#1Dec 12th, 2006
11th December 2006
Tens of thousands of books are published every year. Some become bestsellers, while others are unintentionally funny or just plain weird.
A new collection of book covers celebrates the hundreds of titles that have been produced over the years with the serious objective of informing readers, but which - thanks to changes in the meaning of many words over time - are now more likely to result in laughter.
The authors spent four decades searching second-hand bookshops and libraries for their titles. Here are the Mail's favourites -
Schoolboys everywhere giggled, but herpetologists found it vital reading
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Double Dutch? Irish blarney? It was all Greek to them....
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The French would love this one.
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A windy book published in 1727 by 'Don Fartinhando Puffindhorst' (professor of bumbast) but thought to be the great Irish satirist Jonathan Swift
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Soap opera? Or just old-fashioned film stars keeping it clean
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An early religious thriller? But it's hardly got the Da Vinci touch
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Nothing to do with poor Alexander Litvinenko, but advice for housewives using gas cookers
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Just when you've got all the time in the world to read, the perfect self-help book
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Sounds a lively read -billed as 'an appalling poem by a madman'
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From the days when gay meant happy and fags were schoolboys
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Ah, innocent times. But scout leaders would be locked up for it today
dailymail.co.uk
Last edited by Blackleaf; Dec 12th, 2006 at 12:52 PM..