There is something that I find quite magical about buying these books. The majority are over a hundred years old and some approach the two hundred year old mark. The books I target are ones that are of no great financial value, most I buy for £3 or less, and are not at all valued by booksellers. The trade looks for original texts, first editions, famous names, top condition and rarity, almost all of the elements which hold no interest to me as an historian.
My books are either texts that were widely published in great numbers or small publications, vanity publishing, by unknown individuals. I am looking for those lost stories, I am looking for the pictures, engravings and charts that are forgotten but still floating around in the sea of material.
With the large run publications I believe that their value is in the fact that most of these works have spent most of their lives sitting on book shelves unopened. These are books that are bought, read, then left for reference. As time goes by their value for reference diminishes as the world changes until the moment they cross the event horizon of culture and move from redundancy to possessing historical value. then the faces of the long dead stare out at you from the photographs and challenge you to consider lives long past.
The real gems for me though are the individual stories written by those who wanted to put their lives down on paper for "posterity". When you pick up one of these texts, especially when they are well over 100 years old, you have to be completely insensitive not to feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end as within your mind you hear the voice of someone long gone detailing their life. Most of these books are not recorded in libraries or catalogues. They were private publications with small runs for family and friends. They are hard to find but they do turn up and you can never know exactly how rare they are!
As an historian the academic value is in the details of life and with the collection growth the possibility of cross referencing. My collection has a general focus of Victorian London but I collect anything that has what I perceive to be a value within the remit I have described above.
This month's buys do come into that extended remit but I will use this opportunity to show why I think these purchases are relevant in relation to "Victorian Gems".
Some Notes on the Ward of Aldgate 1500 - 1904
Richard Kemp
Eden Fisher and Company Limited
London
1904
This is a raggerty old book just holding it integrity and liberally stamped:
"Finsbury Public Libraries
WITHDRAWN
Not to be offered for re-sale."
WITHDRAWN
Not to be offered for re-sale."
Less than one hundred pages, a very grubby cover but a binding which in its day was of good quality and this is probably the reason it has survived what looks like a very rough history.
This is a commemorative publication to celebrate the election of Alderman John Pound as Lord Mayor of London. This would give us good cause to consider that the compiler, Richard Kemp, was a member of one of the Worshipful Companies, the remnant of the medieval guilds, which are the basis of the civil administration of the City of London.
The first feature of the text which drew my attention was a magnificent print (early photograph) of "Aldgate (South Side) 1862." which if folded down in three "folds" at the front of the text. The book is liberally packed with diagrams, prints, photographs, maps and press cuttings all relating to Aldgate ward.
A London Mosaic
W.L. George and Philippe Forbes-Robertson
W. Collins Sons & Co Ltd
London: 48 Pall Mall
1921
This book caught my eye because the font on the cover was in the art deco style. I opened it to find a very interesting colour print of Hyde Park in an art deco style. This held out a promise which was rapidly disappointed. There are 16 more illustrations by Forbes-Robinson however they are in the most uninspired, insipid green it is possible to imagine. Yes the style is art deco and they are enormously interesting but the colour choice is a complete failure of artistic vision.
Yes this book is well outside the remit of Victorian Gems and I have yet to read the text but as a book on London with a very specific style which was a response to that final grave of Victorian morality, the First World War, it could provide a cultural context.
See W.L. George
Romance of London
Supernatural Stories &c. &c.
John Timbs, F.S.A.
Frederick Warne and Co.
Bedford Street
Strand
Date 1898?
I bought this book from Sol Saul's stand at the fair. I have become friendly with Sol whose company I enjoy immensely. Unfortunately Sol's main trade appears to be in children's literature and whilst he has some truly magnificent works his subject is really well outside of my scope. However, he does have odd items here and there which are absolute treasures and a trip to his stall is mandatory for reasons beyond the excellent conversation on offer.
Today this book caught my eye and for whatever reason I was convinced I had seen a publication date of 1898. On trying to find it now for this blog I am unable to locate a date anywhere. What I did discover is that the publisher, Frederick Warne, began his business in 1865 and it was handed down to his sons. The company became famous for the publication of the famous Peter the Rabbit stories by Beatrix Potter and in that fact I think we find why this work ends up on Sol's stand!
The reason for buying this work is that ghost stories almost always centre on buildings, real buildings, so in this text I expect to find some extra "width" to the narratives I am building of Victorian London.
Wonderful London
Edited by
St John Adcock
Educational Book Club London
Volume 1 1923
Volume 2 1923
Volume 3 1927
This is a wonderful set of reference books packed to the hilt with photographs. Whilst it may date beyond the Victorian period the content has a heavy Victorian content. Many of the photographs are of streets and building long gone from the landscape of today. A lot of these buildings find their origin in the Victorian period. One feature of particular interest is the cover of trades and industry. Post First World war the advent of American mass production really kicks into gear. In this set there are texts and photographs eulogising the "unchanged ways and practices of the British craftsman" and these provide an insight into Victorian industrial conditions.
Memorials of St James's Street and Chronicles of Almack's
E. Beresford Chancellor
Brentanos
New York
1922
This is essentially a book about London clubs. The bulk of it concerns the 18th century but there is enough material about these clubs in Victorian London to make it a worthy addition to the collection.
MY STORY
La Belle Otero
A.M. Philpott Limited
69 Great Russel Street
London
No date but prior to 1965
This book has no substantive connection to Victorian Gems or Victorian London. This is the auto-biography of possibly the first film star, a famous dancer and courtesan to Kings. It just looked like it may have some interest in there but really one that is way off beam.
The Duke
Philip Guedalla
Hodder and Stoughton
London
1962
A biography of Wellington. Not really my cup of tea, way out of frame again.
All in all it is clear that no real gems came from today at the book fair. the real truth is that I hesitated and lost the chance to buy 6 volumes of London Old and New. They would have cost me £60, were in excellent condition, are an absolutely marvellous resource published about 1888 and it is unlikely I will see that chance again. the same set are currently on Amazon, they don't look as good as the set I saw today, for £265.
Still, my conversation with Sol Saul was worth more than any book missed or lost!
