DISASTER

[Hong Kong; natural disaster] Typed Letter Signed, cover for instructions etc (3 pp) J. B. Keenan, to C. A. A. Nicol, enclosing 'our instructions in the event of a civil disturbance or natural disaster eg Typhoon', map and 'warning signals'.

Author: 
Major J. B. Keenan, Royal Artillery, Camp Commandant, Land Forces Hong Kong [C. A. A. Nicol (1921-2012), Special Branch, Malayan Union Police Force and Royal Malaysian Police]
Publication details: 
Letter from Camp Office, Headquarters, Land Forces Hong Kong, British Forces Post Office 1; 18 October 1973.
£250.00

Totalling 4pp., sm.fol. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter (1p., 8vo) is a circular, and in it Keenan writes: 'Do not be alarmed at the sudden appearance of these instructions. Rather accept them as a fact that some one has your interests at heart'. The instructions (2pp., 8vo) are headed 'APPX 3 TO ANNEX D | CAMP HOLF SOP NO 2 | INSTRUCTIONS TO FAMILIES'. Divided into 13 sections, under the headings: Introduction; Wardens; Precautions; Children; Shopping; Special Warning Procedure; Leave; Finally.

[Bedwellty Colliery Explosion, 1865: street ballad in Welsh, with list of names of deceased.] Printed item titled: 'Hanes alarus am 26 o golliers a gollasant eu bywydau yn pwll glo Bedwellty, gerllaw Tredegar, Dydd Gwener, Mehefin 16, 1865.'

Author: 
[Bedwellty Colliery Explosion, 1865; Welsh street ballad; coal mining]
Publication details: 
Printed by 'William Thomas, Argraffydd, Caerfyrddin.' No date [late Vicvtorian].
£65.00

The title is 'Hanes alarus am 26 o golliers a gollasant eu bywydau yn pwll glo Bedwellty, gerllaw Tredegar, Dydd Gwener, Mehefin 16, 1865.' This may be translated as 'The woeful tale of 26 colliers who lost their lives in the Bedwellty coal mine, near Tredegar, Friday, 16 June 1865. 4pp 16mo (15.5 x 9 cm). Paginated [1]-4. Bifolium. Printer's slug at foot of last page. Disbound. A frail survival: aged and worn.

[Sinking of RMS Titanic, April 1912.] Long unpublished contemporary manuscript poem, signed by 'William Hall', titled 'Titanic', written within weeks of the sinking.

Author: 
RMS Titanic sinking, April 1912 [William Hall]
Publication details: 
No place [English]. Dated at end 'May 1912'.
£220.00

4pp., 4to. On three leaves. In fair condition, aged and creased. The poem, headed 'Titanic', is 64 lines long, divided into 15 stanzas (the first ten numbered), and is signed and dated at the end, following 'R.I.P.', 'William Hall | May 1912'. The verse is heartfelt and devout, in style something of a cross between Walt Whitman and William McGonagall. Apparently unpublished. The author is unknown, but the poem reflects the popular response to the celebrated maritime disaster.

[ The Bath Herald and the Floods of 1894. ] Printed pamphlet: 'A Record of the Great Floods in Bath and the surrounding District, November 13 & 15, 1894. [ With four photographs by A. F. Perren. ]

Author: 
[ The Bath Herald; the Great Floods in Bath, 1894 ] [ Augustus Frederick Perren (d.1923), photographer ]
Publication details: 
Reprinted from The Bath Herald. Prinhted at The Herald Office, North Gate, Bath. [ 1894. ]
£56.00

16pp., 4to. Unstitched and unbound. In fair condition, lightly aged, worn and spotted.. Priced at a penny. In small print and double column. Consisting, after a short introduction, of an area-by-area report of the effects of the flood, beginning with 'Midnight in the Dolemeads. | Distressing Scenes.', 'Corn Street, Milk Street and Avon Street' and 'Southgate Street', and ending with 'Batheaston', 'Radstock' and 'Midsomer Norton'. Perren's photographs show 'Dolemeads and Association Cricket Fields', 'The Old Bridge', 'Southgate Street' and 'The Quay from the Old Bridge'.

[ 'Rose's Patent Lifeboats, Ltd.' and 'G. Fitzhardinge Rose's Patent Submarine Lifeboats'. ] Printed share prospectus (with reference to Titanic disaster), and separate 'Short Explanation', with diagrams, one of them printed on its own sheet.

