaper reports of the wandering man who walked a circuit between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers in the late 1800s.
DeLuca said he's recently determined that the Old Leather Man stayed in a rock shelter in Southington on land that is now the YMCA's Camp Sloper, near East Street.
The shelter was secure enough for the Old Leather Man to survive the four-day long "Blizzard of 1888," when an estimated 50 inches of snow fell. A newspaper article written three days after the blizzard confirmed that he had weathered the storm.
"The Old Leather Man put in an appearance yesterday morning, stopping for breakfast at W.M. Fowler's. He was headed east and looked as well as he usually does," the Penny Press of East Berlin reported on March 17.
Facts about the early life of the historical figure are not known, but the Old Leather Man became well known to residents of Connecticut and New York around 1856, according to DeLuca's research.
The author writes that "Old Leathery," as he was sometimes called, started his famous clockwise circle of travel around 1883, making ".... A regular route of 365 miles every 34 days, until he died on March 20, 1889."
DeLuca has spent the past 20 years researching the Old Leather Man, whose real name is not known. He discovered the first-known photograph at the Hamden Historical Society and was able to connect it to a specific date because he had read a newspaper report about the blanket trick in Forestville.
"There was only one with that image. I knew when I found the photograph exactly what it was," DeLuca said.
The most iconographic photo of the Old Leather Man — which is the cover illustration for DeLuca's book — was taken by a 19-year-old photographer from Branford, James Rogers.
"He grew up seeing the Old Leather Man come through town and he got up the nerve to start talking to him," DeLuca said. Rogers was one of the first photographers for whom the historical figure posed.
DeLuca's research was greatly helped, he said, when the son of historian LeRoy W. Foote donated his father's collection of Old Leather Man artifacts to DeLuca.
The son, Wayne H. Foote of Middlebury, said his father's interest in the historical figure began in 1940. LeRoy Foote's research was an offshoot of his interest in caves, Wayne said, that grew to include the Old Leather Man's rock shelters.
"I'm happy if the effort my father made in his hobby continues (DeLuca's) historic research," Wayne Foote said.
"I like to walk and wander," he continued, "and I often think of the Old Leather Man."
LeRoy Foote and his wife, Sarah, gave talks about the historical figure and created a slide show that was presented in several towns, Wayne Foote said.
LeRoy Foote also had replicas made of the Old Leather Man's coat, hat and walking stick that were used in the show. After LeRoy Foote's death, his wife continued the presentations with some help from Wayne Foote.
"I would put on the hat and coat for a dramatic affect at the end of the show," he said.
DeLuca compiled about 400 pages of research and presented it about two years ago to editors at Wesleyan University Press.
"With (LeRoy) Foote's information and photos, and what I've put together, it cleared up a lot of little things I didn't know," DeLuca said. DeLuca talked with the editors about the possibility of publishing the book.
"They said 'yes' almost immediately," he recalls.
"I was afraid that others after me wouldn't do this," DeLuca said. "If everybody in every single town talked to the old-timers, we could uncover more information and more shelters."
The Old Leather Man's shelters that are accessible to the public are listed in the back of the book. The list includes Mount Higby and Hubbard Park in Meriden, Fann's Shelter in Hamden and two along the Mattatuck Trail near Watertown.
A review of the book by Connecticut State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni is complimentary of DeLuca's research.
"The Old Leather Man was an enigma in the later 1880s and remains so today," wrote Bellantoni. "Dan DeLuca has compiled his decades of research into a most comprehensive account, with photographs and maps of this mysterious, punctual and unique character's travels through New York and Connecticut."
"Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend" was expected to arrive in stores by the second week of November.

Always a good idea to have something to read in case you get caught waiting in line. These voters did. At top, Corrie Masterlee came prepared for the weather and the wait as she read a book in line to vote at Bayview Elementary school in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 4. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, DELORES JOHNSON) At near top: Kate Winters uses a flashlight as she reads a book while waiting in line before polls open in Matthews, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 4. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Some patriotic/inspirational reading suggestions from today's Washington Post, in an article by Derek Kravitz:

FICTION
If you're in the mood for fiction, try Robert Penn Warren's classic "All the King's Men," the 1947 political thriller about Southern populist politician Willie Stark, modeled after Louisiana Gov. Huey Long. (Both Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are reportedly fond of the book).
For more recent tales, there are Larry Beinhart's "American Hero," the 1995 political satire about a staged Hollywood-style war (the film "Wag the Dog" was based on the book) and Joe Klein's "Primary Colors," the fictional novel based on the goings-on behind the 1992 presidential campaign of former President Bill Clinton.
And in memory of the late Tony Hillerman, the New Mexico author who died earlier this month at 83, there's the 1971 political novel "The Fly On The Wall," which follows reporter John Cotton as he becomes embroiled in a political scandal involving a senatorial candidate.
(Children who are stuck in long lines can also check out Doreen Cronin's and Besty Lewin's "Duck for President," about farm animals seeking higher power.)

Check out non-fiction, autobiographies and what the presidential candidates are reading after the jump:

NON-FICTION
Want to relive recent history? Try Barton Gellman's "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency," (review) the Post reporter's revealing look at Vice President Dick Cheney and his role in the Bush administration. Or Bob Woodward's "The War Within," (review) the fourth and final installment of the acclaimed journalist's behind-the-scenes look at the president and the Iraq War.
For one take on what the world might hold for the next president, check out Thomas L. Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded," (review) The New York Times columnist's tome on global warming and population growth.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
To brush up on your candidate's life story, you can thumb through Obama's two books -- his personal 1995 memoir "Dreams From My Father," and the Illinois more political 2004 book "The Audacity of Hope." Joe Biden penned "Promises to Keep," which chronicles the Delaware Democrat's life and senatorial career.
For McCain, there's his autobiography "Faith of My Fathers," which chronicles his life and torture in a North Vietnamese POW camp and the Arizona senator's three books on character: "Character is Destiny, "Why Courage Matters" and "Hard Call."
WHAT THE CANDIDATES ARE READING
McCain has a particular affinity for the character of Robert Jordan, the young American fighting the Spanish fascists in Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom The Bell Tolls." At the end of the book, a wounded Jordan faces the possibility of torture or suicide as the attack nears.
Both Obama and McCain's reading habits have been thoroughly examined. If elected, Obama would be one of the most "literary presidents in recent memory," writes Salon.com's Laura Miller, noting that "Obama the reader blossomed as an undergraduate at Occidental College in California and, especially, during the two monkish years he spent finishing up his degree at Columbia University in New York."
Also, check out a few books that the candidates have been seen carrying under their arms in recent months: Obama was spotted with Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars" about the CIA's role in the War on Terror and Fareed Zakaria's "The Post-American World" and McCain was seen with Robert Kagan's "The Return of History and the End of Dreams" and Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front." For more books that the candidates have recommended or been seen reading check out Amazon.com's Election 2008 page.