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Here is a list of excellent books devoted to art of anagramming.
World of Anagrams
Author: Zoran Radisavljevic
Publisher: BeoSing, Belgrade, 2010.
Highly Recommended
On 193 pages (A4 format, 210x297 mm) and fine paper, book contains over 2700 works of puzzlemasters. Beside classic anagrams and modern anagrams in English, readers can find works on Italian, French, German, Spanish, Serbian, Croatian, Dutch, Norwegian, Latin and Greek languages, plus many variations of anagrams and nice illustrations. Wonderful design gives the artistic dimension to the book. Click here.
Anagram Genius
Authors: William Tunstall-Pedoe & Donald L. Holmes
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995.
Recommended
You've tried the software, now read the book. A highly
entertaining book with anagrams of famous people and
institutions and cartoons illustrating the anagrams. Copies
are available direct from the author's company: click here.
The Anagram Dictionary
Author: Michael Curl
Publisher: Robert Hale, 1996.
Recommended
A compilation of over 20,000 words (including proper names) in
alphabetical order, with all their known anagrams -
from AARONIC (ocarina) to ZONED (dozen). The book also contains
a brief history of anagrams from the ancient Greeks to the present day, and a section on cognate anagrams - that is, words, phrases or names anagrammed to give a phrase that is somehow related to
the original. This is the section of the book that most people
find really intriguing. Click here for details on how to order.
Words At Play - Quips, Quirks & Oddities
Author: O. V. Michaelsen
Publisher: Sterling Publishing, 1997.
Recommended
There are several chapters on anagrams in this well-presented
book, and a large collection of brilliant examples. There is a
chapter on the history of anagrams and chapter on literary anagrams.
It is an intriguing collection of wordplay, served up by
a former puzzle columnist for the Mensa International Journal
and member of the National Puzzlers League. Every conceivable
wordplay category is covered: puns, anagrams, palindromes, malapropisms,
oxymorons, and just plain curiosities, many never before published.
The book can be purchased on-line via amazon.com.
Palindromes and Anagrams
Author: Howard W. Bergerson
Publisher: Dover Publications, 1973.
Recommended
This is an important book on anagrams. The author is a former editor of
Wordways and, as a result, the book is quite comprehensive. The book contains
an excellent introduction to anagrams as well as a list of over
one thousand examples mostly drawn from pre-1930 sources. It
also covers several other subjects related to wordplay
including palindromes, palindromic poetry and Vocabularyclept
Poetry (using the words of one poem to create another).
The book can be purchased on-line:
Click here if you wish to order
The Richard Stilgoe Letters: A jumble of anagrams
Author: Richard Stilgoe
Publisher: Unwin Paperbacks, 1981.
This is a highly eccentric book of fiction where all the
characters are anagrams of the author's name, for example Dr.
Gloria Ethics, Col. Tiger Rashid and Giscard O'Hitler.
It does however contain a good introduction on the subject
of anagrams using "Florence Nightingale" as an
extended example. He shows that there are many relevant
anagrams such as "Leg on fire - change lint", "Ten
facing gore in hell", "Fetch Nigel an iron leg"
etc. but then shows that their relevance is coincidence as there
are other anagrams which have absolutely no relevance such as
"Ringo, the cleaning elf".
The Richard Stilgoe Letters is out of print, but it can be found
in some British libraries. Also, the book was simultaneously published
in Australia and can be found in second-hand bookstores there.
Read more about Sir Richard Stilgoe: Wikipedia article
The Oxford Guide to Word Games
Author: Tony Augarde
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Chapter 8 of this book deals with anagrams. It contains a
very comprehensive history of the subject and some examples.
You can purchase a copy via amazon.com.
Other anagram books
Click here for other books on anagrams from the Fun With Words website.
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