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Sometimes it isn't the value of a book that makes is desirable to a collection but it's associations and the story a volume can reveal. My own collection is full of books with a personal connections, provenance and history - these far outweigh those which might have any real monetary value. And during today's cataloguing endeavours a little gem, revealing much about publishing history as well conditions during the late 1930s and early 1940s, passed across my desk.

Rebecca West's The Harsh Voice is collection of four novellas first published in 1935. Reviewing the volume in the New York Times, Edith Wharton described then as 'miniature novels...chiefly remarkable for their technical brilliance. They have a smooth high glase, a competence of construction, reminiscent of Somerset Maugham at his slickest and most suave". In setting, the novellas straddle the 1929 Wall Street Crash and each is in some way is concerned with money and its potential to corrupt.

The volume in hand, though, is different. To start with, in contains only three novellas - Life Sentence, The Salt of the Earth and The Abiding Vision. 'There is No Conversation', which appeared in the original edition is absent - perhaps as a cost saving measure. It was published by Jonathan Cape for the British Publishers Guild. The British Publishers Guild was a loose collaboration between a handful of British publishers (Jonathan Cape, Cassell, Chatto and Windus, Dent, Faber & Faber, George Harrap, William Heinemann and Johnathan Murray were the founding members) who came together in 1940 to produce paperbacks to challenge Penguin's dominance of the low-priced book market. Paper Revolution described the Guild as the 'Anyone But Penguin Society'.

Guild books were published in uniform formats by the individual publishers but with the imprint 'Published for The British Publishers Guild'. As all titles were to be copyright works, none of the usual classics of the English cannon featured. The first 36 volumes were published in February and March 1941 - there were 12 red Guild Sixes (costing sixpence), 12 blue Guild Nines (costing ninepence) and 12 green Guild Twelves (costing a shilling). The endeavour was not particularly successful and further titles were slow to come. Co-ordinating across so many publishers was likely difficult, and the enterprise was hampered war time meaures including paper rationing, but there is also a sense of a lack of commitment and energy from a group of publishers who had anyway been slow to develop their own paperback imprints. The Guild was nothing if not a Johnny come lately to the paperback party.

The joy and exhilaration of ‘the hunt’ is one of the finer delights of book collecting.  One of the more unusual, and interesting, books we have recently uncovered is a rather lovely copy of “The History and Antiquities of the Church and Parish of St Laurence, Thanet, In the County of Kent” by Charles Cotton.

An imposingly large volume from 1895, on the history of St Laurence’s Church, Thanet, with glorious period illustrations, this book gives a fascinating insight into the history of the area.  It is described by Michael’s Bookshop, who published a modern reprint in 2008 as “one of the most important local history books”.  Copies are held in the Royal Collection, The National Art Library at the V&A, and of course in the British Library and a number of other libraries of note.

Compiled by Charles Cotton, a local physician practising in the area, it reveals his meticulous and detailed research but is also, as Cotton states in his preface, based on many conversations with many of the ‘oldest inhabitants’ of the parish about past local matters and traditions. Extending to nearly 300 pages, it took him fourteen years to research and write.[1]  Cotton was born in London but spent the majority of his adult life in Kent where he practiced as a doctor. As well as managing a general practice and serving local hospitals, he took a keen interest in local history.  He regularly contributed to the proceedings of the Kent Archaeological Society and served on its board for over 30 years.  He died in Canterbury in 1939.   His obituary appeared in the Society’s journal.

St Laurence’s church in Ramsgate is set well back from the harbour, at the upper end of the High Street. It was once Ramsgate’s parish church.  As with so many medieval churches in Thanet, St Laurence was founded as a chapel of ease to Minster Abbey. It was probably founded shortly before the Norman Conquest, around 1062, which would make it the oldest building in Thanet apart from Minster Abbey itself.  A large monochrome plate frontispiece reproduces a late 19^th century photograph of St Lawrence Church's from the South West. (It is interesting to note that it is credited as St Lawrence, whereas the title of the book uses an alternative spelling of St Laurence.)

