Some of the titles that have earned a place at Jarndyce

WITH titles such as Jokes Cracked by Lord Aberdeen – a stern looking Victorian peer – to Sewage Disposal from Isolated Buildings by GM Flood – the books found on a shelf at the celebrated Bloomsbury antiquarian specialists Jarndyce are not what you would usually associate with the serious business of historic publishing.

But for proprietor Brian Lake, his journeys through the world of books, of buying up rarities, first editions and tomes of value, includes an enjoyable sideline – stocking up what he calls the Librorum Ridiculorum, a compendium of bizarre books, now published with their titles in one collection.

Jarndyce has been providing bibliophiles with titles since 1959 from an office in Neal Street and then their shop in Great Russell Street, and it’s the vast range of ludicrous-sounding books Mr Lake has come across that has been the inspiration.

The Librorum Ridiculorum, or Bibliotheca Bizarrica, as it is sometimes called at Jarndyce, began in the early 1980s. Mr Lake was taking his collection to one of the UK’s longest standing and most popular book fairs in York. He was a co-organiser of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association and with other dealers, they decided to generate publicity they should have a display of the one book each bookseller has that has never been sold.

“Every book store has that one book that has been on a shelf for 50 years, so we thought – let’s get all the booksellers to bring that one book they could not sell for the exhibition,” he says.

The titles provided the booksellers with an unmitigated hoot – and it garnered worldwide coverage in the media.

“I had one called Motorcycling for Beginners by Mike Carless,” he recalls. “It is a genuine book. I began looking out for other titles that were similar and it became a regular at book fairs – and then became a book.”

Mr Lake recalls how when he goes book hunting – visiting small stores, house clearances junk shops and anywhere else books may be sold – he has a twin aim of not just unearthing those rare tomes he specialises in, but books with funny or unusual titles.

“I was partly inspired by a visit I made to a bookstore in East Anglia,” he remembers. “There was nothing of value there, but a book called Lost On Brown Willy caught my eye. It was about a mountain in Cornwall. I had to buy it.”

The criteria to make this special collection is the mirth value they provide – and they have to be genuine.

“The books illustrate an important point about changing uses of language,” adds Mr Lake. “We look for books that are unintentionally funny. The author usually intended them to be educational. It shows how words and meanings develop and evolve.”

Mr Lake keeps an eye out on his many book selling trips. Jarndyce are well known around the world in the antiquarian book trade, visiting fairs in north America, Europe and around the UK. Specialising in titles from around 1600 to 1900, they now have a dedicated 20th century section too.

The store, unsurprising­ly considering its place in Bloomsbury, specialises in the writer perhaps most associated with London – Charles Dickens. And it is a Dickens tome that has brought them in the largest every single sale, says Mr Lake.

“We once sold a Dickens for £100,000 which is, of course, exciting. But there are other discoveries I find just as satisfying.”

While their main focus is dealing in 19th-century books, too many titles Mr Lake comes across are just so good he can’t resist picking them up.
“One element of the work is never quite knowing what may turn up. It adds a frisson of excitement whenever a customer comes in with a package, or a house clearance offers a chance for some treasure hunting,” he adds.

“I enjoy going in to places and looking through books seeing what is there. We can advise people who to deal with if we don’t want to buy titles ourselves. Often, there may be something of possible value but we will go and do some research to discover how much, so the customer can be sure they are getting a fair price.”

Mr Lake says that as well as a book with a strange title catching his eye, he loves a historic publication that feels box fresh. “What I particularly like is a book in its original condition, looking as they did the day they were the day they were sold,” he says. “I once came across a pamphlet by the French political and natural philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau. It dated from the 18th century. It was still in its original blue sugar paper wrapper, from the day it was sold, and was in a lovely condition. That type of thing is what I love to find.”

Jarndyce comes across other peculiar collections. “We recently sold a collection of books put together by a teacher,” Mr Lake adds. The collection ran from the 1790s to the 1940s – and the teacher used the books as a history project to show students the development of the publishing trade over a number of decades. “They were a lovely historical guide to the world of publishing,” he says.

With titles such as How To Avoid Being Drowned, Frog Raising for Pleasure and Profit, and How To Be Happy Though Married, Mr Lake’s alternative library has that book you never knew you wanted, but would find hard to resist if it was there in front of you.

• Librorum Ridiculorum: A Compendium of Bizarre Books. By Brian Lake. Harper Collins, £10.99. A selection of greetings cards of book covers is available at www.jarndyce.co.uk