Rare Book Monthly

Articles - December - 2014 Issue

Books in the News: An Unlikely Gift, an Antarctic Discovery, and Serious Water Damage

Pages from George Levick's Antarctic notebook.

Pages from George Levick's Antarctic notebook.

An unlikely institution recently received a surprising gift – a large collection of old, often valuable books. The King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham, England, was given a significant collection through the bequest of Jean Wilks. Miss Wilks served as Headmistress of the school from 1964 until her retirement in 1977. That was a long time ago, the explanation being that Miss Wilks was 97 years old when she died this past July 1. She left her entire library to the school.

 

While Jean Wilks was not a wealthy woman, she loved books and bought many when they were new or relatively recent. So, we find works from writers of her youth, such as T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Waugh, C.S. Lewis, and D.H. Lawrence. Many are first editions. She also had some of the very first editions of Penguin paperbacks ever published. There was a collection from a name not quite as well known, but still important - Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Mackinstosh was born in Glasgow and became one of the most influential artists of the Art Nouveau movement in the U.K. Ms. Wilks had many of his books in her collection. These she had received from her friend and colleague Maggie Davidson. Ms. Davidson's grandfather was a Scottish merchant and patron of Mackintosh.

 

While the other books may be of interest to the students, the Mackintosh collection, though valuable, might be a stretch for high school girls. Fortunately, the school came up with a great idea. The Glasgow School of Art suffered a major fire last spring and lost many of its possessions. Mackintosh met his wife at the school in 1900 and designed its structure. King Edward VI High decided to give these art books to the Glasgow school, a fitting and generous gesture.

 

Antarctic Discovery

 

A few weeks ago, we reported on the discovery of one of the two ships used by Sir John Franklin on his Arctic expedition to discover a northwest passage. The ships had last been seen 170 years ago. All of Franklin's men died, with only a few bodies and notebooks ever recovered until this latest discovery. Franklin's expedition, and the dozens of rescue and recovery missions that followed it, form the heart of one of the more popular fields of collecting – polar exploration. This past month, artifacts were discovered from one of the most famous of expeditions to the other pole, Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to Antarctica in 1910. Scott's fate was no better than Franklin's, though it was not surrounded in nearly the degree of mystery.

 

Scott's story is a legendary tragedy. Having missed out on the opportunity to make the first attempt at the North Pole when Peary (allegedly) reached that destination, Scott turned his attention to the south. However, Norwegian Roald Amundsen had the same idea. Amundsen was a little faster. When Scott reached the South Pole, he found Amundsen's flag already planted, having arrived a month earlier. Disappointment turned to tragedy when weather turned much worse on the return trip. Scott and his accomplices were not sufficiently prepared and died trying to make their way back.

 

However, not all of those on the expedition were focused on the South Pole. A second group, which included zoologist and photographer George Murray Levick, traveled along the coast conducting scientific observations. They didn't have a particularly easy time either. When their ship was unable to make it through the ice to reach them, the group was forced to spend the Antarctic winter in a snow cave.

 

Before their group set off on the journey that forced them to spend their winter in a cave, Levick prepared a notebook with details of photographs he had taken in 1911. It was left behind outside of a hut at base camp, where it became buried in snow and ice. It remained there for a century until recently discovered by conservationists from the Antarctic Heritage Trust of New Zealand. Ice and water has damaged the book some, but the entries are still legible. The pages are being digitized, and then the repaired notebook will be sent back to Antarctica where it will be kept with 11,000 other artifacts at Cape Evans.

 

Water Damage Can Be A Menace

 

Water damage to books is a concern to collectors, but our worries pale in comparison to those experienced in Kashmir, according to the Greater Kashmir website. They have experienced serious flooding, resulting in books in both private and commercial establishments being soaked. However, the concerns go far beyond water stains and musty odors. They may be a health menace.

 

The problem is the flood waters are often seriously polluted. Dr. Ishtiyaq Ahmad was quoted as saying, "This is a dangerous situation as the books soaked in flood waters carry a number of viral, bacterial, fungal and other disease-causing agents. A large number of animals like cats, rats, dogs, cattle, etc. have died in these waters and by using these books a person can easily be inflicted by viral diseases like Lepto Spirosis that happens due to decaying feco-oral matter of rats and cats in water." He added, "These books can become a major cause for spreading diseases like cholera, typhoid, para typhoid, hepatitis A, hepatitis E and other deadly diseases." Another doctor noted that the American Centers for Disease Control calls for discarding books that have been soaked by flood waters as they cannot be safely cleaned and disinfected.

 

In the case of very rare and valuable books, extraordinary methods may be called on to preserve them, but for everything else, they should be discarded. Apparently, vendors in Kashmir have been selling some of these books at steep discounts, particularly to students, spreading the risk of disease.

 

Of course, serious book collectors already understand that condition matters. Sometimes, it matters even more than usual.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
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    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
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    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
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    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
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    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
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    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
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    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
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    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
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    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.

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