The volume was produced in a limited edition of 250 copies, each one numbered (our copy is No 41) and signed by the author, almost exclusively to meet the needs of subscribers, who are listed.  Most of the subscribers were Kent residents, often living close to St Laurence. They include local  luminaries such as the Right Rev Bishop of Dover; J Sebag Montefiore, who had inherited land in Ramsgate and titles from his uncle, Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1^st Baronet (1784-1885).

One of the more murky stories which turned up while researching this volume was that of Adam Sprakeling.  Sprakeling, a local aristocrat with a reputation for violence and cruelty, murdered his wife, Katherine Lewkenor in 1652: late one night, while in a rage, he severed her head, before covering himself in her blood so that he could plead insanity at trial.  He was convicted and hanged the following year in Sandwich.  Katherine was buried in the chancel in St Laurence’s, under a tablet.  When Adam was hung, he was refused burial in the Church on the grounds that he was a convicted killer.  Local legend, though, suggests that Adam’s friends conspired to smuggle his body into the Church where they buried him in secret.  Later renovations in the church uncovered a body under the floor with no tablet or clue to its identity.  Was this the body of Adam Sprakeling?

If you are interested in purchasing this book, please look here (if you get a nil result or see an error page, it's likely because we have sold the book, but feel free to email or telephone us to inquire).

Bibliographic details

Cotton, Charles, The History and Antiquities of the Church and Parish of St Laurence, Thanet, in the County of Kent, With Special Contributions upon Local Subjects by other Contributors, Illustrated with maps and pedigrees, lithographs and Zincographs from Photographs specially take for the Work, published by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co (London) and S R Wilson, 36 Harbour Street, 1895.  [10] 288pp.   Half bound in roan leather over speckled cloth boards, printed on Dutch handmade paper with deckled edges.  Originally offer in advance for a guinea, the price rising to 25/- on publication.  Promotional leaflet for the book from the publisher pasted in at rear, and a list of illustrations laid in.

[1] Various chapters consider the “Ancient History…of the Parish of St Laurence”; ‘History of the Church of St Laurence’; Transcriptions of the Leger Stones within the Church’; The Brasses, Ancient and Modern, and the Hatchments hanging in the Church’; Description of the Fragment of 14^th Century Service Book’; ‘ The Churchyard, Parish Clerks and Sextons, the Old Church House, and Transcriptions of Tomb Stones’; ‘The Vicarage, Houses and Glebe, with lists of successive Vicars and Churchwardens and of the Constables of the Upper Half Hundred of Ringsloe’; ‘The Manors of St Laurence…of Nether Court and Manston’; Description of Ozengell and Newland Granges; Ellington and Cliffs End’; Description of the Hamlets of Pegwell, alias Courtstairs, Chilton, Southwood, Spratling Street, Haine, Northwood, Hereson and Hollicondane’; ‘List of payers of Romescot temp Edward I, and Holders of Penygal Land, temp Henry VIII’; ‘Description of the Church Books’; Abstracts from some St Laurence Wills and Benefactions’; Descriptions of the Neolithic, British and Roman Remains found in the Parish’, etc.

In the early 1870s, New Yorker C G Rosenberg painted ‘Freemasonry and Civilization’.  The original painting, at one point on show at the Freemason’s Tavern on Great Queen Street in London, was described in the Freemason’s Chronicle at the time as “An Allegorical Illustration of the Rise of the Orders of Architecture”.   The Chronicle commented “The idea which connects Freemasonry with Civilization in the progress of mankind from the darkness of chaos and ignorance to the light begotten of knowledge and well-ordered institutions, is not only a wise but a just conception, and the artist's success in the execution of the idea is worthy of all praise”.   A contemporary leaflet, authored by Edward M Haigh, explained the meaning of the picture and was intended to inspire viewers to appreciate the beauty of Rosenburg’s painting.  The Freemason’s Chronicle for 8 June 1878 put it this way:

