This was a curio cabinet of book curiosities. The amount of interesting stories and quaint anecdotes is almost as copious as the photographs and illustrations provided for several book curiosities. The author cover an extensive array of topics, and an expansive compendium of the recording of the written word in various cultures. All book lovers can find something new and interesting in The Madman's library. This book should be in any bibliophile's bookshelf.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Chronicle Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I need this book in my vicinity, like physically, I need it to exist in my book shelves asap. I'm so buying the hardback and rereading it. I loved it so so much, it was filled to the brim with awesome, funny, scary horrifying facts, I was left dumbfounded after each reading session.
My favorite story was the story of the war prisoner Peter Moen.
I found "The Japanese farting competitions" hilarious, and the human skin book binding the most horrifying. Had a sneak peek to the French revolution's atrocities with that maid pants story and smiled at the authors at the hoax section of the book.

What a fascinating book. I think it's a must read if love book and you will learn a lot.
It's well written and well researched, entertaining and engrossing.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book was interesting, but also not what I thought it would be. I was hoping for more pictures and fun facts on the cool books. There were some good pictures but the information got a little boring as I went along. It still had fun books that I am glad I got to see though.

Get ready to be engrossed in this literary feast, a dream book for curious bibliophiles, who are obssessed with not just only books but books about books, here we have one of the best examples of bookception.
I absolutely loved this collection of the strangest books and literary curiosities, which will surely tickle the curious bone of the everyday bibliophile and quench the never-ending thirst for more. It contains multitudes of bizarre examples of books, most of which were totally unknown to me. I learned a lot while enjoying it, a wholesome package of knowledge and entertainment. In here you will find some elegant samples of books that are not actually books (including wearable, tearable, edible, mummified books), cryptobooks (including every romantic, obscene cryptic love letters), bibliohoaxes (books that were meant to be ridiculous but taken too seriously), supernatural books, pseudo-scientific books (including a riveting image of blood transfusion between a goat and man!), mini and maxi-sized books ever written and last but not least, books with strange titles that will make you question your reading choice.
This magnificently constructed, beautifully illustrated book will spark imagination, provoke enthusiasm to research and read more. As quoted in the introduction from Rosenbach, this book is for booksworms, who “go long journeys halfway about the world, forget friendships, even lie, cheat and steal, all for the gain of a book.”
Loved it!

“The books I have always been interested in finding are the sunken gems twinkling in the gloom of this giant remainder, the oddities abandoned to obscurity, too strange for categorization yet proving to be even more intriguing than their celebrated kin.”
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Starting off with a gem of an opening sentence "I had just turned one when my father first used me as a bidder's paddle at auction.", I was immediately obsessed with this fascinating book and its accompanying, mesmerizingly beautiful illustrations. It turns out that the opening sentence was only a harbinger to the strange, hilarious collection of literary oddities that would follow in the next pages.

<i>The Madman's Library</i> is an incredible journey in unexpected literature: from books written in code still unsolved to this day, to books made of human skin and blood, stories written on musical instruments, books written by imaginary counts, by ghosts, about non-existent lands, and about whether it's possible to keep a severed head "alive" (spoiler alert: no, it is most definitely not). Written in an entertaining, engaging, and clearly expert voice, this unique collection asks the reader to delve into the very core of bibliophilia, exploring what passions, secrets and soul actually makes a book.

Definitely recommended for those who love to read books about books, and learn weird facts to freak out guests at dinner parties. At the very least, you are sure to expand your reading list with a few essential books that you might have missed, such as:

Sun-beams May Be Extracted From Cucumbers, But the Process Is Tedious (1799) by David Daggett
Ducks; and How to Make Them Pay (1890) by William Cook
Does the Earth Rotate? No! (1919) by William Westfield

and of course, the invaluable guide to surviving the 2020s:

How to Good-bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way? (2000) by Hiroyuki Nishigaki

I received an error message that the file was corrupted and Adobe will not open. I understand wanting to use something that protects the book. But, there really has to be a way that the NetGalley reviewers know that one can actually READ the book. I've been able to see most PDF books that I've selected. And, I'm sorry, I will not be able to review the book. ARghhhhhhhhhhh.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think this is a perfect gift for all bibliophiles, literature enthusiasts, and collectors out there who are intrigued by the unusual, fascinating and history of books/reading. This looks at the history of the bizarre, unusual, and fascinating books and documents in human history. It is well researched and with amazing illustrations to go along.

This title is a beautifully illustrated book about books! Anyone who loves books needs to add this title to their personal collection. I certainly will be. The photos and artifacts pictured were beautifully done as well as the history behind all the "madness" and lengths we will go to read and write. Well done and I cannot wait for my copy!

Totally fascinating and utterly stupendous. This book lists manuscripts and books from as early as 1400 BC and there are pictures, lots of them. There is hardly anything mad about this book but it is amazing how man has always wanted to make a mark in the world.

This will make a great coffee table book. The author has done a massive amount of research and the result shows.

Thanks to Netgalley, Edward Brooke-Hitching, and Chronicle Books for the ARC.

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.

I love books like The Madman's Library. I was an avid fan of shows like Unsolved Mysteries and Ripley's Believe or Not! growing up, and quite enjoy these books that you often find at bookstores with all sorts of zany curiosities found within. The Madman's Library is particularly fun because it details all manner of strange books from around the world, ones bound in human skin, ones that serve a secret purpose (like guns or a poison cabinet), and even ones that are a mystery even today (The Voynich manuscript). everything is neatly organized and there are plenty of detailed pictures on every page to showcase every odd edition. One downside to me getting a digital proof was the some of the images were fairly low-res, but I'd like to see one of the finished books in a few months, as I plan to buy this.

