Among the books I inherited from my German grandmother were “Ich, Claudius” and several volumes of the works of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde in German. Those aren’t the strange ones.
The strange one is Dr. Erich Wulffen’s 1921 “Der Sexualverbrecher” (“The Sexual Criminal”). The first clue I had that this was not just another 80-year-old book of dense German blackletter text that I’d never read was the frontispiece: a watercolor medical illustration of a vagina. Inside this 700-page book, apparently a serious scholarly work, are several gruesome photos of victims of lustmord (sex murder), whips and other tools of sadism, and 1920s vintage obstetric instruments.
I don’t read German, so I can’t tell you much more about it than this. But I do have to wonder why my dear old grandmother (or my grandfather, who died before I was born) owned this book.
I also own Cash Peters’ “World Domination Handbook,” which, fortunately for the rest of you, I have chosen not to put into practice. (Although, considering how things are going these days, maybe I should rethink that decision.)
Whoa! When I saw the OP, this is the first book I grabbed from my shelf. It’s a collection of classic “Odd Bodkins” comic strips from the late 1960s. Any strip that has characters such as Norton, the Superbike and The Werechicken of Petaluma is tops in my book.
Also on the Hometownboy library shelves Fyrsta Ordabóken Mín, an Icelandic translation of Richard Scary’s “Best Word Book Ever.” This gem I found years ago at the amazing Powell’s book store in Portland, OR. It’s a fascinating look at Viking roots in English. Example: “cold milk” is “köld mjólk.”
Babysan’s World by Bill Hume “published by Charles E. Tuttle Co. of Rutland, Vermont, and Tokyo, Japan” which is a collection of cartoons and pinups featuring American servicemen in postwar Japan.
The Steel Square Pocket Book: A Practical and Handy Treatise Giving the Best Methods of Using the Carpenter’s Steel Square by Dwight L. Stoddard, copyright 1904, which contains practical hints for laying out everthing from stair steps to octagonal roof beams to a five-pointed star, using the steel square.
Pissing in the Snow, and Other Folktales by Vance Randolph, which is basically a collection of dirty jokes sanctified by being “collected” by researchers in the South in the 1930s.(Where do you come by grants for fun stuff like this these days?)
An Informal Biography of Scrooge McDuck by science fiction author Jack Chalker, a tribute to the beloved character created by comic book artist Carl Barks. This book was made with the cooperation of Barks, but Dsny wouldn’t allow any illustrations from the comics. Still a fascinating read for Scrooge fans and highly recommended.
Some odd stuff I have:
[ul]
[li]The Book of the Breast, by Robert Anton Wilson. A book entirely about, well, breasts. I think it was reissued as Ishtar Rising.[/li][li]Ladies of the Night. A book from the 1960s consisting of interviews with prostitutes.[/li][li]A one-volume encyclopedia/almanac from 1905 (I forget the exact name). It provides useful information on how to raise chickens, Germany’s government, and facts about the planet Hershel.[/li][/ul]
've got these! The Book of the Breast is a sore disappointment, however. The pix are diappointing, a the rest is filled with half-baked philosophy. An amazingly un-titllating book, given the subject matter. You’d never believe this was written by the same guy who gave us the Illumnatus! books.
I was just mailed another odd book yesterday – The Poetry of Rasputin Fish, the World’s Worst Poet by Michael Lea. This book seems to be amazingly out of print – the usual internet sites don’t even list it. It’s written by a friend a colleague, a man with truly savage and dry British wit. Unfortunately, the book lives up to its subtitle, and the wit is too dry or too nonexistent.
A copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland translated into Russian by the oddly appropriate Vladimir Nabokov.
Doktor Bey’s Bedside Bug Book by Derek Pell: a rather fictitious account of the history between the human and bug races, completely illustrated with spliced engravings from old books. During the war, there was a competition among nations to see who could devise the cruellest machines for torturing the insects:
The First Book of Sacraments of the Church of The Tree of Life A guide for the religious use of legal mind alterants. First edition, first printing. 1972. Evidently the “legal” part needs to be revised.
Yeah, I’ve got House of Leaves, too. Odd book, that one.
When I was in France I semi-randomly picked up a copy of “Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets” because I was curious, even though I don’t speak or read much French. It’s entirely worth it, though, for the chapter where Harry taunts his cousin. “Abracadabra!” dit Harry. “Hic-hoc, trousse-mousse, et bave de crapaud!” Yeah. I yell this at people occasionally.
And somewhere I swear that I’ve got a collection of Sven and Oli jokes.
The Drinking Man’s Diet Cookbook, a cookbook that was printed to capitalize on a short-lived fad diet in the early 60s. I saw it in a used-book store in Pass Christian, Misissippi and couldn’t pass up the title.
Hey, Purd, just out of curiosity: what would you take for your Codex, dollar-wise? I’ve wanted one of those for a while. My email’s down there somewhere…
Edward Leedskalnin asked for his lover’s hand in marriage. She rejected him. Ed left Latvia and settled in Florida. He alone. He performed experiments with electromagnetism. He, working alone and without motorized equipment, raised Coral Castle-a monument built of multiton blocks of coral.
He also wrote this book. First, Ed says that if you can write a better one, do it. Each page is followed by a blank one. Thus, Ed gives you as much room to do it in as he did.
Ed advises on how to find the right boys for your daughter. He has a unique way of keeping daughters pure. If a mother feels that a suitor threatens her daughter’s virtue, she should have sex with him herself. ‘This way the boy’s urges are released. Besides, the mother has already gone through it and cannot be harmed anymore’
Strange Lives And Eccentric Notions
The book I first learned of Ed in. Velikovsky is covered here. Sir Francis Galton’s contributions to science(fingerpints, eugenics) are covered in other books. This one covers Galton’s obsessive need to collect data on everything, the mental experiments he performed on himself etc. There’s a section on chief proponents of Shakespeare was really— theories. Other individuals in the book-
an archeologist guided by his wife’s psychic powers and driven to prove his descent from King Arthur.
A historian convinced that an ancient conspiracy had moved all Biblical sites from their true location-Great Britain
A doctor who founded an organisation dedicated to converting all Jews to Christianity and moving them to the promised land in order to usher in the second coming
A man and wife who attained happiness and elevated conscioussness by drilling holes in their skulls.
I grew up in Miami and actually toured “Coral Castle” once. It is truly a unique, if bizarre, accomplishment. It’s true – the main door is so exquisitely balanced on its pivot point, you can easily push it with one finger. (Well, it used to work that well, anyway. Can’t vouch for it now.) Similarly, all the dining table chairs would rock…
I think Billy Idol’s video for “White Wedding” was shot there.
One gate weighs 3 tons. The other weighs 9. Maintenance had to be done on the 9 ton gate. Since Ed allowed no spectators and left no notes, the gate could not be restored to its original condition. Moving it with one finger would likely result in a bad sprain.
The area inside the castle is now lined with iirc gravel. The rocking chairs have settled into the gravel and no longer rock.
I can only hope some other 5 foot tall eccentric genius can rediscover Ed’s secrets and restore the castle before it’s too late
The Russian Revolution- The Real Story A comicbook/Graphic novel produced by the former USSR in the “evil empoire days of the 80’s. Lots of People’s republic artwork telling the story of the revolution as a history lesson. It basicly comes down to square jawed men in coveralls vs. Imperialists in other countries who wear top hats and spectacles. Very amusing for what they remove from history. (Hey! Where’d the Romanov’s from the first part go? It doesn’t mention them! Gee, according to this the Soviets beat POland in the early 20’s. Whodda thunk!?”)
Physics is Constipated A physics textbook written by a deliberate crank who wants to annoy. His core beleif is that you cannot use a term that cannot be directly measured. Ergo the everything normally gets meaured as a product of two other factors (Work, etc.) gets broken down into its core units. Makes for a lot more chicken scratch on the problem solving sections. Takes himself very seriously and in the end of the text states that he is proud that his work will annoy the professors who ignored his obvious genius. Mostly just sad for that reason alone.