A Cabinet of Curious Questions
Why was a queen crowned after death? What battle was fought over a bucket? Who was the real prisoner of Chillon? Sarah Killikelly’s three volumes gather 709 little histories — the trivia book of the Victorian parlor, each answer a story worth the telling.
The Cabinets
History & Royalty
Kings and queens, thrones won and lost, plots, pretenders and the strange turns of dynasties.
War & Battle
Battles curious and decisive, sieges, duels, and the fortunes of soldiers and fleets.
Literature & Poets
Poets and their prisons, authors and their oddities, the stories behind famous books and verses.
Words, Phrases & Names
Where our words, mottoes, nicknames and sayings come from — the biographies of phrases.
Art, Music & Architecture
Painters and their masterpieces, sculptors, composers, cathedrals and the ministry of art.
Religion, Myth & Legend
Saints and superstitions, gods and oracles, relics, legends and the customs of belief.
Science & Nature
Comets and calendars, inventions and discoveries, gems, plagues, plants and natural wonders.
Places & Wonders
Cities buried and deserted, castles and canals, the seven wonders and the corners of the map.
Customs & Social Life
Weddings and funerals, fashions and feasts, games, ceremonies and the manners of many nations.
Cabinet of Curiosities
The unclassifiable remainder — oddities and marvels that fit no shelf but their own.
The Locked Cabinet
The strangest items in the whole collection — skull cups, sky battles, envoulted kings and rivers of ink. Handle with care.
The Question Book
The author closed her first volume with an appendix of 155 questions “for future classes” — browse them and follow each to its answer.