Quiz 3 : 10 questions on books that never existed - Answers

1. He wrote the book " Upon the distinction between the ashes of the various Tobaccos " between 1880 and 1890 and his other well known known book that never really existed is "Practical Handbook of Bee keeping". Which well known Personality?

Ans: Sherlock Holmes

2. The book  'The Seven Minutes'  is a 171 page book which appears in a novel by the same name. According to the author Seven Minutes is the most-banned novel in history and the book consists of " the thoughts in one woman's head during seven minutes of copulation with an unnamed man". Which author?

Ans: Irving Wallace.

3. Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character and the author of several non-existing works like The Affair of the Second Goldfish,  The Body in the Library, The Cat it Was Who Died, Death of a Debutante
The Lotus Murder,  The Clue of the Candle Wax etc. She is consulted for her "feminine intuition" and her most famous works are those featuring her vegetarian Finnish detective Sven Hjerson. Where will you find Mrs Oliver?

Ans: In the works of Agatha Christie, she is a friend of Hercule Poirot.

(In Cards on the Table, there is a reference to Mrs Oliver's book The Body in the Library; this title was used by Christie six years later, for a novel featuring Miss Marple.)

4. " The Curious Experiences of the patterson family on the island of Uffa" was a work only mentioned, but never set down on paper. Whose non-existing work?
Ans: John H. Watson, the narrator of all Sherlock Holmes Exploits

5. To mask some wood-work this well known author had a set of 19 volume make-believe, dummy work titled  "Hansard's Guide to Refreshing sleep" displayed on the book shelf of his home. Modern Warfare by General Tom Thumb was another such non-book among many other books which was used by the author to decorate his library Who?

Ans: Charles Dickens.

6. In which work will you come across the below mentioned shelf and non existing books ?

Ans:  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

7. 'Necronomicon' was a blasphemous work by Abdul Alhazerd , which was described as "the Ghastly soul symbol of the forbidden corpse-eating cult of inaccessible Leng in central Asia" . This non-existent book actually appears in horror stories of which author?

Ans: H.P. Lovecraft

8. In which TV series do the following books appear? 

Ans: The Simpsons

9.  I, Libertine was a literary hoax novel that began as a practical joke by  radio story teller Jean Shepherd. Shepherd urged his listeners to enter bookstores and ask for a book that did not exist. He fabricated the author (Frederick R. Ewing) of this imaginary novel, concocted a title (I, Libertine), and outlined a basic plot for his listeners to use on skeptical or confused bookstore clerks. Fans of the show eventually took it further, planting references to the book and author so widely that demand for the book led to it being listed on The New York Times Best Seller list.
What was the reason this hoax was perpetrated ?

Ans: Shepherd was highly annoyed at the way that the bestseller lists were being compiled in the mid-1950s. These lists were determined not only from sales figures but also from the number of requests for new and upcoming books at bookstores. So to prove the futility of the compilation I, Libertine was conceived.

10. A lot of fictional books are mentioned in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Most are textbooks and few are books of general interest. However what connects or what is common to these three books. : Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp , Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander , and The Tales of Beedle the Bard ?

Ans: These three once non-existing books where bought into existence, by J.K. Rowling herself. 

Another instance of a fictional book getting a real life (see Q3 )

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is being made into a movie is mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Seven copies of the book were handwritten and illustrated by JK Rowling herself and six were dedicated and given by Rowling to six people who were most involved with the Harry Potter series. One was auctioned off and purchased by Amazon for 3 million $ and the money was given to  The Children's Voice charity campaign.

Quidditch Through the Ages, is mentioned in several of the Harry Potter novels and over 80% of the cover price of each book sold goes directly to poor children in various places around the world via Comic relief.