G. K. Chesterton 
The Club of Queer Trades (Annotated) 

• This edition includes the following editor’s introduction: G. K. Chesterton, the man beyond the writer

First published in 1905, “The Club of Queer Trades” is a collection of six amusing stories by English writer G. K. Chesterton.



Each story in the collection is centred on someone who is making his living by some novel and extraordinary means (a ‘queer trade’, using the word ‘queer’ in the sense of ‘strange’), a potential candidate for
The Club of Queer Trades. To gain admittance one must have invented a unique means of earning a living and the subsequent trade being the main source of income.



The framing narrative by ‘Cherub’ Swinburne describes his quest for
The Club of Queer Trades with his friend Basil Grant, a retired judge, and Rupert Grant, a private detective who is Basil’s younger brother. Each of the stories describes their encounter with people with an unique way of making a living, which makes them eligible for the select and secretive
club.