When was it published?

One of the delights of buying old second-hand books is the occasional surprise in the way of a newspaper cutting, jotted notes in the margin, a dedication in the front cover…

I have an old cookery book, written by Eliza Acton; she was born in 1799 and died in 1859 and her book ‘Modern Cookery’ was first published in 1845… mine isn’t as old as that, and I haven’t been yet able to pinpoint when my edition was published. However one oft he previous owners of the book, Emma Glover added a date by her name March/4, ’99… meaning 1899! Another owner was Kitty Violet Skelding, who was born in 1898 and had the book on the 21st June, 1933.

I don’t know how long Kitty had it for, but there was a political cartoon by Theodore Major cut out and popped between the pages. I can’t at the moment date the cartoon, or the election it refers to, but on the back of the cutting are some sports reports, so maybe with a little luck and perseverance, I might find the date of the rugby game between Oxford University and Leicester; ‘Playing delightful rugby with a succession of brilliant passing movements, Oxford University with two England selectors looking on, beat Leicester by a goal…’ the report continues ‘But Leicester rallied splendidly. Their forwards who had been strangely lethargic, suddenly roused themselves…” The horse race where Shaef, Armoured Knight and Possibly all competed. ‘However, the  grey cracked along over the last three fences to pass the entire field’ the correspondent reports.