Sunday 11th July 2010: The Book Fair Acquisitions

Well I have been to the book fair today. This is my once a month treat that gets me away from the endless hours in front of computer screens and out into a hall filled with shelf after shelf of books in an antiquarian book fair. I had started a bibliography of my collection but have decided today that perhaps it would be good to catalogue my buys each month as well.

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."

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!

Bibliography with Critique

The Purpose of this Bibliography and Critique is to share something of the collection I am building. The reason for doing this is because Dr Darts (if you don't know then a google search is required) asked me for some information on texts and I thought why not put it all down. So I will share what I have and try and annotate it as best as I can.

THE TOWN
ITS MEMORABLE CHARACTERS AND EVENTS

Leigh Hunt

Edited with an introduction and notes by Austin Dobson

HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1907

This work was first published in 1848 and is a well known text. Personally I don't find it that compelling, not the sort of book I pick up and can't put down. However, if you are prepared to delve away there are nuggets to be found, insights to be had and revelations to be revealed. A book for the researcher rather than for the genuine enthusiast I would suggest.

LIFE AND ADVENTURES ON THE OCEAN

A personal Narrative by Capt. Holmes

LONDON
R E King & Co Ltd
106 to 110 Tabernacle Street EC

There is no imprinted date in this work but 1902 can be deduced from the text as the possible year of publication. This is an absolute gem of a book and whilst it appears to be a self published work the story about Capt Holmes's disasterous shipwreck off the coast of Australia
and the subsequent naming of the reef after him bears some credibility.

See article about this book.

A TOUR IN A PHAETON THROUGH THE EASTERN COUNTIES

John James Hissey

Richard Bentley and Sons, New Burlington Street
London
1889

A treasure for anyone interested in pub history, the story of coaching and coaching inns and the villages of Victorian England. John James Hissey was a man who only knew callouses from the work of sitting in his buggy and traveling at his leisure. Fortunately for John, one of his ancestors emigrated to America and secured title to a lot of land which by our author's time was the financial district of Chicago. The income from the ground rent allowed him to liberally dispense a shilling to urchins who would show him the sights of any village he arrived in.

This text is fascinating but always remember the views are those of privilege and a life of ease whilst others struggled to survive. Hissey is not alone in the ranks of English gentlemen who traveled the countryside bemoaning the march of progress and the loss of times past, there is a tradition in this type of literature of a disparaging view of the times which is ever present in all centuries.

Nonetheless, what we have in this book is an absolute peach dripping with the juice of a past now lost.

REMINISCENCES OF A VICTORIAN

Charles Beadle

Privately Published
1924

These are the treasures of Victorian literature for the genuine enthusiast. You can find such works as these if you hunt around the antiquarian book fairs and they are sold for pennies, greatly undervalued by the booksellers. The reason for this is that works like this are Victorian Vanity Publishing, neither catalogued, widely distributed or written by individuals of "importance". However, for anyone serious about the subject of history these are priceless texts containing irretrievable social history from individual perspective which if the booksellers cannot rinse a couple of pounds sterling for will get dumped in skips.

Vanity Publishing may well be seen by predatory companies as a way to make money out of the real need for people to tell their stories, and most of the time the people who write are not professional authors or accomplished writers but they do tell their story their way. So too with this text, a piece of literature it is not, a finely groomed biography it cannot claim to be however for the historian works such as this reveal detail and insights which are invaluable.


CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE BY AN ENGLISH TOURIST
OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

part 1 of the Tour of 1789 from the Torrington Diaries by The Hon. John Byng
(1743 -1813)

Edited by Cyril Bruyn Andrews

Roy Patrick Smith, Marlow, Bucks

Undated Edition with a cover showing an embossed heraldic animal, possibly a hind, with the word TUEBOR in a scroll beneath. (Latin: I will defend)

This work falls outside the Victorian remit but is w work worthy of mention here. exactly 100 years before james John Hissey mounts his Phaeton, John Byng, Viscount Torrington, took to riding around the countryside with his friends and staying at inns by the roadside. the similarities in the disdane for their "present times" and the loss of the virtues of the past are almost a mirror image in these works.