“[The pamphlet] … fully illustrates the plan, and should be read by all who wish to interpret it aright. Here it will suffice if we note the leading points in this description. The general idea is that the progress of man is due to the joint and beneficent influence of Freemasonry and Civilization, and the Chaplain's jewel which the former carries in her right hand is typical of the religious basis on which this influence rests.  These two figures, which occupy the centre of the picture, and are very beautifully drawn, are preceded and followed by other figures, arranged in two groups. That in front, and, as it were, upholding Freemasonry and her companion, consists of the Virtues, Charity, Hope, Faith, Justice, Mercy, Fortitude, &c, each of which may be distinguished by its special emblem, or in some special manner. Thus Charity is carrying a cruse of oil, some ears of corn, and some grapes. Faith is looking upwards … in firm reliance on the wisdom and goodness of the Great Architect, while Hope has linked herself to Faith. Following Freemasonry is a group of three, which are intended to represent the Masonic principles of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. These two explain and are illustrative of the basis on which Freemasonry and Civilization rely for the influence they exercise over the human race”.

 

Apparently Haigh also took photographs of Rosenburg’s painting which were esteemed for their ‘great beauty and finish’.  The painting was 24 inches by 16 inches in size and coloured impressions mounted on tinted board were available for purchase at a cost of £5 and 5 shillings.

The May 1878 issue of the American Art Journal provided a long and favourable review of Rosenburg’s painting, noting that it had been painted in London that same year.   Rosenburg’s sudden death, during a further visit to London, was reported the following year.   The death notice described him as “a gentleman of varied talents in art and literature, a genial, open nature, full of kindly impulses, prompt in the service of his friends”. 

We currently have a copy of Haigh’s pamphlet in stock (as of April 2021) but would love to see the picture which it describes and would love to hear from you if you know of its whereabouts now or anything of its history since the 1870s.

We have lots of books of masonic interest in stock, many of them related to masonry in Yorkshire. View our vintage and secondhand books of masonic interest or books of Yorkshire local interest.

Working my way through one of the many piles of books awaiting cataloguing this morning, I found an intriguing volume, and one which is beyond my skills and knowledge to identify or verify with any certainty.

It's an old volume, in a binding suggestive of the early 18th century, filled with blank pages, on which have been pasted, one per page, 16 beautiful engravings, but the volume provides very few further superficial details.

There is what appears to be an old bookseller's ticket inserted in the volume, which reads:

"They [presumably referring to the engravings] are from an edition of Eramus's translation of the New Testament printed by F Gryphius at Paris in 1552. The title page reads:

Novum Testmentum, per D Eramuns [sic] Roterodamum novissime recognitum: & insignium historiarum simulachris, cum venustati, tum veritati, accomodis illustratum. Excudebat Fran. Gryphius, an M.D.LII"

There is however no title page as such present in this volume; the bookseller may have been referring to the volume from which the engravings were removed. There is a manuscript title, photographed below.

There's a bookplate on the front endpaper, together with what is perhaps a more recent, round ownership stamp.

The engravings, all of which appear below, are beautiful. Any information - or evens thoughts - very gratefully received.

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See all Bip Pares books at BookAddiction

Peter Cheyney,  the prolific and immensely successful detective fiction writer of the mid 20th century, remains popular with lovers of vintage mystery stories. [caption id="attachment_2441" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Peter Cheyney's Lady, Behave[/caption] Here at BookAddiction (where we include ourselves among those lovers of vintage and Golden Age crime fiction) we have recently added several vintage copies of his novels, including some first editions, to our stock.  "Dressed to Kill", although not a first edition, peaked our interest in particular.  First published in 1945 under the title Night Club, the original print run was, by repute, tiny and quickly sold out.  The novel - the story of a murder in Mayfair - was reprinted by the Todd Publishing Group in 1952, by which time UK paper rationing had comes to an end. There are two features of this reprint, though, that make it an interesting and, for Cheyney collectors, perhaps more desirable that the first edition.  First, it was reprinted under title Dressed to Kill, said to have been Cheyney's preferred title for the book in the first place.  The blurb in on the rear inside flap of the dust jacket explains it thus:

Peter Cheyney wrote this book in 1945 when he was, in the opinion of many, at the height of his career as a novelist.  Due to the rationing of paper at that time only one small edition was produced and the book was never reprinted.  The title of the book was changed to Night Club but this was not the one Peter Cheyney first gave it.  The book is here published under its original title Dressed to Kill. Dressed to Kill is virtually the only unpublished Peter Cheyney novel and he signed the contract for its publication only a few weeks before he contracted the illness form which he died in June 1951.

