The bizarre and fascinating story of Alexander Cruden, who single-handedly compiled the monumental dictionary/index/gazetteer to the Bible, Cruden's Concordance -- still going strong 260 years later. The true story of a most unusual man and his quite extraordinary book -- a tale reminiscent of Simon Winchester's huge bestseller THE SURGEON OF CROWTHORNE. Chosen as a Book of the Year in the Spectator. Cruden wrote harrowingly and influentially about his experiences in the madhouse, insisting that 'the way to be mad is to be sent to a madhouse'. Vividly explores both the seamy and the sophisticated sides of London society in the Age of Enlightenment. Appeals not just to the religious market (who know of the Concordance) but to readers of narrative historical non-fiction. Competition: The Surgeon of Crowthorne.
Born and brought up in Scotland, and educated in England, Switzerland and France, Julia Keay worked as an exhibition designer in London. She is married to John Keay (historian and author of The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company, India: A History, The Great Arc, and more) and lives in a remote farmhouse halfway up a mountain in the west highlands of Scotland. She has written several dramatised documentary series and two plays for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland. She also writes occasional articles and book reviews for Slightly Foxed and The Real Reader’s Quarterly.
‘A perfectly lovely book, justly sympathetic to a most remarkable and enigmatic man whose scholarship enriches us still, centuries after the completion of his astonishing and entirely solitary work. In telling Alexander Cruden's story so impeccably Julia Keay shows herself to be a biographer of rare talent.’ Simon Winchester ‘Julia Keay deserves our thanks for bringing to life a man so alien to our present sensibilities, and in many ways so attractive. This is a beautiful book.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘An excellent biography … This is an enthralling tale of a batty pedant.’ Independent
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