MYSTERY OF 100-YEAR-OLD PUBLICATION DATE SOLVED?
By John Fairweather-Tall
Photo credits: J. Fairweather-Tall
Manuscript comments on a blank page at the front of Salcombe and Neighbourhood, 2nd edition
Comparative sizes of the editions -- the first edition has a much smaller page area and only 156 pages, compared with 376 pages in the third edition
A copy of the third edition of Salcombe and Neighbourhood, in an original binding, sometime soon after the death of the author in 1912
Salcombe and Neighbourhood, first edition, dated October 1884. The page is open at the sole illustration in the book, an etching of the relatively new parish church, just 40 years old
Post Second World War 2 binding of the third edition. Note the different title, although the contents are exactly the same as the originally-bound copy
When James Fairweather, my great-grandfather, published the first edition of Salcombe and Neighbourhood he left no doubt of its date of publication, concluding his Preface, “Ringmore House, Salcombe, October, 1884”. The third edition is undated but has a photo captioned, “The late Mr Jas Fairweather”, so it was published after his death in February 1912, and probably not long after, because the title page still reads, “Published by the author at 5 Courtenay Terrace, Salcombe…”
But the publication date of the second edition has long been a mystery. Oxford’s Bodleian Library has two copies of this second edition, GA Devon 315 and 618, and registered the date of publication as “c1897”. Uncertainty of the date is evident from a scrawled note in copy 315, first stating “about 1900”, then crossing out 1900 in favour of “1912”.
Copy 315 is also of interest for the hand-written notes inside the front cover. A bold hand has written, “G. C. Bell April 1901”. Below, further comments refer to the date of publication: “not earlier than 1897, see pp 33-4, 52, 55”, and below that, “cf 99”. Below that, “before, say, 1902, see pp 52, 193”, and below again, “The Rev W.L. Herford was Vicar (see p 52) from 1897 to 1902”.
More notes in another hand appear to the left of those above; they are initialled “FM”. FM was Falconer Madam*, Bodleian Librarian in November 1914, so his notes have authority. They read, “The fallacy of purely internal evidence is well exemplified by this book. I bought it for 1/- in Oxford in Nov 1914 at Gadney’s. Internal evidence points to 1897–1902 as the possible years of issue. When at Salcombe in Jan 1915, I called at Fairweather’s shop, and ascertained that this second edition was got ready by 1902, but was not issued till Mr Fairweather’s death in 1912. So 1912 is the probable date of issue.” He initials and dates it, “Jan 15, 1915”. He adds a further note, “It is a well-written book, of its kind, compared with the stuff poured out in ordinary cheap local guides.”
FM mentions a visit to Salcombe in January 1915, and says he “called at Fairweather’s shop”. Was that James Fairweather’s former shop at 67 Fore Street (by 1915 Marshman’s) or does he mean Alfred Fairweather’s photographer’s shop at 8 Fore Street? He says he “ascertained that this second edition was got ready by 1902” but not issued until 1912. From whom did he get this information? One of the family? If so, who? Or was it from somebody else, and if so, who? Was his informant perhaps muddling the second edition with the third? If the second edition was issued in 1912 it seems surprisingly late, given that a third edition was to be published soon after James’ death. Questions abound, but are unlikely to be answered in detail now.
However, FM’s belief that “internal evidence points to 1897 – 1902 as the possible years of issue” is perhaps confirmed by a theory I have, based in part on the Bodleian’s two copies of the second edition. Both are second editions, yet they differ. The spine of 315 has, Guide to Salcombe, while that of 618 is, Salcombe and Neighbourhood. The front of 315 has Salcombe and Neighbourhood in the top left of the front cover, while 618 has it halfway down. So the covers were prepared at different times.
My theory is reinforced by examining the advertisements inside. Many are duplicated in both copies: Marine Hotel, Salcombe Building Estate, Hammet’s, Bolt Head Hotel, J W Cook, Ernest Calkin, J Fairweather, The Cash Supply Stores, W Hatch, F Hatch, Hillside School, Robert M Stewart APS and W S Ellis. But 315 – with 272 pages against 264 pages in 618 – has extra advertisements: The South Devon Land Company, N March, Jas Fairweather with a long list of local photos, and another J Fairweather advertisement for General Fancy Goods. The extra advertisements could have been inserted only if the copies had been bound at different times.
My theory is further reinforced when I recall that soon after the Second World War, when materials were becoming more available, my grandfather took some unbound pages he had of the third edition to a bookbinder and sold the bound copies at Marshman’s. He wrote to me in December 1948, “Those I had bound are all in light colour covers”; in those days of scarcity, this was all that was available. Now, if he was able to do that with the third edition, it could have been done with the second.
My theory is that there is no specific year of publication because from, say, 1897 until the third edition was ready, a large run of pages were printed at one time, to be bound when stocks needed replenishing. This would explain why neither the second edition nor the third are dated, and why the two copies at the Bodleian differ. It would also explain the mystery that has long hung over the date of publication of the second edition.
Is the 100-year-old mystery now solved? How say you?
* For a biography of Falconer Madam see History of the Bodleian Library, 1845-1945 by Edmund Crafter.
