This week's collection of whimsical and curious stories will come as a book review. However, in keeping with the theme of this newsletter, we will steer clear of any bestseller list and most certainly ignore any works of academic significance. Instead, we will have a brief look at some more unconventional works of literature:
The Madman's Library - If you were to pick the most important work of Sir Isaac Newton, most of us would probably gravitate directly towards his Principia Mathematica - the founding document of modern science. However, if you were Edward Brooke-Hitching, you would consider acquiring Newton's half-burned scribblings on the dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Giza which Newton thought would unlock the timing of the Apocalypse (current starting bid at Sotheby's stands at £280,000 - Link).* Brooke-Hitching grew up in a rare book shop and has written books covering rare and obscure maps (Link). His latest book, "The Madman's Library", assembles a collection of the most bizarre and extraordinary books written over the past centuries. Speaking to academics, librarians, and booksellers around the world, we learn about the Triangular Book of Count St Germain (circa 1750) discussing the secrets of immortality, a book written entirely in penguin blood by a shipwrecked captain stranded on a penguin-inhabited island (the Fate of the Blenden Hall - 1821), and a book containing 20 Slices of American Cheese (Ben Denzer, 2018).
By far the most useful book among this collection seems to be La Confession Coupée (or Cut-out Confessions) written by a French cleric in 1677. In it, he provides a list of all the sins he could possibly conceive of and neatly structures them into ten chapters mirroring the ten commandments. The forgetful sinner can proceed to just cut out the sins he wants to confess (or simply browse the pages for sinful inspiration). The book was so successful that it was reprinted for almost another 100 years.
The Madman's Library also holds a great selection of travel journals. One of the more unwitting contributors was Constantine Samuel Rafinesque who was the author of "Book 17th of Notes – Travels in 1818". In it, the keen naturalist describes his trip to Kentucky to visit his colleague John James Audubon. However, besides being a man interested in the natural world, Rafinesque was apparently also very irritating. Not being able to rid himself of his guest, Audubon started feeding him tales of made-up local animals. Thanks to him, we now have sketches and descriptions of the bulletproof "Devil-Jack Diamond fish" or the “Buffalo Carp Sucker” (see notebook excerpt below). In the end, Rafinesque did not only leave us with a fine story about 19th century humour and imagination but also went on to establish 34 genera and 24 species of real American fishes (Link).
The Madman's Library is published by Simon & Schuster (Link)
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*The notes were apparently scorched from a fire caused by Newton’s hound, Diamond, jumping onto a table and tipping over a candle. Newton had tried to uncover the unit of measurement used by the architects of the pyramids allowing him to uncover hidden meanings in the Bible (amongst other)
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