Old Maps

More Maps

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So finally an update on the maps – yes plural – but be warned there is a wince coming on. And a long read so, as ever, brace yourself.

Just a quick re-cap. 

In our unearthing of stuff the now-resigned manager had left stuffed under, in and around the behind-the-scenes parts of our shop, we found a lovely old map of Windsor and the 25 miles around.

We were very excited about this map and why not, it is a lovely old thing.

Anyway, as part of the shop’s lucky hinterland, I have been in touch with a man who has considerable expertise himself but as well as that, has his own hinterland of experts who can tell us what we have.

(We are lucky to have him and the occasional chat about what he has been collecting, things found in junk and charity shops, and what I have brought to him – are much appreciated.)

Brace yourselves, it is not always good news.

So, if you came across a map from the 1700s, printed and then hand-coloured with the local boundaries and the size of a smallish kitchen table, you might think you were on to a good thing.

But, apparently it was worth no more than £200. Our hinterland expert found someone in his hinterland and that man knew what he was talking about.

I thought a conversation with a local auctioneer might have be coming on, but decided to list it on Oxfam online first, just to see…

Meanwhile, more unearthing found us this.

Also from the 1700s but, according to our new and excellent expert, re-backed onto so later canvas.

Now a map of the Loire is unlikely to sell in the shop. We have relatively few customers who own a second home in the area.

I will list it on Oxfam online and see what happens.

Are you ready for the wince?

OK, so the lovely, hand coloured, printed as part of George III’s demand for accurate mileage between turnpikes, showing all sorts of interesting things including ” remarkable hills” Windsor map:

I did list it on Oxfam Online for £200.

And Oxfam decided to have (another) sale. Everything listed for more than three months got reduced. 50% and then 70% and so our beautiful map went to someone for just £75.

I was gutted.

Now I should have moved it out of the listings so that the sale would pass it by and that was something I failed to do – I would also have had a lot of books too to move – books don’t sell like clothes.

(Somehow, I thought that an old map, one as lovely as our’s would be exempt from the sale algorithm but that was me being distracted and not getting to check the comms about when the sale was sorted.

There were the 14 questions other volunteers had when I started the day, and the 20 things on my list of what to do that day, and the fact we needed milk for tea and coffee that I was making for us, so I went to get it, how to get an order for stationery when I don’t have a password to get into the system because I am a volunteer and not staff, the chat someone wants about the next few window displays, emptying the indoor bins and calling Biffa again about why they haven’t emptied the outside bins, someone texting me to say they can’t make their shift, who is going to cover Saturday afternoon……….. Excuses I know, but sometimes the urgent take over from the the important.)

Many books need to sit there quietly waiting for the collector of tractor books, or old maps, or special bindings, or the small publisher from the 19th century or or or…..

Of course, maybe we would never had sold it for £200 and yes, of course £75 all adds to Oxfam’s ability to help people for whom £75 is a vast amount.

I do know that, but I still think we might have got more.

Finally, on maps we have a map of Hampshire – yes Petersfield is in Hampshire – from 1821.

So, our expert got his experts to give us a valuation, and it is not much.

Think £30.

But, I am on a roll to recover from the Windsor map and I think there might be someone walking past the shop who might be willing to pay £75 for such a lovely thing.

We will try it and see.

But before I go, a bit about this map.

So, in 1821, Bournemouth didn’t exist according to this map, but according to Wikipedia:

‘Before it was founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, the area was a deserted heathland occasionally visited by fishermen and smugglers. Initially marketed as a health resort, the town received a boost when it appeared in Augustus Granville‘s 1841 book, The Spas of England.[1] Bournemouth’s growth accelerated with the arrival of the railway, and it became a town in 1870.’

They are both interesting men – worth a bit of a look.

And West Sussex where I live looks a bit like ‘There be dragons country.’

I have to say, that the dragons round here these days probably drive 4×4 and have swingy blonde ponytails but can breathe quite a lot of fire if you don’t give them room on country lanes and immediately move your Citroen Picasso into the ditch. Just saying.

Hundreds by the way are administrative divisions –

The origin of the division of counties into hundreds is described by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as “exceedingly obscure”. It may once have referred to an area of 100 hides. (In the early Anglo-Saxon period a hide was the amount of land farmed by and required to support a peasant family, but by the eleventh century in many areas it supported four families.[1]) Alternatively the hundred may have been an area originally settled by one “hundred” men at arms, or the area liable to provide one “hundred” men under arms.[2] (Note that in earlier times the number term “hundred” can itself be unclear, meaning the “short” hundred (100) or in some contexts the long hundred of 120.) Wikipedia.