This text contains reproductions of the bills Byng received, and often bemoaned as expensive, as he stayed with the common folk in the wayside inns. What is very interesting is the ability to find the pubs he stayed at still in operation today by simply searching their name and village on the internet.

Not a top quality work but more of a pleasant read that occasionally reveals something of common life but more often than not talks of the sport of 18th century gentlemen.

THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON

George Reynolds

Vol IV
Vol II Second Series

G. Vickers, 334, Strand.
London

MDCCCXLVIII
(1848)

An absolute pearler of a book, a veritable cornucopia of fascination. Perhaps you are beginning to think that I like this text with a particular favour; you would be understating the case.

This is a fictional narrative, a soap opera, a two penny novel, a collection of serialised stories written for newspaper publication and bound into a volume. Despite the fact that as literature it is found wanting on many levels this is a treasure beyond compare.

The reason for my high praise rests in one fact and several features. The fact is that the author was a newspaper proprietor, which at his time meant he probably wrote every word published, and a staunch chartist supporter. The first feature of note is his tendency in writing to mix political statements of the day with the fictional narrative. So where a pub scene is entered through the journey of hero or villain, like as not we hear the discussion between two protaganists standing in a corner of the smoky inn discussing the issues of political freedom.
In addition to this wonderful window into the world of political dissent in the mid nineteenth century he also has a tendency to add historical footnotes to the fictional narrative, something I have never seen before.

As an example, there is one footnote attached to an event of the characters in the fiction meeting soldiers which describes and details the debate against the flogging of soldiers with historically verifiable references.

Leaving aside the paucity of the literature, the topography of London and its social conditions are revealed within the text to such an extent as to be palpable.

A real, valuable, splendid treasure of a book.


SURVEY OF LONDON WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1598

John Stow

A New Edition

Edited by

William J. Thoms, ESQ. F.S.A.
Secretary of the Camden Society

Whittaker and Co., Ave Marie Lane
London

MDCCCXLII
(1842)


A standard text for anyone serious about the history of London. Though way out of the Victorian date range this is a useful base from which to chart changes and developments.
Not an easy read, not exactly compelling or captivating, more a tool for a researcher serious about his subject.

A JOURNAL OF A YOUNG MAN OF MASSACHUSETTS

Written by Himself
[Benjamin Waterhouse]

Milledgeville, (Geo.)
Re-printed by S. & F. Grantland

1816

Whilst outside the "Victorian" date range, this work is one of the most prized treasures in my collection. The volume I have is signed all over the inside covers with the names of the Bush family ancestors of the 19th century. On purchase I was given a validation of this fact by the seller. The book is old and brown and quite beautiful to hold.

In terms of the text it is a fascinating work. The content is based on the diary and reminiscences of an American prisoner of war held by the British on the prison hulks of the Medway. The detail of life on board is stark as well as comprehensive. The prisoner describes the various hulks and their occupants, daily routine and the habits of the people so imprisoned. The journey then continues to the prison at Dartmoor where equally detailed accounts of life in that prison are provided.

The full title of the work provides a good insight into the content:

"A Journal, of a Young Man of Massachusetts, Late a Surgeon on Board an American Privateer, Who Was Captured at Sea by the British and Was Confined First, at Melville Island, Halifax, Then at Chatham, in England, and Last, at Dartmoor Prison. Interspersed With Observations, Anecdotes and Remarks, Tending to Illustrate the Moral and Political Characters of Three Nations. to Which Is Added, a Correct Engraving of Dartmoor Prison, Representing the Massacre of American Prisoners"

HAND-BOOK OF LONDON PAST AND PRESENT

Peter Cunningham, F.S.A.

John Murray,
Albemarle Street,
1850

An important reference work which details the streets of London at the time. They are presented in alphabetical order and prominent buildings, inns and clubs also feature. Each entry provides a potted history of the street and identifies history grand and obscure about
the comings and goings through time.

Thoroughly good solid work and a "bible" for any study of London history of the time.

