Editions

Page /
100%
  1. Home
  2. Non-Fiction Books
  3. A Christmas Cornucopia
A Christmas Cornucopia

  • Imprint: Viking

  • ISBN: 9780241267738

  • Length: 192  Pages

  • Dimensions: 187mm x 22mm x 120mm

  • Weight: 210g

  • RRP: £9.99

A Christmas Cornucopia

  • The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions

BY THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR

The perfect gift for anyone who has ever wondered about the unpredictable origins and etymologies of our Christmas customs!

For something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas.

We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means "Go away, Christ". We're oblivious to the fact that the advent calendar was actually invented by a Munich housewife to stop her children pestering her for a Christmas countdown. And we would never have guessed that the invention of crackers was merely a way of popularising sweet wrappers.

Luckily, like a gift from Santa himself, Mark Forsyth is here to unwrap this fundamentally funny gallimaufry of traditions and oddities, making it all finally make sense - in his wonderfully entertaining wordy way.

'Witty and revelatory. Blooming brilliant' Raymond Briggs

'Everything we ever thought about Christmas is wrong! Great stuff' Matthew Parris

  • Imprint: Viking

  • ISBN: 9780241267738

  • Length: 192  Pages

  • Dimensions: 187mm x 22mm x 120mm

  • Weight: 210g

  • RRP: £9.99

Reviews

  • Witty and revelatory. Blooming brilliant

    Raymond Briggs

  • Everything we ever thought about Christmas is wrong! Great stuff

    Matthew Parris

  • Mark imparts knowledge about Christmas traditions from the essential to the (very) abstruse in wry and sardonic style. An effortless and enjoyable way to learn more about this fulcrum of our calendar

    Paul Smiddy, Former Head of pan-European retail research, HSBC

  • Mark Forsyth wears his considerable knowledge lightly. He also writes beautifully

    David Marsh, on 'The Elements of Eloquence', Guardian

  • This year's must-have stocking filler ... the essential addition to the library in the smallest room is Mark Forsyth's The Etymologicon.

    Ian Samson, Guardian

  • With his casual elegance and melodious voice, Mark Forsyth has an anachronistic charm totally at odds with the 21st century (The Horologicon)

    Sunday Times South Africa

  • [The Etymologicon is] a perfect bit of stocking filler for the bookish member of the family, or just a cracking all-year-round-read. Highly recommended.

    The Spectator

  • As good as promised - could have been thrice as long

    Ben Schott, on 'The Elements of Eloquence'

More from this Author

About the Author

Mark Forsyth

Born in London in 1977, Mark Forsyth (a.k.a The Inky Fool) was given a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary as a christening present and has never looked back. His book The Etymologicon was a Sunday Times Number One Bestseller and his TED Talk 'What's a snollygoster?' has had more than half a million views. He has also written a specially commissioned essay 'The Unknown Unknown' for Independent Booksellers Week and the introduction for the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary. He lives in London with his dictionaries, and blogs at blog.inkyfool.com.

Mark Forsyth

Read more

/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/A-SHORT-HISTORY-OF-DRUNKENNESS.jpg

Features

20 things you might not have known about drunkenness

Interesting facts about drinking from Mark Forsyth's A Short History of Drunkenness, a book all about mankind's love of booze.

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies to make our website work. If you click 'Accept All’ we will use cookies to understand how you use our services and to show you personalised advertising and other content. You can change your cookie settings by clicking 'Manage Cookies'. For more information please see our Cookie Policy

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.