And why on earth would Odiham (pronounced Odiam, in case you are planning a visit) be the point from which all distances were measured?

Odiham is the home of the Royal Air Force Chinook heavy lift helicopter fleet and I can attest to that because they fly over us – apparently learning how to go up and over the Downs as practice for some hills elsewhere.

Maybe also taking senior military types to golf, who knows…

But I gather that Odiham was equidistance from Winchester and Windsor.

Now, Winchester has a long history of power and clergy.

I have never been to that village but what a great address that would be. ‘Yes, itchings plural and no, I don’t know what the problem was.’

And well, Windsor, need I say more.

I’ll let you know if we get the £75.

A Bit Of A Week

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So, it has been a bit of a week in the bookshop, a bit of a week indeed.

There are a lot of meanwhiles in this blog, I am warning you dear reader, but there is an update on the green sofa if you have been reading assiduously……

Let’s start with classical music. Our volunteer who does classical music was infuriated last year when the cat took away his carefully curated shelf of Christmas gift CDs which he had been saving for some months.

These are not those – just in case you are a classical music afficiando

No consolation or advance warning, a refusal to clear any other shelves to make room, just the explanation that there needed to be room for Oxfam new goods – gifts and the like – and ‘anyway classical music never sells.’

Well, this year the mice promised that the classical music Christmas gifts’ shelf would be preserved.

On Thursday, I got a call from that volunteer to say £250 worth of those curated and saved CDs had sold to one customer.

Meanwhile, another volunteer who sells jewellery online for us took her ‘collection’ of bits and pieces (odd earrings, a cigarette case etc) to a local jeweller for scrap value, and was hoping for about £50.

She got £215.

We were on a roll.

Meanwhile, don’t say I didn’t warn you, the model railway needed to be put on the table.

The very nice model railway expert came in late on Monday afternoon – we are closed then but that gives us time to do the table, the window, generally tarting up the shop without customers getting in the way.

He and I spent a couple of hours pricing up and presenting model railway stuff on the table.

I was very grateful, and pleased and then later in the week, he texted me to say he had Covid.

So, that means I have been in house-isolation ( bulbs getting planted.)

Meanwhile, it has sold really well – another bonus for the week.

Meanwhile, we have started on the green sofa.

And I have plans for the next few weeks.

Next week will have a jacket, a pair of wellies, a book The Perfect Puppy, Jess’s spare bed, dog treats, a lead and collar – you get the idea – and a photo of Jess in her bad days….

Meanwhile, when sorting some books the other day, we found a book called The Husband’s Mistake. We thought we could have a shirt with a lipstick smear on it.

And then I found these.

(Now, in case you don’t know Hemingway and Gellhorn were married and he was just a bit unfaithful…)

Meanwhile, the 1777 map.

So, we have got good photos of it and they are now with someone who lives in our village and who has a specialist auction business.

And, they are going to someone in Sotheby’s and another auction house – and we will see. But for the time being, here are the proper photos……

Cues, Maps and Fishcakes

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In the greater scheme of things, see also the climate crisis, a week of full-on stuff in an Oxfam shop is small beer. 

But for those of us doing that week, it adds up.

And it is another week of unearthing stuff. It seems we have not (just yet) plumbed the depths of ignored treasures in the shop. 

And fishcakes.

For those (few) who are following this closely, a bit of an update. 

Though it is not absolutely certain, it looks like the cat is not coming back so the mice have a few things up our sleeves – remember the green sofa? it maybe happening – but more of that another time.

So, we have billiard cues, an 18th century large map, some more coins, a book or two, and a vintage typewriter to come.

So, let’s start.

In the corner next to the back door are some poles propped up and among them I spotted something which I thought might be a large and ancient telescope.

Now, dear reader, you might think that I should have looked closely at such a potential treasure but a customer needed serving and I got distracted and anyway it had been there for years and years so wasn’t going anywhere fast.

I mentioned it to the volunteer on the till and then went upstairs to do something, hopefully something important and useful.

A while later, he told me it was a billiard cue and he thought it was Edwardian.

Mmmm, interesting.

Next day, he tells me it is made by Riley so classy stuff and I make a mental note to do some research.

Again, I went upstairs to do something urgent/important/I meant to do last week but ran out of time.

Half an hour later, he buzzed up on the ‘intercom’ to tell me someone had just donated another one.

What? The original cue had been standing there for years and the week we start to look at it, another one comes in….

The other volunteer is now volunteering to take them both to the local snooker club to get some idea of what they are worth. 