See article regarding this book

COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS

W. Outram Tristram

Illustrated by Herbert Railton and Hugh Thomson
MacMillan & Co
London
1894

An interesting work full of anecdote and romance. This book has real value for the illustrations but the text is not of the quality of Hissey's writing in my opinion. Still a good work to possess
but defintely would be second rank if it were not for those 214 illustrations of villages, inns, pubs and coaches!

LONDON TOPOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Ilustrated
Including the fifth and the sixth annual report
of the London Topographical Society

Volume III
Issued for the years 1903-1904

Printed at the Chiswick Press and issued from
the Office of The London Topographical Society
at 16, Clifford's Inn,
Fleet Street, E.C.

MCMVI
(1906)

Once again a text out of the basic remit of the Victorian era but none the less very much a work about that era. This is really special text which looks at various subject about London in very erudite detail.Besides the workings and speeches of the society there are three published articles in this volume which are priceless.

Notes on Salway's Plan of the Road from Hyde Park Corner to Counter's Bridge
by Colonel W.F. Prideaux, C.S.I.

A superb account of the development of the road through Knightsbridge which up until this point was a muddy bog beset by thieves. The narrative looks at Salway's plan of 1811 which by all accounts was of immense detail and extensive mapping. Included by the venerable Colonel is an account of all the pubs and inns on the road as well as detail about other buildings.

Changing London: Notes on alterations in North St Marylebone
by J.G. Head

A superb account of the acquisition of a massive tract of land in order to build Marylebone Station in London. The process began in 1890 and involved an act of parliament against protest from those whose homes were scheduled for demolition in the plans. Rare photographs of the areas demolished are included with the text and the history and places of a swath of London lost to this demolition re-counted.

Signs of Old London
by F.G. Hilton Price Dir. S.A.

A marvelous list of the signs from which people traded in St Paul's Churchyard area of London. Annotated with historical notes gleaned from published references, mostly newspaper adverts, relating to the signs. Today all that remains of this tradition are our pub and inn signs but in this text the relationship between them and the trades and practices of the past is brought into a sharp focus.

The society still exists today and the subscription is astonishingly cheap. I am going to join for certain!

Crowned Masterpieces of Eloquence
Representing the Advance of Civilisation

International University Society
London
1919

The quality of this text is very simple, it records public speeches in exact detail. Imagine if you could have a tape recording of Charles Dickens for example, well this is the next best thing. Here in this volume we have his speech on "Intellectual Progress of the People: Education and Progress." presented at a "Soiree of the members of the Manchester Athenaeum, October 5th, 1843.

In reading this speech it is just a simple flight of fancy to hear Dicken's voice and smell the whiff of gas lamp as the audience respectfully sit dressed in their finery to hear the great man talk.

This volume has many such speeches from the 19th century and is a valuable resource for researching the thoughts of political, social and academic leaders of the day.

OLD AND NEW LONDON

A narrative of its history, its people, and its places

by

Walter Thornbury

Volume 1

Cassell and Compnay
London, Paris and New York.

Undated but approximately published sometime after 1880
and probably not later than 1890.

Really very good source book with a number of interesting illustrations. The text deals with London area by area and provides good referencing to older works.

See article regarding this book

PICCADILLY TO PALL MALL

Manners, Morals, And Man.

by

Ralph Nevill
and
Charles Edward Jerningham
(Marmaduke)

Duckworth & Co
3 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden
1908

When I first picked this book up I wasn't that impressed, its excellent condition, the title and the date didn't hold out much promise and I thought I had a rather second rate text on my hands. If ever there was a case of "Don't judge a book by its cover!" then this was it. Once I started reading I quite literally could not put it down until I had finished it. A quite magnificent work.

The book covers with wit the loss of the manners and morals of the old days, the style and fashion of the Victorian era. The viewpoint is that of two English gentlemen of the old school who inhabited the "West End", the province of society and the fashionable class. The collection of stories and tales are anecdotal if not actually downright gossip and details the lives of those who were of the highest level in society and not representatives of the vulgar wealth gained through the stock exchange.

Clubs, inns and pubs are detailed as well as brothels and the lives of notorious prostitutes. Hyde Park is revealed as the place where women of a certain character would line up in their carriages awaiting "liasons" with eager gentlemen. The story of the Iron Duke trying to gain entry to the home of a lady of great reputation only to be turned away by a government minister disguised as a serving maid is something I have never heard the like of!

