Bizarre Books

[oggbashan]

I occasionally dip into a book called "Bizarre Books" by Russell Ash and Brian Lake (paperback Sphere Books, London, 1987, originally hardback Macmillian 1985).

Here are some titles gleaned from the entries:

The Great Pantyhose Crafts Book - Ed and Stevie Baldwin, New York, Western Publishing Co., Inc., 1982 - the pantyhose cactus "is sure to be a conversation piece" and "requires less care than a real one". The Thanksgiving Turkey will be "a decorative addition to your Thanksgiving table - or tuck a brick inside and use him as a unique door stop".

How to Eat a Peanut - Anon, New York, c1900
How to Walk - Anon, Evening News, 1903
Practical Taxidermy and Home Decoration - Joseph H Batty, New York, Orange Judd, 1880
Teach Yourself Alcoholism - Meir Glatt, Teach Yourself Books, 1975
Let's Make Some Undies (in the Let's Make It series) - Marion Hall, W Foulsham & Co., 1954

Unprotected Females in Norway; or, The Pleasantest Way of Travelling There - Anon, G Routledge & Co., 1857, and

Unprotected Females in Sicily, Calabria, and on the Top of Mount Aetna; - Anon, Routledge, Warnes & Co., 1859

Gay Bulgaria - Stowers Johnson, Robert Hale, 1964

Why did none of these books pass through my bookshop?

Have you any favourite titles?

Og

 

[Divulgence]

*****

 

[jomar]

This one caught my eye.

Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Aesthetics (Paperback)
by Heather Busch, Burton Silver

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u202/Divulgence/catspaint.jpg



At first I assumed it to be a parody of Why Paint Cats: The Ethics of Feline Aesthetics (Paperback) by Burton Silver, Heather Busch, but the book appears to be genuine.

In fact, Amazon suggests you purchase the set.

Do cats only paint abstracts?

 

[Stella_Omega]

...
At first I assumed it to be a parody of Why Paint Cats: The Ethics of Feline Aesthetics (Paperback) by Burton Silver, Heather Busch, but the book appears to be genuine.

In fact, Amazon suggests you purchase the set.

 

[oggbashan]

Do cats only paint abstracts?

No. But only cats understand the symbolism.

Og

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I've been looking for a copy of "101 Things to do with a Dead Cat" for years. Seems to be out of print

 

[jomar]

No. But only cats understand the symbolism.

Og

Ha!

 

[Divulgence]

*****

 

[glynndah]

I have a collected of books I've gathered for their titles.

A Guide to Better Yacht Maintainance
Teach Yourself Welsh
Monkeys as Pets
Jazz under the Nazis
I Wish I Could Give My Son a Wild Raccoon
Search for the Pink-headed Duck

 

[shereads]

Let's Make Some Undies (in the Let's Make It series) - Marion Hall, W Foulsham & Co., 1954

A classic.

 

[shereads]

I have a collected of books I've gathered for their titles.

A Guide to Better Yacht Maintainance
Teach Yourself Welsh
Monkeys as Pets
Jazz under the Nazis
I Wish I Could Give My Son a Wild Raccoon
Search for the Pink-headed Duck

Travel writer Tim Cahill has some fine book titles that make me long to grab my passport and a duffel bag and go wandering:

Jaguars Ripped My Flesh

Pass the Butterworms

A Wolverine is Eating My Leg

Pecked to Death by Ducks

 

[Grushenka]

I bought a book of poetry titled "Marianne Faithfull's Cigarette" by Gerry Gomez Pearlberg (1998) for the cover and title. You can 'look inside this book' on Amazon.

Sword of the Lord publishers put out "The Truth about the Homosexuals". I like the use of a definite article.

1980'S erotica: "Mile-high Escapades of the Stewardess with the Mustache"

This link provides fun reading on titles such as: "If We Can Keep a Severed Head Alive", "How to Defend Yourself Against Alien Abduction" and "Moles and Their Meaning".

 

[Liar]

A useful one perhaps?

The Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual

 

[oggbashan]

More

The Serious Lesson in President Harding's Case Of Gonorrhoea, Julius E. Haldeman, Girard KA, 1931

One for Tatelou and the Bournemouth Lit Meet:
Bournemouth in Lung Troubles, Vincent Milner, Balliere, Tindall and Cox, 1896

Burr Identification System of Breast Analysis, Timothy Burr, Trenton, NJ, Hercules Publishing 1965 "Why and how women's breasts reveal their character..."

Teach Your Chicken To Fly Manual, Trevor Weeks, Sydney, Kangaroo Press, 1983

Development of the Female Genital Tract in the American Opossum, James S Baxter, Washington DC, Carnegie Institute, 1935

Og

 

[shereads]

The Serious Lesson in President Harding's Case Of Gonorrhoea, Julius E. Haldeman, Girard KA, 1931

President Harding had a case of gonorrhea?

Wow. On those Franklin Mint collectible plates, he looks fine.

 

[Grushenka]

Public to choose oddest book title. An online contest asks people to judge tomes by their covers.
From the Associated Press - March 12, 2007

LONDON — How Green Were the Nazis? could be the title to beat this year for the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for oddest book title. The book by Thomas Zeller, Franz-Josef Bruggemeier and Mark Cioc is billed as the first to examine the environmental policies of the Third Reich.

Other nominees:

The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: a Guide to Field Identification by Julian Montague

Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan by Robert Chenciner, Gabib Ismailov, Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov and Alex Binnie

D. Di Mascio's Delicious Ice Cream: Di Mascio of Coventry, an Ice Cream Company of Repute, With an Interesting and Varied Fleet of Ice Cream Vans by Roger De Boer, Harvey Francis Pitcher and Alan Wilkinson

Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Seaweed Symposium

Better Never to Have Been: the Harm of Coming Into Existence by David Benatar.

The winner will be chosen by the public though voting online at www.thebookseller.com. The prize will be announced April 13.

Last year's winner was People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It by Gary Leon Hill.

 

[king_wesley]

There's a great titled book I never read called:

A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian.

 

[Frank Noir]

Last year's winner was People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It by Gary Leon Hill.

Now, that's funny!