BEING OF SOUND MIND A book of eccentric wills

Hardback. Nothing is too far fetched in the lunatic world of the eccentric will-maker. Wills in verse, chalked on a stable door, written on an eggshell, are just some of the unusual formats. The contents are even more curious. A woman who insisted on being buried in her Ferrari, a famous philosopher who had himself mummified and a man who ordered the mourners to dance at his funeral, are among the bizarre, but true, burial instructions of unconventional testators. When it comes to legacies and bequests, however, it seem the imagination knows no bounds. A fortune was left on condition the heirs succeeded in turning the ocean into orangeade; a miser bequeathed parts of his body to his grasping relatives; an American woman left $600,000 to her dog and $1 to her husband. Disputed and lost wills from 2 to 95,940 words in length, wills torn up like jig-saws, gnawed by rats and preserved in spirit; estates left to Christ and to the Devil; religious cranks awaiting an early resurrection and unfortunates cut off with a shilling, all feature in this fascinating, bizarre and macabre book. With witty and extraordinary apt cartoons by Albert Rusling, this book can best be described as a celebration of eccentricity - the final requirements of a host of odd, vain, wicked, or plain eccentric characters who managed to make sure they would cause just as much strife, bother and astonishment after death as they undoubtedly did during their lifetimes. Illus. + Glossary and Sources. 112pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. With a gift insc. to fep o/w Vg+ in Nr. F. pcdw.