Whilst I have a real interest in uncovering the hidden histories of ordinary people this book provides a pull at the curtains to reveal a glimpse of the unwritten histories of more prominent
people. Brilliant book!

See article referencing this book.


A LONDONER'S LOG BOOK

by
The Right Hon. G.W.E. Russell

Smith, Elder, & Co.
15, Waterloo Place
London
1910

This is a cracking little book. The volume is a third edition of an original publication from November 1902. The text covers life in London as seen from the upper middle class. All the prejudices and traits of social interaction are covered with a very wry humour. This humour is interesting because you need to have a good grasp of the culture of the day to pick up on some of the more subtle witticisms.

THE OCEAN

by

P.H. Gosse

Printed for THe Society for promoting Christian Knowledge:
Sold at the Depository,
Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields;
and by all booksellers.
1845

This was a really fortunate acquisition, in excellent condition, with numerous illustrations and a marvellous text. Don't let the "Christian Knowledge" factor be a too off putting, this extends merely to the recognition that all in nature is the work of the Almighty. Here we have a text about the flora and fauna of the seas which is in astonishing detail and described by a man who has sailed the world's oceans. There are obvious errors of perception, such as the saw fish being a dangerously armed animal threatening to humanity. There are also mention of monsters of the deep but aside from what we see as a lack of understanding this work really reveals just how much our sea going nation really did know about the oceans and all within them.
See The Saw-Fish in the Gulf of Paria


THE LECTURE
(As delivered at the Egyptian Hall, London.)

by

Artemus Ward

edited by his Executors

T.W. Robertson and E.P. Hingston

John Camden Hotten
Piccadilly
London

G.W. Carleton & Co.,
Broadway
New York
1869

Priceless volume which gives an incredible insight into what made Victorians laugh, or not laugh as the case may be. Charles Farrer Browne created the character of Artemus Ward and travelled America and the UK providing lectures from which he made substantial amounts of money. Here we have the great grandfather of stand up comedians touring theatres and arenas of the day to single handedly entertain substantial audiences, he was packing them in!

What makes this text extraordinary is that it has been compiled from his lecture notes by his agent and another friend. They have included illustrations of the lantern slides Ward used to illustrate his talks. In addition, they have annotated the notes with what essentially are stage notes on ward's delivery from stance to intonation. As if this wasn't enough they have also provided the main text in three different sizes of font. These are meant to indicate where Ward spoke boldly, in an ordinary manner or as a quite aside. The result is that you have, limited only by your own imagination and perception, as close to an audio visual record of the performance of a Victorian comedian of the 1860's as is possible to have.

The agent also kindly tells us of the story of Artemus Ward, his success and failings during a career which took him as a travelling comedian both across the plains of America at a time when the native population still held sway and into the hearts and minds of some Victorians.
I say some, because, like all comedy, it was a matter of taste and as his agent tells some people did not like ward's style. The instance where this highly rehearsed incompetence of presentation of a "lecture" was taken at face value and one lady on walking out was recorded to say, "Really, it is not good enough all these people laughing at that poor imbecile."

THE BOYS INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION ILLUSTRATED

by

Elisha Noyce

With Three Hundred and Seventy Engravings
by
The Brothers Dalzeil

Ward, Lock, & Tyler,
Warwick House
Paternoster Row
1860

As a reference work on the industrial processes of mid Victorian England this work can surely have few peers. A comprehensive coverage of industrial activity explained with enough simplicity for young boys but with enough technical detail to provide a solid understanding of how things are done. When you add to this text the fabulous illustrations of all of these industrial processes then you have an excellent source.

Wonderful book.

See Brewing

ENGLISH INNS

by
Thomas Burke

With 8 Plates in Colour and
24 illustrations in black and white.

William Collins of London
MCMXXXXIII
(1943)

A really good standard text on English Inns with strong reference to the history of signs. Many fine illustrations, notably "A bedroom at an Inn": coloured engraving from Eugene Lami's Voyage en Angleterre, 1830., which provide solid images of life in and around inns.