Author: 
G. Fitzhardinge Rose's Patent Submarine Lifeboats; Rose's Patent Lifeboats, Ltd. [ George Fitzhardinge Rose (1862-1933), London china dealer and inventor; Commander James Harrison; RMS Titanic ]
Publication details: 
All items circa 1913. The main prospectus without printing details. The 'Short Explanation': 'Printed by Hazell & Viney, Ltd., London and Aylesbury.'
£220.00

ONE: Prospectus headed: 'Rose's Patent Lifeboats, Ltd. | Share Capital £125,000 in 125,000 Shares of £1 each. | Boats for all for passenger steamers :: The Difficulty Solved | Prospectus.' Printed on one side of a piece of 62.5 x 46.5 cm paper. In fair condition, aged and creased, with some wear to extremities. With four diagrams: 'For Passenger Steamers. - Steel seamless lifeboat. Completely covered in, and a life raft combined. Design No. 8.' and 'Submarine showing position of lifeboat fixed' and 'Submarine lifeboat.

[ 'Rose's Patent Lifeboats, Ltd.' ] Printed prospectus (with reference to RMS Titanic): 'Rose's Patent Lifeboats, Ltd. Share Capital £125,000 in 125,000 Shares of £1 each. Boats for all for passenger steamers :: The Difficulty Solved'. With diagrams.

Author: 
G. Fitzhardinge Rose's Patent Submarine Lifeboats; Rose's Patent Lifeboats, Ltd. [ George Fitzhardinge Rose (1862-1933), London china dealer and inventor; Commander James Harrison; RMS Titanic ]
Publication details: 
[London: George Fitzhardinge Rose. 1913.]
£120.00

Printed on one side of a piece of 62.5 x 46.5 cm paper. Headed: 'Rose's Patent Lifeboats, Ltd. | Share Capital £125,000 in 125,000 Shares of £1 each. | Boats for all for passenger steamers :: The Difficulty Solved | Prospectus.' In fair condition, aged and creased, with some wear to extremities. With four diagrams: 'For Passenger Steamers. - Steel seamless lifeboat. Completely covered in, and a life raft combined. Design No. 8.' and 'Submarine showing position of lifeboat fixed' and 'Submarine lifeboat.

[Frederick Gorringe's Department Store.] Manuscript subscription list of donations by staff to the Daily Telegraph fund for 'the Sufferers' by the Edgware Road Fire, giving more than 200 names and sums. With two press cuttings.

Author: 
[Frederick Gorringe (1831-1909), draper; Frederick Gorringe's Department Store, 75 Buckingham Palace Road, London; the Daily Telegraph; the Edgware Road Fire, 30 May 1888]
Publication details: 
[London. May and June 1888.]
£120.00

4pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper. First page headed: 'The Edgware Road Fire | The proprietor of "The Daily Telegraph" have as hitherto on similar occasions opened a Subscription list for the Sufferers and it is estimated that £3,000 will be required to meeet the urgent claims for relief which are already too well known | I shall be glad to receive any donations you may be pleased to give on their behalf | (JNER.)'. Arranged in eight columns, two to a page, with running totals and a grand total of £16 1s 0d. The first donation is for 10s 6d from 'Mr.

[Halifax Explosion, Nova Scotia, Canada, 6 December 1917.] Twelve postcards of scenes of devastation by the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion in history, by Underwood & Underwood of New York.

Author: 
Underwood & Underwood, N.Y. [Halifax Explosion, Nova Scotia, Canada, 6 December 1917]
Publication details: 
Copyright Underwood & Underwood, N.Y. [New York.] 'Novelty Mfg. & Art Co., Limited, Montreal [Canada]'. Undated [1917 or 1918].
£100.00

The largest man-made explosion before the the development of nuclear weapons, with a force equivalent to nearly 3 kilotons of TNT, occurred when the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc, laden with wartime munitions, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. The explosion devastated the Richmond District of Halifax, killing 2000 and injuring 9000. Each postcard carries the words 'Copyright Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.' next to the caption beneath the image, with 'Novelty Mfg.

Recent Earthquakes and their Investigation. [Offprint from the 'Proceedings' of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow.]

Author: 
Alexander D[avid]. Ross (1883-1966).
Publication details: 
Glasgow: Printed for the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow by Carter & Pratt, Ltd., Canal Street. 1909.
£45.00

8vo: 14 pp. One plate and two diagrams in text. Stapled and unbound. In original grey printed wraps. Dogeared and grubby, with central vertical crease. Presentation copy. Ross is described as 'Assistant to the Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow.' He was Lecturer in Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow 1908-12, before moving to the University of Western Australia, where he was Professor of Physics and Mathematics,1912-29, and Professor of Physics, 1929-52.

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