The Book of Wonderful Characters: Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and Eccentric Persons in All Ages and Countries

The Book of Wonderful Characters: Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and Eccentric Persons in All Ages and Countries

The Book of Wonderful Characters: Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and Eccentric Persons in All Ages and Countries

The Book of Wonderful Characters: Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and Eccentric Persons in All Ages and Countries

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Overview

Printmaker James Caulfield (1764–1826) spent much of his career publishing illustrated books about 'remarkable persons'. He began his first series around 1788 and continued it sporadically from 1790 to 1795, with books on a similar theme continuing to appear in the first decades of the nineteenth century. More than forty years after his death, this collection of biographies (produced in collaboration with Henry Wilson (fl. 1820–30)) was republished in 1869. The edition's introduction explains that the renewed interest in these characters comes from the fact that 'we have nearly lost all, and are daily losing what little remains of, our individuality'. The vignettes, accompanied by engravings of each individual, describe a wide-ranging group – from the man who died aged 152 to a 'remarkable glutton' to a woman who lived on the smell of flowers – their only common factor being that they were in some way 'wonderful'.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781108044400
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 02/16/2012
Series: Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge
Pages: 538
Product dimensions: 5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.18(d)

Table of Contents

Preliminary; 1. Francis Battalia, the stone-eater; 2. Miss Whitehead, the bank nun; 3. Daniel Dancer, the remarkable miser; 4. Chevalier Desseasau, the vain dwarf; 5. Matthew Lovat, who crucified himself; 6. Baron D'Aguilar, of Starvation Farm; 7. Old Books, of Ripon in Yorkshire; 8. Wybrand Lolkes, the Dutch dwarf; 9. Jacob Hall, the rope-dancer; 10. Henry Constantine Jennings, the remarkable virtuoso; 11. Henry Lemoine, an eccentric bookseller; 12. Matthew Buchinger, the Little Man of Nuremburg; 13. Henry Jenkins, the modern Methusaleh; 14. Bertholde, prime minister to Alboinus; 15. Lord Rokeby, of singular eccentricity; 16. Foster Powell, the astonishing pedestrian; 17. Joseph Boruwlaski, the Polish dwarf; 18. Ann Moore, the fasting woman; 19. Floram Marchand, the great water-spouter; 20. Jane Lewson, an eccentric old lady; 21. Peter the Wild Boy, of the woods of Hamelin; 22. William Stevenson, a notorious beggar; 23. John Broughton, a notorious pugilist; 24. Joseph Clark, the posture-maker; 25. Thomas Wood, the abstemious miller; 26. Nathaniel Bentley, the well-known 'Dirty Dick'; 27. Jeffrey Dunstan, Mayor of Garrat; 28. Henry Dimsdale, Mayor of Garrat; 29. George Morland, a celebrated painter; 30. Joanna Southcott, an extraordinary fanatic; 31. Thomas Laugher, commonly called 'Old Tommy'; 32. Margaret McAvoy, the blind girl; 33. Bampfylde Moore Carew, King of the Beggars; 34. Thomas Cooke, the notorious Islington miser; 35. Eve Fleigen, who lived on the smell of flowers; 36. Mary Anne Talbot, the female sailor; 37. Renwick Williams, commonly called the Monster; 38. Jenny Darney, a character in Cumberland; 39. Samuel Terry, the Botany Bay Rothschild; 40. Daniel Lambert, of surprising corpulency; 41. Thomas Britton, the musical small coal-man; 42. Elizabeth Woodcock, who was buried in snow nearly eight days; 43. John Elwes, the remarkable miser; 44. Jeffery Hudson, dwarf to Charles I; 45. Nice New, a well-known character at Reading; 46. John Valerius, born without arms; 47. Elizabeth Brownrigg, executed for cruelty and murder; 48. John Smith, better known by the name of Buckhorse; 49. Thomas Hills Everitt, the enormous baby; 50. Elias Hoyle, of Sowerby, Yorkshire; 51. Joseph Capper, the enemy of flies; 52. Margaret Finch, Queen of the Gipsies; 53. Miss Hawtin, born without arms; 54. Charles Domery, the remarkable glutton; 55. Thomas Parr, who died at the age of 152 years; 56. Thomas Hudson, remarkable for his misfortunes; 57. Claude Ambroise Seurat, the living skeleton; 58. George Romondo, an eccentric mimic; 59. Francis Trovillou, the horned man; 60. Samuel McDonald, commonly called 'Big Sam'; 61. Miss Harvey, the beautiful albiness; 62. Sam House, the patriotic public; 63. Barbara Urslerin, the hairy-faced woman; 64. Mary East, alias James How; 65. Daniel Cuerton, and his astonishing feats; 66. Jemmy Gordon, an eccentric character of Cambridge; 67. The Chevalier D'Eon, who passed as a woman; 68. Peter Williamson, remarkable for his captivity and sufferings; 69. Madam Teresia, the Corsican fairy.
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