Banvard's Folly - by Paul Collins

This is a collection of stories of people who were very famous at one time, but who are almost totally unknown now:

John Banvard - Most famous living painter of his time. None of his works (moving panoramas) exist anymore.
William Henry Ireland - Made a living forging Shakespeare. Now his forgeries are worth a fortune.
John Cleves Symmes - Early hollow earth fanatic.
Rene Blondlot - Famous scientist who ruined his career by seeing nonexistent N-rays.
Jean Francois Sudre - Invented a language of musical tones (and a sign language).
Ephraim Wales Bull - Breeder who created the Concord grape, and died a pauper.
George Psalmanazar - Frenchman who made a living pretending to be a Formosan cannibal.
Alfred E. Beach - Inventer of the pneumatic underground railway.
Martin Farquhar Tupper - At one time "the most beloved poet in Britain."
Robert Coates - Perhaps the worst actor in history, who specialized in playing Romeo.
General Augustus J. Pleasonton - Discovered the miraculous effects of blue glass.
Delia Bacon - A person who claimed that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare, and went crazy writing about it.
Thomas Dick - Astronomer who thought alien beings lived on the moon, on comets, and on the rings of Saturn, on religious grounds.

This book is fascinating. There should be material out there for many delightful sequels.

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