Treasure!
A look into some of my most cherished objects from history that I've collected over the years, including a very personal object from a boy from 1811.
You all know by now that I like to collect things, and if you didn’t you should have guessed - this newsletter is called The Smooth Pebble Club for christ’s sake! But aside from smooth pebbles I’ve always had a fascination with objects from the past that allow me an insight into a life (or lives) from a different time.
As a teenager I collected old books and old postcards, not really knowing what drew me too them, until I realised I cherished the books with personalised inscriptions inside their covers from decades (if not centuries) before … and the postcards that had elegant, sprawling handwriting telling stories of a holiday to some friend or other. I started telling people that I loved old books because they didn’t just tell stories, they had a story themselves … a story of the people who had owned this book and how it had been passed around through time to arrive with me.
Below I share with you a few things from my collection and where they have come from - including a very beautiful story from some research I did into the final, most cherished object in this list!
New Treasures from Brighton
This weekend I asked Matt to come with me to my favourite flea market in Brighton where I found a book called “Fresh Woods” in 2020 that had inspired my whole “Magpie” film idea. I hadn’t scoured flea markets in a while and I was itching to go back. I spent a good long time in the book section - there was a beautiful book about Ivy from 1899 and another called “How To Get First Class in Seamanship” that contained detailed diagrams of ships in. I almost bought a book from the 30s about typography but I was good and saved my pennies.
Instead, I got pulled in by the “3 for £1” box of old photo slides. I’ve collected some slides before, they must be somewhere in my flat so I’ll go searching for them and share them in the future if I find them. But these new ones I had the smart idea to scan using my photo scanner and my gosh they are beautiful!!
What an honour to be able to look into these strangers’ lives. I love to collect slides for the unique and authentic representations of life in the past. I can’t help but fall in love with the stories of these people I do not know.
These slides are mostly from the 1960s, with one from the 70s. A lot of the slides were from the same family holiday to Libya and in some I saw the same child over and over, I’m not sure if these slides were donated by the family they belonged to or whether some who wasn’t related to them was clearing out a house and got rid of them. I grabbed the ones that caught my eye! Perhaps there’s a universe where I can find who they depict or a family member of who they depict … maybe someone wants them back?
I’ll write the date and caption on them if they have one - enjoy!
I believe the following 4 slides are the same girl:
Is the little boy in the green jumper in the photo above, the same boy in the first photo of the birthday party? They all have similar ears!
And in the same handwriting as the above photo, this next one:
The last photo has no date or caption written on or printed on by the photo processing…
Treasures from Tokyo
I spent a month in Tokyo in January 2023 (I’m quietly very sad that it’s been two years since I’ve seen Japan) and managed to visit the 400-year-old Boroichi Market that only happens twice a year. It was incredible! I bought so many retro toys and knick-knacks and ceramics and ate so much good food. I could have bought so much more than I did, but I took tonnes of photos instead, here are a few …
But what I want to show you is a little glimpse into three books I bought from a stall that was PACKED with people (see my hasty photo in the gallery above) … it was so hectic I just looked for some that had pretty drawings in and went on my way. I believeeee these are educational exercise books but please correct me if I’m wrong … I haven’t translated any of the books yet (with google translate) so I apologise if there’s any content that is inappropriate or insensitive!
Look at these ships!
And this angry frog!
And these beyond gorgeous chicks!
Anyway, stunning right?
My most cherished treasure from 1811
This treasure was given to me by my grandma.
She lived in this beautiful, big house on a farm in Devon as a child and at just age 5, in the 1930s, she found this maths exercise book behind her father’s filing cabinets. The exercise book dates from 1811 and belongs to a teenage boy named Joseph Glanville … who through my research I worked out to be around 15 year old in 1811.
I poured over this book for a long time and researched the boy it belonged to and made some incredible discoveries! But first let me show you a small selection of the pages from the book. It is falling apart and mouldy in places because my grandma did not store it well… I still need to figure out how to protect it best!
But it gets better … because as a teenager in 1811 you still have to kill time by doodling in your school books… and Joseph did the most gorgeous doodle in the back of his! (As well as practicing his letters)
I especially like the inscription “Joseph Glanville His Hand and Pen god bless king george an all his men amen”
THE TWIST
It doesn’t stop there. If you look closely you’ll have spotted that the book contains some names scrawled across some of the pages in different handwriting … perhaps Joseph’s friends? So I did some digging, especially interested by one particular name:
I think most of us can relate to writing our crush’s name in a school book … or maybe in this case Susanna wrote it herself … the handwriting is different and in pencil instead of ink … perhaps Joseph was going to erase it sometime after before a teacher saw it, but forgot?
And then I struck gold…
Joseph married Susanna! Just 8 years later.
And whilst I was teary-eyed and excited that I had this incredible look into Joseph’s teenage life and then he married the girl whose name is written in his school book, I spotted the date…
26th of September 1819
… my birthday is the 26th of September.
Magic folks … pure magic!
Or as Joseph’s teacher remarked on one page … “extraordinary”:
Here is the full timeline of Joseph’s life that I found, incase you are interested:
I noted that the name Thomas was written a lot in the book too … maybe a middle name? or the name of a brother or father? … anyway, he names his son Thomas in 1822.
Joseph was buried at Brentor church in Devon where many of my ancestors have been married and that I’ve visited many many times throughout my life.
GOSH I NEED TO GO EAT DINNER AND STOP YACKING ON ABOUT HISTORY AND STORIES. Let me sum this up …
One of the great things about collecting these items from around the world is that I get to learn a little more about how different people have lived through history. Even though these are just tiny, personal insights … it’s the stuff you miss in history lessons … the more human side of it all. I hope that these objects become references for my own artworks and my own ideas. It stirs something deep in me that I get to handle these pieces of someone else’s life and I hope that by sharing them with you that you feel some of that magic!
Perhaps I can continue to write about my treasures as I collect them going forward, so if this interests you let me know.
Izzy x
This was lovely! As a librarian I absolutely love finding things in books, making note of my favorite images and old photos.
Wow, those photo slides are so beautiful! And I can't imagine the rush you would have gotten from discovering Joseph married Susanna. Amazing sleuthing skills!