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I am trying to identify a SF collection I read in the school library in 1972 or thereabouts.

The book had a yellow cover, about 2" thick, included a story about someone who had built a house that had slipped through 4 dimensions during an earthquake, also one about someone who had become immortal following treatment during the Napoleonic wars and was now trying to reproduce the cure

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Coincidentally, I read a story just this morning which was very similar to the second described. The treatment was in the Battle of Turin in 1537.

It is Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh.

Looking at the list of anthologies with this story, I notice a Gollancz (noted for hardbacks with yellow covers).

In this anthology (One Hundred Years of Science Fiction ed. Frederik Pohl) there is a story, A Subway Named Mobius which fits the first story described.

EDIT: I've just seen Organic Marble's comment and it seems that And He Built a Crooked House is a better match for the first story. Perhaps there were 2 anthologies?

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  • I suspect I'm confusing two books - the 'One Hundred Years of Science Fiction' looks like one of the books I was thinking of
    – Tim__g
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 15:07
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    Both "A Subway Named Möbius" and "—And He Built a Crooked House" were included in Fantasia Mathematica by Clifton Fadiman, which had a yellow cover IIRC. That's probably the other book.
    – David
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 21:39
  • Sad note; Kersh died very soon after his career started with these two stories.
    – Covertwalrus
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 0:25
  • @David I remember it being yellow only from age, and having a a big green thing on the cover (maybe a protractor?). Still, OP's copy may have been re-bound for the library — many of my school library's paperbacks were.
    – fectin
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 3:00
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Apologies for a very late answer, but in case it helps ... I remember reading this very anthology, from cover to cover, repeatedly! I believe it was this one, entitled Time Probe and edited by Clarke

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    The OP thought he remembered an anthology containing two stories. Clarke's Time Probe contains only one of them, Heinlein's "And He Built a Crooked House", which is in many anthologies.
    – user14111
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 2:54
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    However, the OP remembers a yellow cover, and the Gollancz edition of Time Probe had a yellow cover, so maybe that's one the books he remembers.
    – user14111
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 3:00
  • I thought I remembered likewise. I don't have the books physically available right now, alas.
    – Will Crawford
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 18:37

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