The club (in the old respectable sense of the word) is a uniquely English contribution to civilization. An object of amazement to foreigners, its peculiar ambiance has largely defied attempts at imitation by those outside the Anglo-Saxon world. In spite of wars, social upheaval and prophets of doom it has shewed remarkable powers of survival.

In the course of its evolution from the coffee house to the mysterious palazzo of Pall Mall or St. James's the club has always provided a microcosm of contemporary Society containing, in the words of a modern historian 'many of the best brains as well as some of the nastiest characters'.

In The Abominable Clubman Tom Girtin has investigated the anatomy of Clubs (and also some of their members). The sometimes curious circumstances in which they were founded; their successful, and occasionally unscrupulous endeavours to blackball 'unsuitable' candidates; the intractable problems facing their Committees; their fascinatingly characteristic architecture; their defense against the attacks of Victorian moralists; their richly varied examples of eccentricity; their rearguard action against the incursion of women; the Jeevian characters among the staffs - all these and many other aspects of the Club are entertainingly discussed in this most readable and goodhumoured book.