Secondly, Dressed to Kill includes an additional introductory chapter - The Fabulous Peter Cheyney.  It is an essay on Cheyney's life and work.  It is anonymous but obviously written by someone who knew Cheyney well and, grudgingly, liked him. Cheyney, or rather Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse-Cheyney - was born 22 February, 1896.  He did well enough at school and passed through the University of London without distinction - but that was a matter of no concern to him, for he had no academic ambitions.  He was determined to be a writer, and had his first article accepted when he was just fourteen years old.  Being articled to a solicitor gave him the chance to see the ways of criminals from the respectable side to of the fence, but he excelled more playing table tennis than in his studies of the law.  When war came in 1914, he received a commission in the Warwickshires and was sent to fight in France.  Trench life did not entirely blot out his writing, and one of his most successful songs, The Ginchy Road, was penned at this time.  Invalided out of the army after being severely injured in 1916, Cheyney spent the early years after the war writing for theatre, before slipping into journalism. It was in 1936, at the age of 40, that Cheyney came to the world as a masterful writer of detective fiction, when his This Man is Dangerous was first published.  Turning out between to two and four novels a year, he achieved prodigious sales, estimated to be in the region of two and a half million volumes a year.  He is said to have made a fortune from his writing. Tempted to read Dressed to Kill? Search our stock here for Peter Cheyney's books, or for Dressed to Kill specifically (if the search comes back with no results, it's because we've sold out - email BookAddiction and we'll look among our off-line stock for you).

[caption id="attachment_2430" align="alignright" width="173"] Patrick MacGill[/caption] Patrick MacGill's novel, Children of the Dead End : The Autobiography of a Navvy (1913, Herbert Jenkins) made a reputation upon its publication but which is now often overlooked.  First published in 1913, it illuminates the little-known and wonderful life of the navvy. This autobiographical novel stretches from Ireland's tenant farms to the byways, highways and backroads of Scotland and the life of a navvy.   Aged just 12, Dermod Flynn riles against the hardships and grinding poverty of his childhood.   Hardly shod and barely fed, worked to exhaustion by a series of indifferent and callous tenant farmers -   he runs away to join the emigrants headed for Scotland, hoping to catch up with his sweetheart, Norah Ryan.  Here, stomping between the model lodging houses of Paisley and Glasgow and working on the construction of Kinlochleven Dam, Dermod encounters Moleskin Joe and Carroty Dan, the latter so quick-tempered that Dermod must thrash him into insensibility. This taken from the blurb of a 1967 edition: "In their rude huts, far from the restraining influence of womanhood, they are allowed full scope for savage living and wild carelessness, gambling, drinking and fighting.  Yet the life of those nomads, who tramp endless roads and work in desert places, has the picturesque quaintness of gypsy existence, as well the mad excitement of American mining camps.  The Far West novel is as nothing to the biting realism of this remarkable autobiography which, when originally published, created a literary sensation.  In Moleskin Joe alone the author has added a new character to literature". MacGill (1890-1963) himself said that "most of my story is autobiographical. Moleskin Joe and Carroty Dan are true to life; they live now...Norah Ryan's painful story shows the dangers to which an innocent girl is exposed through ignorance of the fundamental facts of existence; Gourock Ellen and Annie are types of women whom I have often met.  While asking a little allowance for the pen of the novelist it must be said that nearly all the incidents of the book have come under the observation of the writer: that such incidents should take place makes the tragedy of the story". MacGill worked as a navvy before he took up writing.  His own early experiences engendered in him a loathing of injustice, and politically radicalised him at a time when British socialism was still in its infancy.  Raw, lyrical, angry, Children of the Dead End still retains its affecting power.  The Children of the Dead End was MacGill's first novel; several further novels, as well as poetry and plays, were published before his death in 1963. If you enjoy the works of  MacGill's near contemporaries Jack London or George Gissing, MacGill might be for you. 'Children of the Dead End' featured in The List's  2005 list of 100 Best Scottish Books. Find copies of Children of the Dead End, or other books by Patrick MacGill, at BookAddiction. 'Book of the Day' is an occasional series of blog posts from BookAddiction.  Each one features a quirky, forgotten or particularly fascinating book which we suspect warrants reintroduction to readers.  

