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The Madman's Library
The Madman's Library: The Greatest Curiosities of Literature | Edward Brooke-Hitching
17 posts | 8 read | 2 reading | 22 to read
'Anybody who loves the printed word will be bowled over by this amusing, erudite, beautiful book about books. It is in every way a triumph. One of the loveliest books to have been published for many, many years.' Alexander McCall Smith 'An utterly joyous journey into the deepest eccentricities of the human mind The most cheering, fascinating book Ive read for ages.' Guardian 'Brooke-Hitchings prose is elegant and witty [and] the images...make the book a real joy.' Spectator 'The most beautiful objects in literature. You're going to love this. Extraordinary.' Dan Snow From the author of the critically acclaimed and globally successful The Phantom Atlas, The Golden Atlas and The Sky Atlas comes a stunning new work. The Madmans Library is a unique, beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of literature, delving into its darkest territories to hunt down the very strangest books ever written, and uncover the fascinating stories behind their creation. This is a madmans library of eccentric and extraordinary volumes from around the world, many of which have been completely forgotten. Books written in blood and books that kill, books of the insane and books that hoaxed the globe, books invisible to the naked eye and books so long they could destroy the Universe, books worn into battle, books of code and cypher whose secrets remain undiscovered and a few others that are just plain weird. From the 605-page Qur'an written in the blood of Saddam Hussein, through the gorgeously decorated 15th-century lawsuit filed by the Devil against Jesus, to the lost art of binding books with human skin, every strand of strangeness imaginable (and many inconceivable) has been unearthed and bound together for a unique and richly illustrated collection ideal for every book-lover.
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blurb
rwmg
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Honorable mention to "The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury"

review
rwmg
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Pickpick

Beautifully illustrated book about books that one way or another fit the author's description of weird - edible or wearable books, books written in blood or bound with human skin, very small or very big books, or books whose contents are strange to our eyes.

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rwmg
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Saturday: finish The Madman's Diary and continue with Humble Pi
Sunday: start The Forgetting Time for my book club next Saturday

@Andrew65
#WeekendReading

Andrew65 Have a good weekend of reading. 2y
15 likes1 stack add1 comment
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rwmg
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rwmg
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I had just turned one when my father first used me as a bidder's paddle at an auction.

@ShyBookOwl
#FirstLineFridays

DrexEdit 😂😂👍💜 2y
21 likes1 comment
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LeahBergen
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He-Gassen (literally: ‘Fart Competitions‘) is a Japanese scroll of the Edo period (1603-1868) by an unknown artist.

From the tagged book.

🤣🤣🤣

DGRachel 😱 3y
vivastory 😂😂 3y
Suet624 FANTASTIC!!! 3y
See All 18 Comments
DivineDiana 😳😬😱 3y
Branwen 🤣😂🤣😂👏 3y
Lindy 😳🤪 3y
Soubhiville Whaaaaat⁉️ 😷🤣 3y
MsMelissa OMG 😂 3y
AlaMich Well, it‘s not like they had Netflix to entertain them. 😂 3y
Hooked_on_books My husband will be so proud of this! 🙄😆 3y
Cathythoughts Stop 😂😂 3y
LeahBergen @AlaMich True! 🤣🤣 3y
LeahBergen @Hooked_on_books Don‘t challenge him! 🤣 3y
Lreads 😝😂😂 3y
Amiable This is the best thing I‘ve seen all week. 😀 3y
lazydaizee Wow, they had bad wind in those days. 3y
UwannaPublishme 🤣🤣🤣 3y
73 likes1 stack add18 comments
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LeahBergen
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I spent part of my afternoon with this very strange and profusely illustrated book. I picked it up to read after finishing Dark Archives and was creepily fascinated to find that it includes illustrations of books bound in human skin. 😮

#BooksAboutBooks

Suet624 🥴 3y
Lindy 😱 3y
Hooked_on_books Well aren‘t you on a fun kick! 3y
See All 8 Comments
Cathythoughts That‘s mad ! 3y
ValerieAndBooks Okay I am stacking this! 3y
LeahBergen @Hooked_on_books I am, indeed! 😆 3y
LeahBergen @ValerieAndBooks It‘s definitely your sort of book! 👍🏻 3y
75 likes1 stack add8 comments
review
RainyDayReading
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Pickpick

