The Interesting Things That Books Contain.

One of the many great things about having numerous old books pass through your hands is the interesting discoveries that you make within the covers.

Obviously there are stories, knowledge and tales of adventure inside, but sometimes other items have found their way between the pages, creating in some cases a whole new story.

Without doubt pressed flowers are the most common discovery, particularly in large heavy books, but even these may have their own tale. They may just be a garden collection, possibly from a holiday abroad, or maybe they were accumulated during a series of travels. By whom, when and what for are reasons that may never become clear, but certainly there is another story with each collection.

Sometimes more material products turn up, the pound notes which are pictured all came from one book, between separate pages. Did they belong to a collector, or were they being tucked away for a rainy day?

Letters also make regular appearances, some of which are more interesting than others, but recently I found one which made me investigate further. At first glance it is just a regular note, written on shipping line paper, from somebody away on their travels in the 1960’s.  However on closer examination it becomes clear that this is from a couple emigrating from the United Kingdom to Australia in 1965, a time when many went to seek new horizons in these regions.

In reality this is not too unusual, but it is interesting to read a first hand account and the letter itself is very well written. Without the benefit of a surname it is quite difficult to actually trace who wrote the letter, although it would be interesting to know just how their new life turned out. I may in time manage to trace them through the shipping line passenger lists, but I do not hold out too much hope.

However that is only part of the story that this letter reveals, as the ship itself has an interesting history stretching over forty years. I probably should point out at this stage that I am a Historian by training, which makes it practically impossible to pass up the opportunity to dig into the past.

Nevertheless the ‘Castel Felice’ appears to have been an interesting vessel which completed 101 voyages carrying over 100,000 immigrants to New Zealand and Australia between 1952 and 1970, (source: Victoria Museum). There are numerous accounts of conditions on the vessel and tales of the journey around and I suppose the ship is a little bit of history, in the lives of these people.

The story of the ship though begins a lot earlier, 1930 was the launch date to be exact, and in its early days it was used on the India to Africa route by the British-India Steam Navigation Company under the name of ‘Kenya’. The dates may give away the next part of the ship’s life as World War II intervened.

At this point the vessel was refitted and seems to have sailed under the names of HMS Hydra and HMS Keren, being involved in landing operations in Sicily, North Africa and Madagascar. Following the war the ship was unused for a few years before being refitted for the immigrant trade, which is where the letter came in.

So a story within a story, if you see what I mean and one day maybe the identity of the writer will become clear, providing an end to the tale.  In the meantime I would be most interested to hear of any other interesting discoveries tucked between the pages of old books, who knows there may be another tale to investigate.

Andy