I am not sure how we would sell online as how do you send something which is nearly as tall as I am…….

Meanwhile, we have more coins and notes.

There is a rule, at least in our shop, if you put something in the window or on the table you get more of them.

History books, cookery books, jigsaws, military history, paintings etc – and in this case coins and notes.

So, if you are an assiduous reader, you will recall that we have had a money tree in the window and alongside we have had bags of old British coins – farthings, pennies, shillings, florins, half crowns, threepenny bits, silver sixpences.

And they have sold – not least to people who want ‘real’ coins in their Christmas puddings.

Anyway, a large ice-cream box of coins duly arrived.

I went in early to see if I could make up some more bags of coins we could sell then before the table changes theme – and then send the rest off to Guildford Oxfam where they have a numismatist who can value them. 

Though we don’t get the value attributed to our shop.

Yes I know, I know, it is money for Oxfam so who cares which shop it comes from?

Well with a bit of embarrassment at this confession, I do.

So, of course I sent some off to Guildford, but I have kept back the George II and George III coins, the coins with Jewish symbols which look too old to be Israeli, commemorative Victoria coin/medal to celebrate the laying of the first stone of the Birmingham courts building and so on.

I rang our antiquarian expert to ask if he new any coin experts and whilst I was at it, did he want a look at our old map (more of that later) and he said, ‘Well no, but I know a bit about coins, I will come and have a look.’

At this point, I need to tell you he hasn’t been in yet so there is not immediate resolution to this story but I will keep you up-dated.

And likewise with the map and the model railway. But you will get fishcakes.

So the map was found by another volunteer.

I had been clearing out yet another stuffed set of filing trays when she asked me to stop.

OK I thought, she doesn’t feel it is appropriate to clear out the manager’s filing whilst he is away.

But I was wrong.

‘I love clearing out stuff, so can I do it.’

Last week she got round to it and, among the endless stuff to be thrown away, she found a couple of maps and an old guide to London.

One of the maps was a 1907 Post Office issued map of London – but it had come apart into two pieces and is probably worth only about £20 to someone who has a big wall to fill.

The guide is nice but not worth much either.

The other map, however, is as big as our kitchen table, dated 1777, a map of the 25 miles around Windsor, original and a real delight.

Now, and here is another coincidence ( remember the billiard cues?)

I went down onto the shop floor and was talking to the volunteer (the same volunteer who had spotted the cues) and told him about the discovery of the map.

The only customer in the shop was a young man of about 20.

‘I know a bit about maps,’ he said,’ Could I have a look?’

Of course he could.

He said it was not a copy and it was made in a time when turnpike roads were becoming more common and King George III had held a competition to get maps made – and of course, George lived in Windsor.

There was a flurry of map-makers doing their stuff and some were apparently more fast than accurate. 

And indeed, though we have not looked for inaccuracies, it is certainly keen to be nice to the king.

Want to see it?

I will get a better photo when we can lay it out on the floor and get a wide-angled shot from up a ladder, but this will have to do for now.

I am not sure what counts as a remarkable hill…. but clearly the turnpike roads and cross roads were counted as important. 

A similar map is for sale in a posh shop in Curzon Street for £750. Whether ours will be of that value remains to be seen. 

Now to fishcakes.

So, I have finally finished clearing out our stockroom.

It is not big. Think  very small prison cell or reasonably sized pantry.

It has been ‘home’ to a lot of stuff which really needed to be cleared out – a lot.

Getting to the final stretch of clearing out I uncovered a vintage typewriter (but you will have to wait for that story), and a small bin.

In it was some rinse aid, a packet of pegs, some Gaviscon and three tins of pink salmon.

Really?

I presume it was some shopping that someone left behind and the manager put it in the stockroom and then, as with so much other stuff, promptly forgot it and/or ignored it.

I used on for our supper before I took the photo

I bought the cans – still in date I hasten to add.

So, to make fishcakes for you and the neighbours, take a can or two of ‘uncovered’ pink salmon.

Cook and mash ( coarsely) some potatoes with a good ‘dollop’ of butter –  but no milk.

Add them together with some nice capers, finely chopped parsley or coriander if you have that instead, and some dill if you have it – dill is really good.

Make into cakes with your hands – not too big – and put in the fridge for a while/overnight…

Lightly beat and egg ( or two if you are doing lots.)

On a plate put some plain flour or panko breadcrumbs.

Dip each fishcake in egg and then coat with four or breadcrumbs.

Fry in oil on moderate heat and serve with salad and the story of the day to your Best Beloved – and even he was a bit surprised to find Oxfam had provided supper.