I can't say that this is a book you can't live without or anything, but if you are like me and enjoy these weird alt-history books on strange happenings and things, you will love this book. I will have to definitely follow the author to see if anything else like this is produced.

2.5*
This was an interesting read about odd books made throughout history. I like that there is a lot of pictures of the items mentioned included.

This book consists of a few chapters that are focused on different aspects of why books are strange - their size, the materials used to make them, the way they are written, having funny mistakes in them and so on.

This book is very focused on history, so if you usually don't enjoy reading history books in the first place, you probably won't enjoy this one very much. It was very hard to read and follow because of its dense and dry writing. Way too many years and names listed one after another - I got completely lost and bored quite a few times. All those fun and interesting stories about unusual books could be told in much more memorable way.

This book was exactly what it promised. An Encyclopedia of all different and bizarre books. There are books that aren't "books" in the sense we know of them now, books made of flesh and blood, cryptic books, hoaxes, supernatural and religious books, books of different irregular sizes and more. The research that went into this book was apparent and the segway from one example to another was smooth. I really enjoyed this book and took my time reading it, as I really didn't want all of the chapters to blend together. I'd recommend for fans of strange and weird books and those interested in the history of books themselves.

I thank Netgalley for the digital ARC.

This was definitely an interesting subject, but I found that the digital format I viewed it in definitely took away from my enjoyment. It was completely unreadable on Kindle, and even viewed on a computer many of the images were blurry. Perhaps this is more due to my own morbid interests, but I didn't find anything in this book particularly shocking or new. This is definitely a coffee table book to be leafed through on occasion, rather than a book to be read cover to cover—the writing wasn't absorbing enough to sustain my interest.

This was a really interesting book. There's not a whole lot hear that will leave a lasting impression on me, but the experience of reading it was still really fascinating and entertaining. I would definitely recommend this to any of my book lover friends and family.

I love reading about books--books about books are my favorite things. Brooke-Hitching's The Madman's Library is a romp of an addition to the genre that shares gorgeous images and commentary that elicits wonder and laughs. This is some really fascinating examination of the material culture of books.

A beautiful from the cover on.Any lover of book and book curiosities will love this book,I devoured it from cover to cover each unique page.Will be buying for my home& giving as a gift to my book loving friends.#netgalley#chronicleboks,

An interesting collection and discussion of odd and bizarre books. Some that are made from human flesh, some written in blood, some carved into skulls, etc. From thousands of years ago leading up to the present, there are many books that are not printed in a typical fashion. Some are on hides, some are pictographs, some are painted. For those who like to read and learn of historical oddities this book is a perfect addition for your perusal. Interesting images and discussions throughout. Highly recommend this book.

The Madman’s Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching

Sometimes, the content of odd and strange books is surpassed by unusual choices of form and medium. An intriguing early chapter, “Books That Aren’t Books”, examines the many different forms that books have taken as records of communicating histories and ideas; it immediately reminded me of the delightfully varied, creative forms in the book arts genre. The Madman’s Library dives into a subject that’s fun to ponder even if you aren’t a librarian, and this work will entertain and inform readers while inspiring them to pursue further research.
Well researched and informative, the text delivers intriguing historical information and analysis in an accessible tone suitable for general readers. The authors make (primarily European and Asian) connections between human history and the motivations of the authors and makers of unusual books. Those motives range from spiritual, political, magical, and obsessive, with the occasional idiosyncratic personal conceit.
Caveat: know your audience well before purchasing as a gift or for a circulating collection. As the book’s title implies, some of the subject matter may be unsettling. For example, illustrations of a pantsless, anatomically correct demon and a farting contest may earn a rapid page flip from sensitive readers, and this is absolutely not a children’s book. I downloaded this review copy with an older audience in mind, as part of collection development for the art and humanities sections of an academic library. My target audience: faculty and students associated with book arts and humanities courses. That said, I would also enjoy reading aloud part of the “Strange Titles” chapter to friends and family who appreciate humor in historical discussions.

What a wonderful reading this has been! My last in this year and the most appropriate one, for what better choice for a booklover than to read about some book oddities?

It's a marvelous collection of fascinating things and facts, divided into thematic chapters: books that aren’t books, books made of flesh and blood, cryptic books, literary hoaxes, curious collections, works of the supernatural, religious oddities, curiosities of science, books of spectacular sizes and strange titles.

Some I knew about; some were new to me. Some were completely hilarious, most of them made me gawk – humans are a gullible and wacky species.

One of the most amusing parts was from the Portuguese – English dictionary produced by the Portuguese writer Pedro Carolino, in the mid-nineteenth century. Why? Because Carolino didn’t know English at all, so he translated all words into French, based on Portuguese-to-French phrasebook, and then from French to English, based on a dictionary. According to Edward Brooke-Hitching, “Jettisoning all idiomatic nuances, Carolino succeeded in birthing the world’s worst language guide, a mad bag of nonsense […], published in Paris in 1855.” Indeed.

Not to mention the books wrote by dead writers, through a medium. “As luck would have it, the psychic connection seems to be strongest with the great titans of literature, but their skills invariably prove to have rusted somehow post mortem. ‘Strange perversions of style occur,’ the book historian Walter Hart Blumenthal noted dryly in 1955, ‘and lapses into the commonplace, even the maudlin, give rise to the suspicion that the afterlife is not especially stimulating to the literary spirit.’”

The author has a keen sense of humor and his observations are witty and hilarious. The book also features lots of coloured illustrations, making the whole experience of reading it a delight.

All in all, the perfect reading to end the year in high spirit and with lots of laughs.