What is precious, tattered, torn and handed down?
When my grandfather, Tom Tansey, landed in Geelong in 1888 as a sixteen year old he brought with him this copy of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AS HE LIVED by Captain Curling.
Shakespeare’s grandfather had a farm at Tom’s home town of Snitterfield, just to the north of Stratford on Avon in Warwickshire. So why had Grandpa brought this particular book with him?
It was a farewell gift from Ben Currier and his wife Ellen. Ben was a farmer and much older than Tom but Ben and Tom were both members of the Snitterfield Town Band and this had been a parting gift and was one that Grandpa kept all his life.
In the band photo Tom is the short chap fifth from the left in the back row while Ben is standing at the right hand end of the row, This photo was taken the previous year (1887) in front of the Red Lion in Stratford on Avon when the band led the procession celebrating Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. Tom was 15 and Ben 32.
I was amazed to find that the book has been re-printed as a paperback but is also downloadable fron the Gutenberg Project, Monash Uni library, etc, etc. This book was first published in 1853 but Curling was a prolific writer and the book had been published before under different titles. It is described as a Romance and is based on fact with a lot of imagination thrown in !
It starts – “It was one morning, during the reign of Elizabeth, that a youth, clad in a grey cloth doublet and hose (the usual costume of the respectable country tradesman or apprentice in England), took his early morning stroll in the vicinity of a small town in Warwickshire…..”
That’s a wonderful photo to have as an heirloom. Welcome to Sepia Saturday, and I look forward to more from your archives in the coming weeks.
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Theanks for the welcome.
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What a unique heirloom to have, with its link back to Shakespeare. I look forward to reading more about your family history.
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Thanks for visiting. Sometimes I feel lucky that anything got passed on as Grandma was a great thrower-outer.
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Welcome to Sepia Saturday. The story of why the book was so special to your grandfather really comes to life with the photo of the band.
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Thanks, Wendy. I’m amazed at the response my post has created.
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I shall be visiting Project Gutenberg to take a look at this book. However it will be nowhere near as exciting as owning the one you have,,Mister Mike would be proud of the band photo.
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When I first had this book I could barely find any information on it or catalogue entries in libraries but now I can find plenty of copies. But this antipodean will have to take a pass on your Mister Mike reference , in case I pick the wrong one ! 🙂
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I have tons of old books, but none have that kind of story behind it… as far as I know.
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I think it’s the sentimental value that is important. I have a few books that I would want to save simply because of who they had belonged to, or the person who gave them to me. I only have to see them for the memories to come flooding back.
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Welcome and thank you for the story.
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Glad you enjoyed it. I haven’t done much family history for quite some time but now I’m enjoying looking back over what I have and perhaps writing up some of it.
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Welcome to Sepia Saturday. What a wonderful treasure indeed and what a perfect beginning for Sepia Saturday.
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Thanks, Karen. Now that I’ve started I’m looking forward to reading more about other people’s families.
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Wonderful that the book has survived all these years!
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Considering Tom died in the 1940s we certainly are lucky to still have it.
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‘Snap’ with the Shakespeare theme this week 🙂
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Great minds, etc.
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That’s a little treasure you have there; I must look out for a copy to add to my Shakespeare collection. You say you’ve been amazed the response, but you can expect a lot more. Sepians are very good at visiting and commenting on fellow contributors’ blogs. BTW Mister Mike is in the Linky list and he posted a comment just before yours. I’m Marilyn aka Little Nell), co-admin with Alan who founded Sepia Saturday, so welcome aboard. We also have a Facebook group which you can join for added fun 🙂
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It is great to have photos to go with the precious book.
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The book sounds interesting. Maybe I will look at the rest of the book online.
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On so many levels this post is delightful. What a great treasure to have in your closing, but also to see how it was and how it is today, priceless for us.
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Very interesting reading.
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