2015 Withnail at Uncle Monty's Dates Announced! Plus, Queen Victoria RIP...

Danny and Monty together again for the first time! Photo from Picnic Cinema.

The news just in: Picnic Cinema have announced their dates for the insanely popular annual screenings of a certain film in a certain place: Withnail and I will be shown at Crow Crag, aka Sleddale Hall in Cumbria, on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 June 2015. The tickets will go on sale soon (just 100 for each night), and the best (only?) way to give yourself a chance of nabbing one is to sign up of Picnic Cinema's email notification list here. You can have a look at what it was like to attend this wonderful event last year here. It's highly recommended.

Changing the subject entirely, collectors of rare Victoriana might want to have a look at a rather lovely, and beautifully preserved Queen Victoria In Memoriam morocco leather bound (and boxed) Book of Common Prayer Withnail Books currently has on eBay (just click the link top right on this page to see this and a few other select goodies currently for sale).

Here are some photos, with more blurb below for those who fancy making an offer (and while it is a hefty asking price, do feel free to make an offer if it's up your alley... the worse that will happen is that I'll say no!)

Copies of this beautiful Queen Victoria memorial edition of The Book of Common Prayer, with Hymns Ancient and Modern very rarely come up for sale. One of the few references to another, long-sold copy online is here.

This is hand-numbered copy 131 from the 500 copy De Luxe edition, and is in remarkable condition.

The original outer presentation box (16 x 12 x 5.5cm) has a bit of sun fade and a cracked corner, but the baize-lined interior  is still doing its job of protecting the fitted leather case inside. The case has a few light marks, but is overall in very good+ condition. The solid silver button clasp is datemarked for Birmingham 1900, and was made by Charles Penny Brown. The interior is lined in cream moiré silk. The book inside is in, I hesitate to say it, near fine condition: it looks to have been barely handled. There are a couple of very light marks to the upper board, only noticeable if you really look for them, but as with the case, it's difficult to tell if this is actually a 'mark', or just variations in the original leather colour. The gilt page edges are still bright (a rather lovely detail is how the page edges are twin-toned, and turn to Royal Purple when looked at edge on). The book has gilt interior board edges and silk endpapers, and two silk page markers.

The title pages to the various sections read:
Special Forms of Service in Commemoration of Her Late Majesty Queen Victoria of Blessed and Glorious Memory.
To Be Used in All Churches and Chapels in England and Wales and in the Town of Berwick-Upon-Tweed.
Either on the Day of the Funeral, or on the most convenient Day within the Octave.
The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of The Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of The Church of England; Together With The Psalter or Psalms of David,… And The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, And Deacons
 Hymns Acient and Modern For The Use in The Services of the Church.
Complete Edition.

Time-Space Visualiser: Penrith On June 23rd, 1887

I imagine someone somewhere has glibly called photographs 'windows into the past', but in the case of these recent arrivals, the description is totally justified. There are two of them, both the size of an LP record, and even though they're somewhat faded, get close enough and the detail really comes alive.

July 20th, 1887 was Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. She wrote in her diary:

"Had a large family dinner. All the Royalties assembled in the Bow Room, and we dined in the Supper-room, which looked splendid with the buffet covered with the gold plate. The table was a large horseshoe one, with many lights on it.

"The King of Denmark took me in, and Willy of Greece sat on my other side. The Princes were all in uniform, and the Princesses were all beautifully dressed. Afterwards we went into the Ballroom, where my band played."

Sounds like a great night. A couple of days later, it was Penrith's turn to celebrate. According to this report in the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald the events kicked off with a rousing speech from the local M.P. J.W. Lowther, who called for three cheers, “Cheers which will make this old market place of Penrith ring and ring again, cheers which shall be remembered by all of us here present to our dying day."

The report continues:

A church service at St. Andrew’s was followed by a great procession. Supt. Fowler, of the local constabulary, on horseback, headed six carriages, containing the MP and other leading lights, and hundreds on foot, including Oddfellows, Druids, Forresters and Sons of Temperance.

A short stop was made while the chairman of the local board of health, Mr. James, re-named Scot Lane as Brunswick Road, as the thoroughfare had just been widened and improved.

It was the turn of the children to parade in the afternoon, this time with Mr. Fairer, the chairman of the jubilee committee, leading on his horse. While youngsters were presented with special mugs, old folk were entertained to a “knife and fork” feast in the Exchange Hall (later to become J. H. Howe’s dress shop in Angel Lane and, ultimately, demolished to make way for the Angel Square development).

The highlight was a sports meeting on the Foundry Field, with the cavalry band playing while athletes ran, jumped and wrestled. Everybody must have been exhausted by the end of the day, for the program also included a fireworks display on the Beacon and a dinner for 100 leading personalities at the Crown Hotel.

The photos below, taken by local portrait and landscape photographer James Huff, show the gathering in the centre of town to watch the procession. In the second shot though, a lot of the crowd spotted Huff, and are looking straight at us, through the years...