Sunday, September 07, 2008

Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers

The authors of Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers have been awarded an unusual literary accolade for their book’s title, according to the Associated Press.

The book is the winner of the Diagram Prize in Britain for the oddest book title of the past 30 years. The award was announced last week by The Bookseller, a trade magazine that organizes the prize, which has been given out since 1978.

Among the previous winners...Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice and How Green Were the Nazis? This year's runner-up was People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead while third place went to How to Avoid Huge Ships.

Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers was published in 1994 by a British stamp-collecting organization.

Its co-author, Derek Willan, is quoted as saying he didn't consider the title odd.
"It purely describes what's in the book," Willan, 91, told the British Broadcasting Corp. "This book was issued by the Hellenic Philatelic Society of Great Britain and it is of interest to Greek philatelists."

For more on this story, click here.
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posted by Don Schilling at 12:01 AM