The Madman's Library: The Greatest Curiosities of Literature

"The Madman's Library" is a MUST HAVE for every book collector. Edward Brooke-Hitching dives into the obscure history of books and all of it's oddities to compile the strangest books throughout history. "The Madman's Library" brings into the spotlight the outcasts, the books not mentioned in popular culture or primary school, the books considered too controversial or odd, abandoned and forgotten about, and tells us the fascinating stories of how they were created. Being an eccentric, antique book collecting, history obsessed artist myself, I enjoyed this entire book. There are plenty of pictures as well so "The Madman's Library" is the perfect coffee table book, as well as a unique gift for all of your book loving friends.

Great very interesting book!

Enjoying the book because it’s interesting information.

I didn’t know there were so many books that could fit in a madman’s library I got a lot of reading to do :)

Like the head said.

I enjoyed the great extent of details and illustrations shared in this book. The introduction indicates the Google Books project set out in 2002 to scan the then known 129,864,880 books. The book opens with illustrations of a multi floored library, then a partially naked alien warrior (with exposed parts), and Chinese illustrations of figures using flatulence as weapons. So now that he has your attention, the author can share about size (so large to require an engine to turn pages, small enough for a locket and smaller), and materials (including skin and tin, inks and bindings with poisons like arsenic).Scan the table of contents and you will see the diverse topics the book is going to share. I loved the Books that Aren’t Books chapter and Cryptic Books. The Curious Collections and Curiosities of Science are cool too, as are all the chapters.This is certainly a good table conversation book but it could also be great for creative inspiration for book nerds. Not that you want anyone inspired by the blood and skin books but there are plenty of items that are worth being inspired by! I recommend this to every book lover to enjoy the history and variety of books.Source: NetGalley Read Now.

The book looks good. Shipping it loose in a large box seems like a poor idea

Binding had completely separated from pages. The whole cover had broken away from the pages. So was in two parts. I glued it back together.