What a great book! Really pairs well with the special collections and archives class I‘m taking. Full of all sorts of weird books and items kept in libraries and collections across the world. The pictures alone are worth checking this book out. From a story sewed into clothing and a book filled with toxic wallpaper to the worlds biggest and smallest books, even with some literary hoaxes sprinkled in, if you‘re a fan of the weird this is for you.

37 likes1 stack add
review
TiminCalifornia
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Pickpick


Most interesting to me were the chapters covering books with cryptic writing and literary hoaxes because I love a good puzzle and a good joke. The last chapter on amusing titles was good for a chuckle. Madman‘s Library is generously filled with pictures allowing readers to fully appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship of the past. #netgalley #arc

35 likes1 stack add
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TiminCalifornia
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You can‘t make this stuff up.

#catpiano. #catsoflitsy

Smrloomis 😳 yikes! 3y
RamsFan1963 Reminds me of the Monty Python sketch where the guy hit mice with a mallet to make them squeak in tune 3y
Michael_Gee 😮 3y
24 likes3 comments
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TiminCalifornia
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“...books written by the ghosts of authors must be catalogued under the name of post-mortem personality, not the name of the medium who recorded the work. This means, for example, that technically speaking Shakespeare's final work was not 'The Two Noble Kinsman' (1613-1614) but 'For Jesus' Sake-by Shakespeare's Spirit'(1920). You can find it catalogued under 'Shakespeare, William (Spirit)'.“

swynn Former cataloger here. This is only partly true. It's true that works purported to have been written by spirits are cataloged as having been authored by them. (Or at least that was the case under AACR2.) But *technically* Shakespeare and Shakespeare's spirit are separate bibliographic entities. So the Bard's final work (that we know of) is still "Two Noble Kinsmen." 3y
Palimpsest @TiminCalifornia I‘m getting this book this week. I love non-fiction books about books. 3y
Palimpsest @swynn Thanks for sharing that info. 3y
23 likes3 comments
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TiminCalifornia
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“Books are lighthouses in the great sea of time.” -Edwin Percy Whipple

#firstlinefridays

review
readingjedi
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Pickpick

What an utter delight this book was! What's not to love about a book about books, especially the unusual, odd and downright freaky ones! The photos are gorgeous and the text is a thoroughly entertaining mix of erudition & gentle snark.

The perfect gift for the bibliophile in your life, especially if that happens to be yourself! Your coffee table needs this book!

Photo from the section on miniature books - these are the relatively huge ones! 😳

Palimpsest I can‘t resist a non-fiction book about books. 3y
80 likes6 stack adds1 comment
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readingjedi
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A bit of non-fiction up next. And what a delight this promises to be! A present from my husband & daughter, I've been looking forward to it since I opened it on Christmas morning!

82 likes5 stack adds
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rachaich
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This book is absolutely nuts!!! But fascinating 🤣😁😁

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WanderingBookaneer
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My roller derby league did a holiday sock exchange and I got mine today!

Mitch Love that xxx 3y
AmyG Thry know you well. Love them! 3y
Traci1 Ooh I love those. All I've ever seen like that are longer. I like the short ones. 3y
Gissy They are just perfect!!😍🧦🧦🧦🧦 3y
eraderneely I got those for Christmas too 😁 3y
71 likes5 comments
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tournevis
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Question for the galerie: I keep getting this add for this service on Insta. Does anyone know anything about it? I know most Insta ads are not to be fully trusted. They're called "The fussy librarian" and claim free ebooks a month in "20 genres".

LibrarianRyan Last time I looked at it it was mostly indie or self published authors. No big names of anything. 3y
rubyslippersreads I get their newsletter but don‘t like it because the font is tiny. There are plenty of free ebook newsletters; I‘d skip this one. 3y
34 likes3 comments