Pair of vintage autograph books / commonplace books, including signatures of John Buchan and pioneering women; Amy Johnson, Kay Petre & Mary Grosvenor
These 2 unassuming small autograph books revealed a few delightful surprises on closer inspection. They are fairly standard in format for their period, comprising autograph style books containing a mixture of hand drawn/painted artwork, scrapbook items, poetry, greetings and individual signatures.
There are some real gems of signatures included here, including some pioneering and brave women, and there are others in the book that we have not been able to identify, but included here are;
Book 1 (the wider of the 2 books):
Amy Johnson, the pioneering aviator (2 signatures on separate pages), first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia and who set many long-distance records in the 1930s;
Kay Petre, early motor racing star, originally from Canada. A star of the Brooklands track;
Mary Grosvenor (Lady Mary Constance Grosvenor), British motor racing and rally driver;
John Buchan, Scottish novelist, most famous for 'The Thirty-Nine Steps'. His signature with a one line inscription tipped in;
Book 2:
Tommy Steele signature, British entertainer - this would have been added to the book in the 1950s or 1960s.
Book 1 is in a limp leather padded cover, worn and faded. All bound, but binding is weak with gaps to gutter. The coloured pages are age toned, but the contents are clear. Most dated entries are from the 1913-1917, with just a few from the 1920s and 30s.
Book 2 dates to 1938 is and has a plasticised wood effect cover with considerable wear. Text pages are mainly bound, with one detached leaf, and split to gutter. Weak binding. he coloured pages are age toned, but the contents are clear.
Contents are mainly in English with some Gaelic poetry too.
Book 1: Comprises approximately 80pp of which 51pp have entries;
Book 2: Comprises approximately 88pp of which 15pp have entries.
Dimensions:
Approximately 100mm high x 160mm wide x 36mm; and 101mm high x 124mm side x 14mm.
Weight approximately 268g unpacked (the pair).