Imaginative Literature

False book-backs ordered by Charles Dickens in 1851 to fill blank spaces in his study at Tavistock House:

  • Five Minutes in China (3 volumes)
  • Forty Winks at the Pyramids (2 volumes)
  • History of the Middling Ages (6 volumes)
  • Jonah’s Account of the Whale
  • Captain Parry’s Virtues of Cold Tar
  • Kant’s Ancient Humbugs (10 volumes)
  • Bowwowdom: A Poem
  • The Quarrelly Review
  • The Art of Cutting the Teeth
  • Drowsy’s Recollections of Nothing (3 volumes)
  • Heavysides Conversations With Nobody (3 volumes)
  • Growler’s Gruffiology, With Appendix (4 volumes)
  • Miss Biffin on Deportment
  • Lady Godiva on the Horse
  • Munchausen’s Modern Miracles
  • On the Use of Mercury by the Ancient Poets

And Hansard’s Guide to Refreshing Sleep, “as many volumes as are required to fill up.”