  [caption id="attachment_2415" align="alignnone" width="1880"] Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com[/caption] Traditional advice to those starting out in book collecting has always been to spend as much time in local rare and second hand bookshops as possible, to become familiar with the look and feel of collectable books, to learn from the booksellers and to begin to get a feel for where you might source the sort of books you are interested in.  In these times, as coronavirus spreads and social distancing becomes a requirement, many may wish to spend more time collecting as a small distraction from the rather scary world outside. So, here at BookAddiciton, we thought it may be helpful to offer some tips on how to start  from scratch or develop an existing book collection in ways that don't require you to visit physically a bricks and mortar bookshop or auction house.  In the next few days, we'll be launching a series of blog posts on book collecting.  We'll be giving our tops tips on how to shape a collection, identify first editions, keep your books safe and sound, add to you collection or dispose of items that no longer interest you and, particularly, how to buy collectable books on line with confidence. We'll also be covering some wider concepts designed to appeal to those with an interest in books, such as an introduction to the history of the book, print history, features on significant books and what to look out for while you're off on a book hunt (always one of the thrilling parts of collecting!).    And we'll be re-starting our series of posts on Queer and Quirky Titles, Lost Between the Leaves and Collectors' Notes. [caption id="attachment_2417" align="alignnone" width="1880"] Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com[/caption] Why not sign up to our blog now to make sure you don't miss a thing? Tell us what you'd like to see and share your book collecting stories.

[caption id="attachment_2420" align="alignnone" width="1880"] Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com[/caption] BookAddiction constantly strives to offer book collectors and readers (and those who share our own book addiction) interesting and novel (pun intended!) books, and this week has been no exception.  We love the hunt for new titles and interesting volumes, sifting thought boxes of old books, scanning auction catalogues or curiously prizing open the latest batch of books.  Here's a few of the more unusual, quirky or interesting volumes that have been added to our on line book addiction offering recently. The Art of Alfred Hitchcock - an authoritative biography of one of the most influential film-makers.  Perhaps not the rarest or most unusual of books, but so important is Hitchcock in the film world, that this early biography has particular interest, not least for the numerous black and white movie stills it contains. Epaminondas and The Eggs - this quirky infant's book, dating from the 1960s, has charming period illustrations, but it and the series it comes from has become controversial for it's depiction of BAME people.  The author, Constance Egan, wrote a number of children's books.  She has been criticised for her depiction and illustrations of the African-American characters as being racist and depicting stereotypes.  Others will treasure the books as fond memories of their 1950s and 1960s childhoods. Appealing perhaps to those with a specific interest in the subject matter, F E Mostyn's niche book, The Truck Acts and Industry, provides a fascinating insight into the motivations for and the consequences of the series of Truck Acts which were passed by Parliament between 1831 and 1887.  The OED describes the Truck System as the practice of paying workmen in goods instead of money, or in money on the understanding that they will buy provisions etc only from their employer; but in practice there was more to it than that and there is hardly an aspect of industrial relations upon which these Acts did not impinge. Mostyn himself was an interesting character.  Born Frederick Moscovitch, he changed his name to Frederick Evelyn Mostyn in 1937. Widely known as 'Lyn', he was a successful solicitor in the leading London firm of HCL Hanne & Co.  He stood for Parliament for the Labour Party in a north London by-election, co-wrote with Michael Foot and served as an adviser to Barbara Castle.  As well as The Truck Acts he also wrote a couple of legal texts on marriage and divorce.  But he was also a novelist - author of A Planned Coincidence and, in 1959, Lawyer,Heal Thyself.  The latter has two claims to fame: first, it has been called 'possibly the best legal novel ever'.  And secondly, it is thought by some to be the inspiration (at least) for John Osborne’s 1964 play, Inadmissible Evidence.  

