Upset in Oddball Publishing

For years, it looked as if the nude mice might never be defeated.

Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice won the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year in 1978, the first year that The Bookseller magazine bestowed the coveted award.

In 1993, Nude Mice picked up the 15th-anniversary overall-oddest distinction.

And before polling commenced for this year's 30th anniversary all-time oddest, strangely worded title competition, experts (whomever they are) speculated that the naked rodents would scurry away with the gold once more.

But when the competition ended, Derek Willan's compelling Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers had captured 13 percent of the vote in a readers' poll and pulled out a surprise victory.

Nude mice didn't even win silver. Second place went to Gary Leon Hill's People Who Don't Know They're Dead with 11 percent of the vote. John Trimmer's definitive guide to eluding maritime disaster, How to Avoid Huge Ships took the bronze, with 10 percent.

This was the first win for a title including either Greeks or postmen, both of which stood out in a field crowded with animal-related titles.

Finalists included: Coyotes I Have Known, Bombproof Your Horse, Rats, For Those Who Care, and Knitting With Dog Hair: Better a Sweater From a Dog You Know and Love Than a Sheep You'll Never Meet.

You won't find the winning book on Amazon. It was published by the Hellenic Philatelic Society of Great Britain in 1994 and, sadly, has since gone out of print.

Greek Rural Postmen, which is -- as it promises -- an analysis of the country's postal districts, may sound like dry stuff. But it turned out to be perfect for a contest invented (by a founder of the Diagram Group design firm) to stave off boredom at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

by Megan Angelo