The definition of frustrating.

[seaJane]

Found this in a box in the archives.

It was empty.

 

[rolt968]

The stamp has not been postmarked. Do you even know if it was received or to be sent but wasn't?

RM

[seaJane]

I clean failed to notice the lack of postmark!  I know absolutely nothing about the envelope apart from its existence, unfortunately. I detect a slightly darker area in the centre, which may mean that a sticky address label has fallen off.

 

A list of the contents of each archive box was compiled just before I arrived in post in 2001, but it doesn't include this envelope. There is evidence that someone has been ferreting around and moving things , so the envelope may have been picked up and put in a random box for tidiness's sake.

Edited 4 April , 2021 by seaJane

[GreyC]

Maybe a stamp enthusiast can clarify when printed matter was transported for one penny and especially how much it was allowed to weigh in King George´s V time.

GreyC

[seaJane]

Well, it could be the 1921, 472 p. edition of "The fighting at Jutland" by H.W. Fawcett and G.W.W. Hooper (60 narratives of the action) or the 1921 or 1929 abridged editions at 255 p. (54 narratives) and 231 p. (45 narratives) respectively.

 

Or it could be the 1920/early 1921 edition with seventy-two narratives "printed privately last spring for the officers and men of the Navy."

 

That said, the envelope looks a bit small!

[Fovant]

I have got a copy of a book "The Fighting at Jutland" published by Maclurf, Macdonald & Co, Glasgow, which I got secondhand in Beach's Bookshop in Salisbury back in the 1960s (sadly it has now closed). The first edition came around 1919 and I have a later edition published after 1920. It is over 400 pages long.

 

Your envelope may have been for some publicity material, proofs or some sort of official response to the book, which was critical of the official account.

[seaJane]

That's a possibility. One day perhaps I will find the contents in another box, who knows?

 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

14 hours ago, seaJane said:

Well, it could be the 1921, 472 p. edition of "The fighting at Jutland" by H.W. Fawcett and G.W.W. Hooper (60 narratives of the action) or the 1921 or 1929 abridged editions at 255 p. (54 narratives) and 231 p. (45 narratives) respectively.

 

Or it could be the 1920/early 1921 edition with seventy-two narratives "printed privately last spring for the officers and men of the Navy."

 

That said, the envelope looks a bit small!

The publishers had 3 copies bound in vellum in 1921 ; one was presented to George V and is still in the library at Windsor and the other two were for Fawcett & Hooper. I have Fawcett’s copy. I wasn’t aware of the 72 narratives version.

[seaJane]

3 hours ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

The publishers had 3 copies bound in vellum in 1921 ; one was presented to George V and is still in the library at Windsor and the other two were for Fawcett & Hooper. I have Fawcett’s copy. I wasn’t aware of the 72 narratives version.

Ah - that's interesting! The quotation above comes from a review in The Spectator (Oct 22, 1921, p. 530) - "The book, with seventy-two narratives, was printed privately last spring for officers and men of the Navy, and it was so well received - three editions being sold out in a few months - that the editors have now given the public the opportunity of buying an abridged version, with forty-five narratives."

 

Searching again using the title words on JISC's Library Hub catalogue, searches retrieve only versions with sixty or forty-five options.

 

A cataloguer's note for the 231-page Macmillan edition of 1921 quotes: "The first edition ... published in April, 1921, contained seventy-two narratives of the action, of which forty-five have been selected for the present edition."

 

And one 255-page edition, attributed to Macmillan, has the note "The first edition ... published in April, 1921, contained seventy-two narratives of the action, of which 54 have been selected for the present edition." The title, however, says forty-five, and this note may be a typo with 4 & 5 switched.

 

And another record for a 472-page edition, which ought to be sixty narratives, has no note; but the title says forty-five. I imagine the cataloguer downloaded the record from somewhere and failed to check it thoroughly.

 

In the abridged editions, on the whole the 231-page version seems to be from Macmillan and the 255-page version from Hutchinson, apart from the one with the note quoted above. I would dearly like to call all the cataloguers up and ask them to check exactly what they have in front of them!!

 

sJ, in exasperated librarian mode.

 

Edited 5 April , 2021 by seaJane

[Dust Jacket Collector]

My copy is the original, privately printed by Maclure, Macdonald & Co of Glasgow. It has 60 narratives. There was, I believe, no earlier edition.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

My copy is the original, privately printed by Maclure, Macdonald & Co of Glasgow. It has 60 narratives. There was, I believe, no earlier edition.

 

    Of course, the scarcest edition is the one with the narrative by Beatty, entitled "It Was All My Fault"....... As if.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

By shear coincidence this copy has just appeared on ABE. It’s the privately printed edition and it’s yours for £350.

