Three "Old Naval Prints" and a "Dandy"

[anteros_lmc]

Last weekend's visit to Culzean reminded me of something I've been meaning to post since this time last year! As well as the beautiful castle and grounds, Culzean also has a rather good second hand bookshop. While we were there last summer I picked up three volumes of the 1909 edition of W.H. Fitchett's How England Saved Europe, which is basically a history of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The title is rather off-putting and the author is spectacularly rude about Pellew in places but they're still useful books to have for reference. Sadly the first volume, which is the one that would have interested me most, is missing but as I only paid £3 for the other three I can hardly complain, especially when I have seen full sets selling for £150!

Anyway, what really made me squee about these books is that when I got them home I discovered four Player's cigarette cards tucked inside. Three are from a 1936 set called Old Naval Prints and one is from a 1932 set called Dandies. They're not worth anything, but they're very cute and the text accompanying the Dragoon officer is very funny :)


Incidentally the Leander was one of the ships that Basil Hall served on as a midshipman though the engagement shown above is before his time

Comments

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I *love* those old cigarette cards, they were so pretty and so useless... :D
They are rather lovely in a pointless kind of way aren't they?

Don´t you love it when you find such things inside books?
Definitely one of the joys of second hand book shopping. These cards are my best unexpected find to date. I've never found anything as exciting as you Liszt mementos. How romantic! You should write that story :)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Oh, Basil Hall. I wonder how he is managing at Fawlty Towers?

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha! I'd forgotten about Basil going to Fawlty Towers :D Will Jack be playing him a visit anytime soon?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

How lovely! I've been trying to get a set of Dandies for a long time. Don't underestimate their worth!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I would love to have some more Dandies!

I had kind of assumed that only complete collections of cards had any value, but I may be wrong, I really don't know anything about them! I should find out more.

[esteven]

*so totally squees at one of the cards*
Lt Aubrey was in Leander at the Battle of the Nile. Later he took the captured Genereux into Mahon harbour (Just like TC ;D)

YAY!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Well how about that?! I had absolutely no idea! :D

[esteven]

It is a sort of prologue to Master and Commander, the first book. Here we read about Jack Aubrey having taken Genereux in. :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

And is not Culzean marvellous? Nearby friends (about 15 of them) and I had the dowager house of Blairquhan for our holiday home for years until the castle was sold...*sighs* Blairquan's ground has a very special tree near a brook running through the grounds. We asked the laird if he would put one up in remembrance of one of us who had died. He was so kind to agree. So we chipped together and bought the tree and he oversaw the planting himself.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

What I touching story. I didn't know you were so familiar with that part of the world :) I know Culzean well, it's one of my favourite places to visit but I've never been to Blairquan. It looks lovely though and I see one of the holiday houses is called Kennedy Cottage :)

[esteven]

We all have fond memories of the area including the Dowager House.

As far as I know that house is no longer for rent because the laird and his family moved into the Dowager House after they sold the castle itself. There is the lovely Lady Hunter Blair's Walk nr Straiton close to the castle. :D

(Btw, the Long Approach to the castle is gorgeous!)

[katriona-s.livejournal.com]

Oh these are wonderful!!! I love them, and the story how you found them is also good!!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

They're rather pretty aren't they? I was very excited when I found them! They're much more appealing than the actual books. Fitchett seems to be an extremely arrogant writer who appears to be rude about everyone except Nelson!

[vespican.livejournal.com]

A very interesting and treasured find. I remember moving into a rental house as a child and finding a box of 48 different games in a closet. We had it and used it for years.

I wonder how much of the Royal William was left in it's final years. More specifically I wonder if it had retained its original lines, or if it had been administratively rebuilt at times during its long life. That practice got so bad in the 19th century US Navy that ships were rebuilt to different plans and even different classes of ship than they had been originally. A prime example is USS Constellation, originally one of the six frigates authorized in 1794. When rebuilt in the 1850s it was a completely new vessel, a corvette. Yet officially it was the same ship as before.

Regarding Toulon and HMS Juno. If anyone has heard of the French powder hulk Iris being destroyed in the evacuation, I should like to point out that that vessel was originally the Continental Navy frigate Hancock. After serving for a time in American service, it was taken by the British and renamed Iris. Later it fell into French hands and thus ended up at Toulon.

Dave