An Irishman's difficulties with the Dutch language by Cuey-na-Gael

Other booksellers are developing a similar sideline to their main business. It is constantly being updated and its authors welcome suggestions for inclusion in the next edition. It's a fascinating catalogue of publishing howlers from The Romance of Leprosy to Songs of a Chartered Accountant. These and hundreds of other authenticated titles can be found in Bizarre Books a best-selling guide by Mr Lake and fellow-author Russell Ash (Jarndyce Books, £6.99 in UK). Lake's collection has long delighted connoisseurs - and his shop has become something of a tourist attraction as it is located opposite the entrance to the British Museum.įor sheer, glorious English eccentricity it would be hard to find wackier titles than: Truncheons - Their Romance and Reality and The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry. They include Handbook for the Limbless, Play with Your Own Marbles and Fish Who Answer the Telephone. But he also devotes a window to his private collection of books with titles which appeal to lovers of double-entendres, schoolboy humour or the plain crazy. These oddly named volumes are examples of a new cult in the traditionally sedate world of book collecting - searching for bizarre titles.Ī London bookseller, Brian Lake, is the proprietor of Jarndyce Books which well-heeled customers seeking a first edition of Dickens might visit. If they don't do the trick, then A Study of Hospital Waiting Lists in Cardiff, 1953-1954 should cure even the most chronic insomnia.

If you're having trouble sleeping, try reading The Trombone in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance or Prehistoric Sandals from Northeastern Arizona, writes Michael Parsons.

An Irishman's difficulties with the Dutch language by Cuey-na-Gael