Plodding through cataloguing a new (to us) batch of books this afternoon, I came across a vintage girls' school story by an author I didn't recognise: The First Term at Northwood by Mary Cathcart Borer.  I wondered if it was part of a longer series, as so many school girl stories of that era were.  Sadly I didn't find any more school stories (but they could be hiding beyond my ken) but I did find that Borer herself had quite a story! Mary Borer, a Londoner by birth, started her working life as a scientist, employed at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum as a senior researcher; but she gave up her job when she married archaeologist Oliver Humphrys Myers, and travelled with him under the auspices of the Egyptian Exploration Society to Luxor on the Nile.  The marriage didn't last, but her experiences in Egypt inspired one of her novels, Taha, the Egyptian.  Her first novel, Kilango, had been completed while she was still at the Museum, and another two followed before the outbreak of World War Two: The Highcroft Mystery and The House with the Blue Door. She also worked as a film, script and scenario writer.  During the second world war, in 1942, Borer joined Gaumont-British Instructional Films, writing propaganda films for the British Council and the Ministry of Information, her credits including Surgery in Chest Disease, Tom's Ride and Sports Day (1943-44).  She was an occasional playwright too.  Her most memorable play was co-written with Arnold Ridley, who achieved late celebrity status as Private Godfrey in Dad's Army, but who was, also a well-known playwright: Tabitha (1955) is a comedy thriller about three old ladies who plan to poison their odious landlady; the impulse to murder deserts them at the last minute, so they are somewhat taken aback when the old landlady dies anyway. As the list of novels (below) reveals, Borer had enormous range and wrote for diverse audiences.  She also wrote a number of non-fiction works, mostly later in her career. Perhaps the most celebrated on these is her Illustrated Guide to London 1800, which was published in 1988 by Robert Hale. Mary Cathcart Borer is also sometimes credited at Molly Myers and, the IMDb database suggests, the somewhat more unlikely Egan Storm. The Wellcome Collection holds a photograph of  Mary Cathcart Borer.  I think she looks feisty. See all books by Mary Cathcart Borer at BookAddiction

Mary Cathcart Borer novels

Kalingo, illus. P. E. Fawkes. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1936 Adventure in August. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1937. The Sinclair Family. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 4 pts., 1937. Taha the Egyptian, illus. Kathleen M. Blair. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1937. The Highcroft Mystery. London & New York, F. Warne & Co., 1939. The House with the Blue Door. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1939. Bush Christmas (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1947. The First Term at Northwood. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1948. The Valley of the White Lake. London & New York, Frederick Warne & Co., 1948. The Little Ballerina (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1949. The Secret Tunnel (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1950. Distant Hills. A tale of pioneering days in Africa. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1951. The Mystery of the Snakeskin Belt (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1951. The Last Load (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1952. The Mysterious Poacher, and The Lone Climber (novelisations of the films). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1952. Trapped by the Terror (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1952. The Birthday Present, illus. Sheila Connelly. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1954. The Boabab Tree. London & New York, Frederick Warne & Co., 1955. The Dog and the Diamonds, illus. W. White. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1956. Tim's Donkey, illus. Sheila Connelly. London, Longmans, 1956. The Dragon Remembered, illus. Val Biro. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1956 [1957]. The Quest of the Golden Eagle, illus. Robert Hodgson. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1957. Aesop's Fables, retold by Mary Cathcart Borer. London, Longmans, 1959. Don Quixote, some of his adventures retold by Mary Cathcart Borer, illus. Pauline Baynes. London, Longmans, 1960.  Sophie and the Countess, illus. W. F. Phillips. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1960. Tales of King Arthur, illus. Will Nickless. London, Longmans, 1961.