Another fascinating week at Rooke Books HQ, with a number of special and unusual works making themselves at home upon our shelves. A set-heavy week, amongst the works we've listed are a two volume first edition of Charles Dickens' final novel 'Our Mutual Friend', sets including and fine children's works.

 

Reginald Hargreaves

We've had the pleasure to list a book which once made its home in the library of Reginald Hargreaves. A reputable cricketer who played first class cricket for Hampshire, Hargreaves' wife Alice was somewhat of a literary icon, primarily known as being the inspiration behind Lewis Carroll's Alice. She was born to Lorina Liddell and Henry Liddell, who is known to classics scholars as being one half of Liddell & Scott, the editors of A Greek-English Lexicon, the standard Ancient Greek-English dictionary. At four years out, Alice met Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who subsequently became a good friend to the Liddell family. in 1862, Dodgson took Alice and her sisters for a picnic in a rowing boat; during the journey, Alice asked him to entertain them with a story. He had often previously described the adventures of a girl named Alice after she had fallen down a rabbit hole, but this time, Alice Liddell insisted that he write them down. Finally, in 1865, Dodgson published 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll. These works were dedicated to Alice Pleasance Liddell, and an acrostic poem spelling out Liddell's full name occurs at the end of 'Through the Looking Glass', which is, of course, the inspiration for our little weekly blog. Alice and Reginald spent their lives together in and around the New Forest, and her influence upon the works and life of Carroll is the subject of much speculation. Our first edition of 1905 'The War in the Far East' contains Reginald Hargreaves' bookplate, as well as thirty-seven folding maps, eight plates and a number of clippings regarding the Liddell family and the war. Tragically, two of the Hargreaves' two children later perished fighting in the First World War.

Esme Percy

We've listed seven volumes of the plays of George Bernard Shaw dated between 1905 and 1919 which have, to be quite frank, seen better days at face value. Flicking through the leaves of each volume, they are profusely annotated, with entire chunks underlined in pencil, all sorts of notes written to the endpapers and with things even having been scribbled out. Upon closer inspection, a few varied pieces of paper fall out: ad advertisement for the plays of Shaw being performed in Paris, an envelope from a Birmingham based theatre and a typewritten list of lines. Of course, the collection once belonged to an actor, and with a little help from the Internet, we were thrilled to realise that Esme Percy himself used these volumes as his bible during various performances of the plays contained. Percy (1887-1957) was an English thespian remembered particularly for starring in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, making it an even more special find. As well as his prolific theatre work, Percy starred in forty films until his death, which included Hitchcock's third 'talkie', titled 'Murder!', 'Lord Edgware Dies', 'The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel', and of course, the Oscar-winning 'Pygmalion'. Two works were also inscribed by actor George Bancroft (1882-1956), an American who starred in films such as 'Angels with Dirty Faces' and 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. This collection provided us with a fascinating insight into the emergence of film actors and their lifestyles and work pre-movies; one only wonders whether Percy still used his copy of 'Pygmalion' whilst filming alongside Leslie Howard, Jean Cadell, Wendy Hiller and Wilfrid Lawson.

The Infant's Toy Book of Pretty Tales

Our team found ourselves rather taken with a charming and very scarce early children's work, titled 'The Infant's Toy Book of Pretty Tales'. Illustrated with sixteen full plates in colour, the work was printed by Dean and Munday, a press renowned for its moveable works and claiming to have originated moveable books for children. They were certainly the most prolific publisher of moveable toy books; Dean was a proponent of improving lithography, later using wood engravings, all of which were hand coloured. Our edition is bound in the publisher's original paper wraps and remarkably well-preserved for a children's work of nearly two hundred years old, making it a most sweet little work.

The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Campaign

For something a little different, we have added a marvellous box of photographic slides to our collection this week. Taken during the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Campaign around 1898, the box comprises ten photographic glass slides taken during the campaign, which was led by Lord Kitchener, later of 'Your Country Needs You' fame during his post as Secretary of State for War during the First World War. Kitchener's military career took off when he was credited with having won the Battle of Omdurman during the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Campaign, after which he was made Baron Kitchener of Khartoum. Among those that fought at this war was a young Winston Churchill and Captain Douglas Haig. These photographs are an original source for the war, making them an important piece of military history; they include images of the construction of a military railway, a photograph of the 21 Lancers, two of whom were honoured with the Victoria Cross for their actions in the Battle of Omdurman, and British soldiers. Housed in a wooden box, these images are a remarkable insight into warfare before the First World War.

MacHamlet

Finally, a very unusual parody was listed this week. Titled 'MacHamlet', or 'As You Swipe It', the parody merges the literature of William Shakespeare with a love of golf: perfect for a golf-loving Shakespeare fanatic. Featuring characters such as MacHamlet, Horatio, Puck, Shylock and Ophelia, it is a profusely illustrated and witty play, blending two rather disparate genre. This punny work gave us quite the giggle, requiring neither a rich knowledge of golf or Shakespeare to entertain. Feel free to view the fantastic cartoons here.

Our header this week comes from a c1940 first edition of this guide to Shanghai, illustrated with beautiful colour plates.