The titles of research books from the late 1700s and early 1800s; containing an account of obsession
I have a thing when it comes to the language of book titles (and quite often the books themselves) that originate in the late 1700s and early 1800s. I am not sure what sort of a thing it is, or why I have it, but it is definitely a thing that causes a thrill of glee when I come across a title that sums up everything that happens in a book in 40 carefully-chosen and in some cases quite ridiculous-sounding words.
So you can imagine my glee when I was set loose with a whole cart full of such books and told make a list of them consisting of barcode, call number, and title.
While not all of the titles were 40 words long, many were amusing. (Though probably only to me.) For example, I found three different titles that, although unrelated in author and time period, seemed to form a series of sorts:
A treatise on political economy:
(Let's talk about political economy!)
An inquiry into the various systems of political economy
(So here is what other people have said about political economy...)
A few doubts as to the correctness of some opinions generally entertained on the subjects of population and political economy.
(My brain insists on interpreting this as the 1800's version of "someone is wrong on the Internet!", AKA "All the other people who have written about political economy are tools, and here is why")
And then there are the titles where you can almost taste the pretension:
The theory of the earth: containing an account of the original of the earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo till the consummation of all things
(Religion or fortune-telling? Who knows?)
The law of population: a treatise, in six books; in disproof of the superfecundity of human beings, and developing of the real principle of their increase.
(Actually, I just like this one for the use of the word "superfecundity".)
Arrian’s History of Alexander’s expedition / translated from the Greek ; with notes historical, geographical, and critical by Mr. Rooke ; to which is prefixed Mr. Le Clerc’s criticism upon Quintus Curtius ; and some remarks upon Mr. Perizonius’s vindication of that author.
(EVERYONE EVER INVOLVED IN THE MAKING OF THIS BOOK MUST HAVE A TITLE SLOT.)
A geognostical essay on the superposition of rocks in both hemispheres.
(OH MY GOSH geognostical. I am learning all kinds of exciting new vocabulary!)
Anecdotes of the English language; chiefly regarding the local dialect of London and its environs; whence it will appear that the natives of the metropolis, and its vicinities, have not corrupted the language of their ancestors. In a letter from Samuel Pegge ... to an old acquaintance, and co-fellow of the Society of antquaries[!] London.
(I kind of suspect that the entire reason the English language has stuck around as long as it has is because the users corrupt the language of their ancestors.)
Finally, there were two that amused me for mildly geeky reasons:
Perils and captivity; comprising the sufferings of the Picard family after the shipwreck of the Medusa, in the year 1816.
(Captain Jean Luc Picard, USS Enterprise... wait, can I successfully substitute "shipwrecked with the Medusa" in there? Probably not. BUT I SHALL TRY.)
Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the earth
(YES PLEASE tell me what the Hutts think of the Earth. With pictures. Can Hutts even draw with those tiny stubby arms? Perhaps they draw by leaving slime trails in the desert or something)
So you can imagine my glee when I was set loose with a whole cart full of such books and told make a list of them consisting of barcode, call number, and title.
While not all of the titles were 40 words long, many were amusing. (Though probably only to me.) For example, I found three different titles that, although unrelated in author and time period, seemed to form a series of sorts:
A treatise on political economy:
(Let's talk about political economy!)
An inquiry into the various systems of political economy
(So here is what other people have said about political economy...)
A few doubts as to the correctness of some opinions generally entertained on the subjects of population and political economy.
(My brain insists on interpreting this as the 1800's version of "someone is wrong on the Internet!", AKA "All the other people who have written about political economy are tools, and here is why")
And then there are the titles where you can almost taste the pretension:
The theory of the earth: containing an account of the original of the earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo till the consummation of all things
(Religion or fortune-telling? Who knows?)
The law of population: a treatise, in six books; in disproof of the superfecundity of human beings, and developing of the real principle of their increase.
(Actually, I just like this one for the use of the word "superfecundity".)
Arrian’s History of Alexander’s expedition / translated from the Greek ; with notes historical, geographical, and critical by Mr. Rooke ; to which is prefixed Mr. Le Clerc’s criticism upon Quintus Curtius ; and some remarks upon Mr. Perizonius’s vindication of that author.
(EVERYONE EVER INVOLVED IN THE MAKING OF THIS BOOK MUST HAVE A TITLE SLOT.)
A geognostical essay on the superposition of rocks in both hemispheres.
(OH MY GOSH geognostical. I am learning all kinds of exciting new vocabulary!)
Anecdotes of the English language; chiefly regarding the local dialect of London and its environs; whence it will appear that the natives of the metropolis, and its vicinities, have not corrupted the language of their ancestors. In a letter from Samuel Pegge ... to an old acquaintance, and co-fellow of the Society of antquaries[!] London.
(I kind of suspect that the entire reason the English language has stuck around as long as it has is because the users corrupt the language of their ancestors.)
Finally, there were two that amused me for mildly geeky reasons:
Perils and captivity; comprising the sufferings of the Picard family after the shipwreck of the Medusa, in the year 1816.
(Captain Jean Luc Picard, USS Enterprise... wait, can I successfully substitute "shipwrecked with the Medusa" in there? Probably not. BUT I SHALL TRY.)
Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the earth
(YES PLEASE tell me what the Hutts think of the Earth. With pictures. Can Hutts even draw with those tiny stubby arms? Perhaps they draw by leaving slime trails in the desert or something)