John Timbs’s English Eccentrics and Eccentricities is an irresistible Victorian compendium of biographical sketches devoted to the recluses, misers, cranks, duelists, and magnificent oddities who made up a peculiarly British tradition of celebrated eccentricity. Timbs, a prolific popular antiquary, collected stories of men and women who defied convention in ways that amused, astonished, or alarmed their contemporaries.
A perfect dip-in-and-out book that rewards both the casual browser and the systematic reader, this public-domain classic is now available as a free EPUB download — ideal company for anyone who appreciates human peculiarity at its most entertaining.