In a amazing departure from that which one would expect (or even dare hope) from a Pulitzer-winning author, Mr. Chabon graced me ( and from all appearances *personally* graced me, not through a publicist) with a timely and informative response, which i quote in part as follows:

"As far as I can recall, I coined 'cheminations' on the model of
'fenestration.' It refers to the way a house is furnished with chimneys. I
suppose 'caminations' would have been more correct, coming from Latin, but
sounded less like what I wanted it to mean, not possessing the h of chimney.

There are a few other nonce words in there... aetataureate... and a couple
more besides that I can't now recall."

So, it appears that Mav was correct (gee, there's a surprise), and Nicholas was on the same wavelength as the author (i can't think of better company, from either perspective)...

thanks for the responses =)