A bit of bibliophilic fun on the blog for you today! I found this book in a second-hand bookshop years ago; it’s a glorious collection of weird and wonderful publications from across the centuries, featuring authors with unfortunate names, unwitting double entendres and titles so ridiculously niche you can’t help but wonder how they came to be published at all. So to bring you some Friday cheer, here are a few of my favourite entries in this entertaining compendium, “Bizarre Books” – all completely genuine!
Books by authors who, well, couldn’t have written anything else…
“Death in Early America” by Margaret Coffin
“Motorcycling for Beginners” by Geoff Carless
“Round the Bend in the Stream” by Wilmot Hudson Fysh
“Metabolic Changes Induced by Alcohol” by G.A. Martini
Books whose sphere of interest is limited to say the least…
“Wall Paintings by Snake-charmers in Tanganyika” by Hans Cory
“Canadian National Egg-Laying Contests” by F.C. Elford and A.G. Taylor
“Manhole Covers of Los Angeles” by Robert and Mimi Melnick
“The Effect of Relative Humidity on an Oak-tanned Leather Belt” by W.W. Bird
If you’re at a loose end this weekend here are a few suggestions as to how you could spend your time…
“Collect Fungi on Stamps” by D.J. Aggersberg
“Master Pieces: making furniture from paintings” by Richard Ball and Peter Campbell
“Macramé Gnomes” by Dona Z. Meilach
“Build your own Hindenburg” by Alan Rose
Or, if none of the above appeal, you could always settle down with one of these riveting titles…
“Practical Candle Burning” by Raymond Buckland
“Fishes I have known” by Arthur A. Henry Beavan
“The History and Social Influence of the Potato” by Radcliffe Nathan Salaman
“The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Metal Lunch Boxes” by Allen Woodall and Sean Brickell
Authors Russell Ash and Brian Lake have garnered these gems and hundreds more from years of working in the book trade – as an industry employee myself I can attest to some of the weird and wonderful things that get requested every now and again! If there are any bizarre books you’ve come across, I’d love to hear about them…
