The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities

Further Oddities

Further Oddities

Through the catalyst of a generous grant from the Institute for Further Study, additional research into Lambshead’s cabinet was undertaken expressly for this volume. Each item selected has been the subject of intense debate by Lambsheadeans and Lambsheadologists for years, while Lambshead’s own attachment to these items varied from indifference to obsession.

For example, although Lambshead took it upon himself to document (admittedly, in a sardonic mood) the provenance of the Sir Locust armor, it was found upon his death in his clothes closet—wearing lingerie and a sunflower hat, with an Oxford jacket draped over it. One armhole had been turned upward and blocked off with an ashtray that overflowed with Punch cigar stubs. The Thing in the Jar, on the other hand, as chronicled by Michael Cisco, seemed to inspire not just a flurry of speculation as to its origins, but also a pervasive emotion of profound regret, along with bald-faced fictions of a sort not displayed by Lambshead elsewhere in his long recorded history. Items like the two art pieces, The Singing Fish and Taking the Rats to Riga, Lambshead kept in a small locked room, along with a scandalous Chagall and a Picasso titled Quarantine for the Infected. The two times Lambshead possessed The Book of Categories, it also resided therein. The room could only be opened using the Castleblakeney key, which tended to discourage idle curiosity.

Some might question the editorial decision to include research from Amal El-Mohtar and Caitlín R. Kiernan, given their criticism of, and wild theories about, Lambshead. However, it should be noted that the doctor himself, in his will, cited both “as members of the loyal opposition” who should be given “as much equal opportunity to feast on my corpse as anyone else. They’ve earned it.”