The Book of Weird

The thing to remember about THE BOOK OF WEIRD/THE GLASS HARMONICA is it's a collection of cliches, and intentionally so. Byfield boils down fairy tales, fiction, and popular belief into a tongue-in-cheek categorization of the medieval fantasy world, spelling out the precise difference between Giants, Ogres, and Trolls, and stating exactly what a self-respecting Hero should and should not do when setting out on a Quest. This book should appeal to kids, role-playing gamers, writers who want to know what to avoid, and anyone who enjoys fantasy, fairy tales, or a good chuckle. I had the paperback WEIRD first and, like another reviewer, wore it out until I was lucky enough to find a hardcover HARMONICA. This deserves to be a classic reference.

So you don't know the differences between giants, trolls, and ogres? How about oafs, churls, and louts? Did your liberal arts education not cover which part of a castle wall is properly called a merlon or a crenel? Or perhaps your science background failed to equip you with the knowledge needed to distinguish fat from tallow or parchment from vellum? Are you unsure if a particular wizard is trustworthy?Then you clearly need a copy of the splendid reference by called the Book of Weird, a venerable stockpile of arcane knowledge. The author, Barbara Ninde Byfield, has termed her work, with both modesty and accuracy, as "Being a most Desirable Lexicon of the Fantastical. . ."The often tongue-in-cheek entries are truly both informative and often hilarious. For instance, we learn not only that are churls "ill bred, and very likely low born" but also are provided with the insight that "If they serve beer, they slop it: if they drink beer, they belch."Byfield even provides an appendix of sorts of "Useful Information" wherein you can learn about weights and measures (of course, you may already know that a firkin = 56 pounds and that an ell spans 4 feet), a list of legal holidays (including various Sabbats), and some medicinal advice that may not be for the squeamish. This is the sort of book that will improve one's spirits. It's clever, smart, and fun. My only regret is that my large format copy of the 1973 edition finally fell apart because of continued use. Still, this smaller format version is worth finding and hanging onto. Also, you might find an even earlier edition published under the somewhat confusing and less descriptive title The Glass Harmonica. Gotta go perform some rites. . .

After reading a brief description of THE GLASS HARMONICA (as this book was originally known) back in the 1970s, I searched for it off and on for 20 years. When I finally found it in the 1990s, you might expect the wait to have created an expectation the book could never meet. But it did. THE BOOK OF WEIRD is an absolute delight for anyone who enjoys fantasy, history and myths and legends, spiced with a playful sense of humour. It is also surprisingly useful, particularly if you are a writer of fantasy. One of my absolute favourites.

Written with sly with and an incisive understanding of the legendary, this book explains everything (almost everything) you could want to know about living in the world of faerie tales. Each entry is a gem, and the appendix has more outre information than you could shake a rat at. Fits well with Brian Froud's Faeries.

I read this book 30 years ago when it was called "The Glass Harmonica." Organized like a dictionary, it's a tour of the world of fantasy, myth, and history -- with wonderful pen and ink drawings by the author. The prose is a delight. An example: "If captured in battle, Ransom above and beyond horse and armor must be paid. While it is being collected from the Serfs and Peasants of your fief, or the subjects of your kindgom, you must expect to languish either in a high tower or in a dark dungeon." Learn about dragons, bsilisks, tournaments, body snatchers, quicksand, friars, warlocks, bedbugs, viscounts, and baronets.