The literary life isn’t just about curling up with a good book and a cuppa, it’s also a world where Lord Byron calls John Keats’ work “piss-a-bed poetry”, spaniels eat the first drafts of masterpieces and gung-ho Ben Jonson shows he’s more than happy to prove the sword is mightier than the pen.

When Books Go Bad: The Book of Literary Scandals shows that behind the jaunty covers and feelgood memoirs is a dingier world of personal insults, physical blows, and publishing errors. It’s one where books suffer bad endings and libraries impose bizarre sanctions. It’s a story of writers behaving badly since Sophocles clashed quills with Euripedes, defacing books, abandoning spouses, and regretting choosing Dylan Thomas to be the Best Man at their wedding.

Elsewhere it looks at hot take reviews, sniffy dedications, publishers’ rejection letters, literary friendships gone sour and why you should never lick a book with a green cover. The book weaves original documents, rare books and historical anecdotes into an entertaining alternative history of the literary canon.

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