What?
The Club of Queer Trades is a collection of short stories written by the G.K Chesterton, author of the Father Brown stories. It was published in 1905, and is perhaps the least well known of Chesterton's works
Hmmm...and?
The stories, which are really mysteries, are effortlessly solved by Basil Grant, a star gazer and mystic, who was a brilliant judge until the day he seemed to go mad at the bench and retired. Basil is accompanied throughout the stories by his good friend, Charles Swinburne, and his brother, Rupert Grant, a private investigator.
Each of the stories are complete, but interdependent on the others, as each mystery is connected, and eventually leads the reader to the threshold of the mysterious London club, the Club of Queer Trades. The final tale reveals Basil's true occupation and takes us into the Club of Queer Trades.
The members in the Club of Queer Trades have all invented a completely new trade; some of which are complex, some simple. All are extroadinary in the sense that they are incredibly inventive and imaginative.
Why?
The existence of the Club of Queer Trades "makes a man feel what a man should feel, that he is still in the childhood of the world", which is what Chesterton thought important.
This website was created to celebrate the imagination of G.K Chesterton and the mystery, humour and wit of "The Club of Queer Trades". Hopefully, in the future, other inventors of new trades, or fans of G.K Chesterton, will meet each other on this site. [Webmaster's note: unlikely at present]