Brewer's Cabinet of Curiosities

Ian Crofton

Cassell Reference, 2006 - Curiosities and wonders - 341 pages

From the creators of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, considered by many the greatest trivia collection ever, comes another cool collection of fabulous facts, quirky quotes, and unbelievable-but-true happenings. The coverage includes various historic, literary, artistic, and scientific categories—each supplying its share of the bizarre and the hilarious. Some examples: a list of royal nicknames, from William the Bastard (a.k.a. the Conqueror) to Harry Potty (today’s irrepressible Prince Harry); the longest and shortest wars, from the 100 Years’ War to the Thirty-eight Minutes’ War; the ship’s cat that won a medal; and why the planet Uranus was nearly officially named George.

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A while back, starting with "The Book of Lists", books of lists have become popular and entered into human pop culture (as can be seen by too numerous to mention websites). This entry, "Brewer's ...

About the author

Ian Crofton has compiled many works of reference, books of quotations and miscellanies over the years, including A Dictionary of Musical Quotations (with Donald Fraser), A Dictionary of Art Quotations, The Guinness Encyclopedia (as editor-in-chief), Brewer`s Dictionary of Curious Titles, and, with John Ayto, Brewer`s Britain and Ireland and the second edition of Brewer`s Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable. He lives in North London with his family and three whippets.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Brewer's Cabinet of Curiosities
• Author: Ian Crofton
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Cassell Reference, 2006
• ISBN: 0304368016, 9780304368013
• Length: 341 pages