“First edition 1920. Plates throughout. This is Commander Paul Whitfield's copy, with his pencil notes throughout. Al so includes a letter from Buckingham Palace to Commander Whitfield on his relaese from being a prisoner of war, dated 1918. Some foxing and marking throughout. Contents shaken in binding. Publishers Two tone blue cloth, the rear board has damage to the lower corner, stained and marked with fraying and rubbing. the cloth is generally rubbed and marked with some slight fraying to edges and corners. Only a fair copy externally. The Nomad was commissioned on the 7th February, 1916 and she was commissioned under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Paul Whitfield and briefly served in the 13th Destroyer Flotilla of The Grand Fleet. She was sunk on the 31st May 1916 at The Battle of Jutland by gunfire from Admiral Hipper's battlecruiser squadron. 72 survivors (including Whitfield) were rescued from the sea by the Germans and became prisoners-of-war. This copy has notes at the front of the book and throughout the book in pencil, one such note on the front endpaper says, "P.W. picked up & taken to German Naval Hospital, Bremen, heavily bandaged, missing believed killed by Admiralty, June-Oct 1916, wife put on a widow's pension by their Lordships Sept. 1916! we had to refund same!". Includes letter from George R. Buckingham palace, 1918. A fascinating and most interesting ownership. A real connection with the First World War and a unique copy. Bookseller Inventory # 005408”

[seaJane]

I've looked at that listing, thanks - the title "The personal Experiences Of Sixty Officers And Men" confirms that the "seventy-two narratives" version is a ghost edition.

 

Though I do notice that the description says "72 survivors (including Whitfield) were rescued from the sea" and wonder if that fed into the error.

 

Have just spent about a tenth of that asking price buying the 60-narrative edition thus:

 

Edited 5 April , 2021 by seaJane

[keithmroberts]

I have a MaClure McDonald copy with 60 narratives. I'm not clear about how many printings they did apart from the copies bound in vellum. It is undated, and has a small text block facing the title page that suggests that my copy at least it was not printed until after December 1920.
keith

 

[keithmroberts]

And there is a copy to match mine in Tom Donovan's catalogue this morning, described as the 3rd edition.

K

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Here’s Fawcett’s copy :-

[seaJane]

Thanks both!

 

Keith, although the copy I ordered had the gilt-blocked pictorial design front in the catalogue picture, what arrived looks identical to yours. There is no edition statement.

 

How did Tom Donovan identify the 3rd edition? I can't see it in his catalogue online (librarian glare at booksellers  who file titles under "The"), so perhaps he's sold it already.

 

sJ

[keithmroberts]

Jane, I can't answer your query. I have seen statements that the first edition was printed privately, and I had assumed that the Maclure Macdonald edition was that, but I lack the knowledge to challenge Tom whose experience in these matters far exceeds mine.

 

Keith

[seaJane]

I'm just after whatever the description was in his catalogue, really - happy to match my expertise with his any day.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

1 hour ago, seaJane said:

I'm just after whatever the description was in his catalogue, really - happy to match my expertise with his any day.

Here it is :-

FAWCETT (Lt.-Comm. H.W., RN) & HOOPER (Lt. G.W.W., RN) Eds. The Fighting at Jutland: The Personal Experiences of Sixty Officers and Men of the British Fleet.
3rd Ed., xv+472pp., 4to, 10 photogavure plates mounted on card, 43 photos., 18 maps/ diagrams (several fldg.), 23 other sketches &c. Glasgow: Printed by Mcclure, Macdonald & Co. 1921
The compilers' original privately published edition (later published by Hutchinson in several abbreviated editions, none as complete or
attractive as this). A major volume on Jutland. "Vivid personal narratives... An invaluable record" - Marder. "This collection of reminiscences of the one great naval battle of the War is well arranged. The actual course of the battle if given in an appendix, & there is nothing dogmatic, no discussion of strategy or tactics, in this. Then the narratives are arranged according to the main episodes to which they belong: the battle cruiser action, the battle fleet action, & the night action. The stories themselves are of varying quality, as is to be expected, but the best of them are good, & the least interesting worth their place. The book does a great deal to humanise the battle & is a useful addition to the official accounts & the various critical examinations." - Falls (awarding a coveted Star). Orig. buckram sp., gilt, with blue cloth covd. boards with inset white lettering panel. Minor wear, generally VG & scarce original edition. [Ref:

[seaJane]

Thanks! Still not sure what "3rd Ed." is doing in there alongside "scarce original edition" at the end, but I dare say there's a reason.

[Skipman]

There's a copy of The fighting at Jutland in the ever excellent archive.org

 

Mike

[keithmroberts]

Harold Fawcett's papers are held by Churchill College Cambridge in their archives.  His Yorkshire family served in two world wars. Harold served on a destroyer at Jutland, whilehis oldest  brother (MID), was killed serving in, I think Mespot, as a captain in the Indian army, the other two brothers were officers  in 1/6 West Yorks, both served in the Salient and then on 1/7/1916 on the Somme, where one left his arm in Thiepval Wood. Both were awarded the MC. The younger of the them transferred from the West Yorks to the Indian Army, and was killed serving as a Brigadier on the staff following the fall of Singapore in WW2. Their sister was a VAD in Egypt during the Great War, and Harold returned to the navy  to serve in WW2, and was awarded the OBE for his services.  They were wool merchants, and at some stage mill owners, in the West Riding.

[seaJane]

Quite a family! Thank you.