Customer Reviews

Scouts in Bondage: And Other Violations of Literary Propriety

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Scouts in Bondage is a photographic collection of book covers of titles that have not withstood the test of time. Compiled by a retired British secondhand book seller, this is an amusement for the bibliophile with a taste for the double entendre. It is a very short book with minimal text, highlighting about 45 photos of book covers whose intent was serious at the time but, over time, have developed unintended secondary meanings. Facing these covers is the bibliographic details (Author, title, publisher, date, and size) and occasional excerpts or additional information to add to the amusement.

Being an engineering librarian, I was especially drawn to the technical titles gone wrong such as:

The Resistance of Piles to Penetration

and

Hardening and Tempering Engineers' Tools

as well as the illustration of the goddess Hygieia holding a water closet pull chain on the cover of The Modern Plumber and Sanitary Engineer.

This is a VERY SHORT book. Each book cover shown takes up 2 pages so there are fewer than 50 examples in the 96 pages. UPS delivered the book at 2:15pm. I opened the package, began looking at the book, and was finished with it well before 2:30.

A book which will especially delight males who love word-usage that has changed, making language that was reasonable in its time slightly salacious. Most pages are copies of book covers.

Do you like the Three Stooges? How about Monty Python? If you do, you'll love this book!

A book about hilariously inappropriate book titles? You had me at "book"; unfortunately, this turns out to be a collection of I-suppose-that-could-be-funnies with only a handful of genuine smiles.

It doesn't help that (with few exceptions) this is a one note samba of unintended sexual innuendos, which while humorous in ones and twos, begin to grate when you get page after page of them, especially the untranslatable "British-isms". (I gather that "self-education" is British slang for masturbation and thus should have had me ROTFLMAO.)

Another cause of complaint is the price versus the number of pages. If you are paying the cover price, you are paying 33 cents per joke; they are just not that funny. I got mine on clearance for 77% off and still feel a bit cheated. Frankly, IMHO unless the comic stylings of Beavis and Butt-Head had you falling down, don't even bother.

In the preface the author claims that displaying the books detailed herein in the window of his shop has created a local traffic hazard in Lewes, from which I can only conclude that the citizens of Lewes are pretty hard up for entertainment.

"Heh, heh, you wrote 'hard up'!"

Yes, Mr. Bell, I did; laugh yourself silly.

Sure, about half the facing pages in this 96-page slip of a book are of little interest (the other half do add pictorial value), but I felt bound to offer my observation that many of the book covers (reproduced in gorgeous, atmospheric color) are downright beautiful in old-style ways that not all of us have been exposed to. Recommended for the art value, as well as the coy humor....

This is a most engaging little tome.To anyone, who is anything of a Bibliophile and enjoys "Books About Books";you will find this a real treasure.It's only by spending years among the books of his secondhand bookshop, in the ancient costal town of Lewes, England;and having developed a great love for books ;has the author been able to assemble a labor of love and observation collection of little books that he fell in love with and tells us about.
This book is just like the ones he talks about. How can any book lover see this little bittie of a book, sitting on a table,standing in a window display,or standing on a shelf;and not be curious and wonder;"what the heck could this be all about?".That is what happened to the author,and exactly what happened to me.I picked it up,opened it,and was immediately fascinated by it;and knew it belonged amongst my collection of "Books About Books".It is only about 5" X 8" and less than 100 pages;but is filled with precious illustrations of forty-five little gems that Michael Bell has come across over the years.
A short ,two page Preface by Julian Bell,who I assume is the same Michael Bell,the author that sets the scene for this book.I don't know much about fonts used for printing books;but right away I was taken by how a little Serif(?) connected any s which was followed by a t.The author must have made a special effort to find words to use in his Preface that included such combinations, as I counted them ,and there were 24 cases.While doing this,I also noticed the same whenever a c was followed by a t,5 cases;and also when an s was followed by a p,7 cases. All this in only 42 lines! His favorite case must have been the word perspective with sp and ct both in it. I wonder if he tried to find a word with all 3,st,ct and sp in it? Maybe some "word enthusiast" could come up with one.Then again,on pace 8 ,the word Fiction has one,but on the same page the word fictitious doesn't.If that isn't enough,look at the paragraph on page 76.The words protect,spectacles,districts,acts,act,functions,and depict have them;but stag,especially,stimulus,and displays,don't.
Mr Bell,you got my attention;but what's it all about?
Now,getting serious about the book.I loved every one he shows us;even if there were a couple I really didn't get.For example,the book "Tossa" on page 39;and the one about "Rock Climbs Around London"---or are there really mountains in London? The combination of the two books on pages 44 & 45 was priceless.There are several where words have different meanings such as balls,totty,dick,faggots,organ,Fairies,etc. Then there's the one on page 17 "Cookery".Where else does one find a recipe for Sheep's head broth?
I really got a kick out of "101 Things for A Girl To Do". It reminds me of a book I got for Christmas in 1948,when I was only 13,and still treasure; "Hundreds Of Things A Boy Can Make".Then there's the "Incurables Humour" on page 95 ,with its delightful illustration on page 94.How many faces can you see? Don't you just wonder what else is between its covers,I certainly do!!I also got a kick out of those two wonderful little instruction manuals on pages 34 & 35;"Welsh in a Week" and "How to Speak Japanese Correctly".They would be great companions to a little book of mine;"Learn to Play Bridge in 10 Minutes".
You just can't consider yourself a book lover,and not love and want this gem.Thanks Mr Bell,for showing what curiosities can be found in the world of books. As Yogi Berra once so aptly put it,"You can see a lot just by looking".