Michael Bell (1)

Michael Bell, an antiquarian book dealer from Lewes, England, presents fifty vintage books whose titles and content will either puzzle or amuse the contemporary reader. Here are double-entendres aplenty, from the titular Scouts in Bondage by Geoffrey Prout, to older children's novels such as Bertram Smith's Totty: The Truth about Ten Mysterious Terms and Bessie Marchant's How Nell Scored. Here too are the unintentionally hilarious non-fiction titles, like Stephen J. Williams' Welsh in a Week show more or Clare Goslett's Simple Hints for Mothers on the Home Sex-Training of Boys.

Good for a laugh, Scouts in Bondage and Other Literary Improprieties is a slim little book, and can be "read" in less than half-an-hour. Almost entirely given over to images, the reader will enjoy paging through, alternating between puzzled head-scratching and helpless giggling. Those who collect and read vintage children's books will probably find this little collection particularly amusing. show less

This book think it's a whole lot funnier than it is. It's also possible it's getting laughs based on outdated slang I'm not familiar with. I think page 44 was the only one I got a good chuckle out of. That said, it also took me maybe five minutes to read, so it's got that going for it.

A collection of book covers with double entendres. Some are funny, but most of them are very weak and far-fetched, and I must confess that for a few of them I don't get what the double entendre is supposed to be.

The full-colour illustrations are a nice touch, but in this genre I would rather recommend Bizarre Books: A Compendium of Classic Oddities by Russell Ash and Brian Lake.

This was probably more entertaining at its genesis as a series of shop window displays over time. In that setting, the double entendres and shifts in meaning would have seemed serendipitously found and wittily presented. As a collection of book covers, however, the humor quickly wears thin. This would best be read by placing the book on a stand and turning only one page a day for view. Like dessert, too much at once ceases to be a pleasure.