author
Barkham Burroughs
d. 1952
Best known for a wonderfully eccentric reference book first published in 1889, this elusive compiler left behind a volume packed with household tips, curiosities, and odd facts. Very little is firmly documented about the person behind it, which only adds to the book’s strange charm.
1 Audiobook
Barkham Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889
by Barkham Burroughs
About the author
Barkham Burroughs is credited as the creator of Barkham Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889, a lively mix of advice, trivia, recipes, and practical knowledge that has continued to circulate long after its original release. The book survives through later reprints and public-domain editions, and it remains the work most clearly associated with the name.
Reliable biographical details are scarce. Sources connected to the book report that Burroughs died in 1952, and some also repeat claims that he served as a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and may have invented the return address in the United States, but those details are not easy to confirm independently.
That uncertainty has become part of the fascination. What is clear is that the encyclopaedia offers a vivid snapshot of everyday knowledge and popular curiosity from its era, making Burroughs memorable less for a well-documented life than for a book full of unexpected detours.