Bring Me Your Childrens’ Books

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If, for you, a story of an amazing find in the Petersfield Oxfam bookshop is getting a bit ho-hum, you should look away now, and maybe put down your reading glasses and head off to do something more productive.

Because, we are on a bit of a roll. But to get to the exciting stuff will take a while.

For previous exciting finds, please see, yes, previous blogs. ( I am not going to repeat all that except to say, we are still with children’s books.)

So, if you willing to carry on….

Our very nice book expert came in for a whole afternoon on Monday and we decided to wade through all the books I couldn’t, or hadn’t, priced.

I don’t often get a whole afternoon of his time and so with some cups of tea, a bit of gossip, chat, and swapping notes, we got on with the job.

Yes, there were two lovely books dating from 1700, in French, by someone who was an early Enlightenment writer. When I say lovely, the binding was in bad nick but then you would be if you had been around since 1700 and you had valiantly protected the insides. (£85.)

But the point here, is that I need him to describe all the stuff which makes really old books saleable on the internet – and I take notes…..

Full, or half calf binding, buckram, AEG (in case you want to know All Edges Gilt), strained hinges, free endpapers, steel engravings, woodcuts, etc etc.

I am learning, but I need him to hold my hand as it were.

So, we did a few of those.

The plan was that he would dictate the description of old books, I would type furiously and they would be on the net in no time at all and we would clear the whole two shelves.

It was always an ambitious plan.

As I say, we did a few of those and then went looking for ‘tasty treats.’

Then we rootled out a book which we have looked at before and wondered about, several times and this time we said we would definitely get that sorted, and on the internet that afternoon – but we got distracted.

First up distraction was a book we had looked at before but never had time to really check out.

It is a small thing, dating from the early 1800s, and inside it has illustrations of ‘Nearly One Hundred Familiar Objects’ ( don’t you just think, ‘Oh go on then, make it the full 100?)’ And of course the ‘nearly one hundred’ objects of the early 1800s are different from ours.

There are bonnets and top hats for example, and each page has words with hyphens so that the child can learn how to say them.

After a bit of research we are going to put it on the internet for £225. This little book has lasted all these years and is a snapshot back in time and, believe me, it is a rare find.

But the real surprise was this book.

IMG_0278

Now, I have to say that I am used to looking inside children’s books and I am looking for illustrations/images/drawings/woodcuts…

This book was, again, small and had no illustrations but it did, as you see, have a nice cover.

I would have easily put it in the box for £1.00 books except for the cover – and how wrong, dear reader, I would have been.

In my defence the book expert also thought it was not going to be that special and he has a lot more experience and expertise than I do.

So, we started checking it out on Bookfinder and Abe Books and we were, as they say, gobsmacked.

There was a version signed by the author to Rose La Touche – George apparently was the go-between for her and John Ruskin – at more than £4,000, and another similar to ours but not as good, at £450.

It turns out that George MacDonald was quite an influence – he influenced Lewis Carroll, C S Lewis for the Narnia books and JRR Tolkien among others. Look him up on Wikipedia – he looks like Rasputin but was a Scottish author, poet and christian minister.

I fear we got a bit carried away and we may have to reduce the price, but at the moment, it will go on the internet at £650.

Do I know who donated these books? Should I try and contact them and tell them that at the bottom of those bags or boxes they left with us after clearing out their parents’ house, are worth lots of money. ( Of course, I don’t know that they were clearing out their parents’ house but it is often the case.)

Well, I don’t know who there are and none of them were Gift Aided which would have allowed us to get their address – anyway would I have contacted them? I am not sure.

I like to think they would be delighted that the books had been discovered and not sold at £1.00, and the money will go to a good cause.

And on that note, just before I leave you…..

We had a lovely 12 panel map of The Thames from source to sea dated from about 1914.

We put it as a centrepiece in the window surrounded by books and maps – and on the table, a travel theme.

Alongside it was a sign describing it and the price of £100 and a gift aid label. In the Message Book under the counter was a note saying the map was £100.

One volunteer was asked if there was a deal to be done on it but she didn’t know whether there was, so said no.

Another volunteer was walking through the shop when someone asked to look at it. She reached it down, failing to notice the BIG notice showing the price and, later told me, the customer asked the price.

‘I’m not sure,’ she said, ‘ The rest are about £2.99, so let’s say that.’

Later, she saw the notice.

She rang the shop next day to apologise and she had been awake in the night realising what she had done.

These things happen, but I have to tell you, I felt sick. Does that customer know what she has got, or might it be re-donated one day…..