In this month’s issue:

• The Book-Lover’s Magazine (Scotland)

• The Garage and Motor Agent

• The Motor Trader and Review

• Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1954 and 1957)

• The Quiver – New Toned Series

• Waterways World

The Book-Lover’s Magazine (Scotland)

Not to be confused with The Book Lovers Magazine published in America, this magazine was published in Edinburgh, Scotland and forms part of our bound volumes collection. We hold issues from 1905 to 1908. Its full title is The Book-Lovers Magazine – Books and Book-Plates. At a price of 3s and 6d and printed on high quality, thick, card paper it was aimed at an audience of wealth and culture.

A glimpse at some of the articles gives you some idea as to its audience:

• The Signet Library, Edinburgh

• Notes for a Whistler Biography

• Charles Asselineau

• The Great Latin Psalter of Fust and Schoeffer, 1459

Profusely illustrated with beautiful plates and examples of the artwork this magazine is almost a work of art in its own right.

I would particularly like to draw your attention to an article by Frank Hamel called Art in Advertising. In his piece, he explores the role of the artist in advertising material particularly focusing on posters. The examples he uses to illustrate the article are exquisitely reproduced, often in full colour. Readers should be forewarned that the examples are not numbered, which would have made them much easier to refer back to.

The Garage and Motor Agent

In direct competition to the Motor Trader and Review is The Garage and Motor Agent first published circa 1914. According to its masthead is ‘A Weekly Journal for Garage Proprietors and all engaged in the Manufacture and Sale of Mechanically-propelled Vehicles and the Accessories thereof’.

Both of these titles cover the same type of content both in advertising and editorial, both were printed on the cheap paper of the day, and both were priced as sixpence a copy.

Again, we have picked up a large run of this title from the Michael Worthington-Williams auction which adds greatly to our advertising in the 1920s.

The Motor Trader and Review

Our next feature is the weekly magazine The Motor Trader and Review. Specifically aimed at the motor trade in the UK this magazine covered all topics of how best to run a garage or parts supply business together with the latest happenings within the industry. We have acquired a significant run of this magazine from the 1920s as part of the Michael Worthington-Williams collection that was auctioned recently. The advertising covers parts suppliers, components and the latest in new vehicles. Articles often featured vehicle reviews, new machinery of use to the trade and advice on how best to run a business.

A great play is made that this magazine is solely for the eyes of the trade and asks its readers to report any copies being sold to “Joe Public.”

The first issue we picked up is No. 796 putting its original publication date around 1905.

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1954 and 1957)

Although these volumes contain no advertising, they are an excellent engineering resource for researchers which is why we have added them to the collection. Phil, who was a new visitor to our open evening in December, mentioned them to us as being available in a charity shop in Stockport. Following this lead Dickie visited the shop and picked up these two volumes.

The Quiver – New Toned Series

You may think that when you get a book that is called ‘Volume I’ that it was the first volume to be published, but with The Quiver, you could be forgiven for making this assumption.

The Quiver first appeared in what is known as “the first series” on 7 September 1861 as a weekly priced at 1d. This series was first sold as a broadsheet while later becoming octavo format. In 1864 John Cassell, the publisher, published the prospectus for a second series with both a 1d weekly and a 6d monthly edition. The second series started on 21 September 1864.

We now come to our acquisition of ‘the third series,’ referred to as “toned paper series,” which first appeared in September 1865 and continued until the magazines’ demise in 1956. To have obtained the first five volumes in this series in similar binding is a real treat and while the condition is not fantastic, due to a degree of foxing throughout most of the volumes, I have no complaints for something over 150 years old.

Each issue within the volume consists of 16 pages typically containing two full-page engravings. These are a delight to behold and provide a fabulous insight into the art and fashions of the time.

Our collection of this magazine now stands at 15 bound volumes (ranging from 1866 to 1892) along with 4 loose issues (1903 to 1937).

Waterways World

At our Christmas open evening Richard Grey, one of our regular visitors, brought along a box of Waterways World magazines as a donation. Adding these to the few we already have in our collections; this is almost a complete run from its inception in 1972 to 1981 together with some later issues.

Devoted primarily to the UK canal system, there is a fantastic insight into the growth of the canal preservation movement over this period. Paul, who is one of our volunteers, is involved in this movement and I was delighted to be able to provide him with a spare copy that contained an article he was interested in.

Open evening information

As always, you can see these latest acquisitions for yourself at the open evenings. If you would like to see a particular title or edition please do let us know.

See you at the January open evening on Monday 10th January from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm.