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Treasure 26: Sweet Red Riding Hood, His Majesty's Theatre, 1906
199 Monday 3 December 1906, 7.30pm. His Majesty's Theatre opens its doors to a brilliant audience and a grand production of the pantomime "Red Riding Hood". Our month's treasure features the pantomime's "Book of Words" printed to promote the event. Few things have been more intimately associated with Christmas than the popular family entertainment known by the name of pantomime.
The word, borrowing of Latin pantomimus (mime, dancer) and coming from the Greek pantóminos ("imitator of all") took the meaning of a drama or play performed without words at the beginning of the 18th Century. Later traditionally performed at Christmas, it incorporates colourful costumes, slapstick comedy, songs and audience participation...
Plots of pantomimes include a number of stock character types: the "principal boy" (the central young male figure, who is sometimes played by a female actor), the "pantomime dame" (always played by a male actor in drag), the villain and other comic characters. In "Sweet Red Riding Hood" at His Majesty's Theatre in 1906, loud calls were directed at the players; Miss Lyuba Lova, a reportedly fascinating Red Riding Hood, Miss Winifried Harbord as Boy Blue and Mr Willie Garvey who made a most amusing Mother Hubbard.
By selecting "Red Riding Hood" for the opening pantomime, the director of His Majesty Theatre, Mr Robert Arthur, made a happy hit as the traditional children's story attracted many people, young and old. Because it was a pantomime, the legend got almost lost in the musical and operatic melange but the performance was well applauded by both the public and the press. The pantomime, written by Frank Dix and composed by Jullien H. Wilson, was divided into two acts - the first in four scenes and the second in five scenes. The "Book of Words" contains the script, photographs of the actors and some local adverts.
For the first two nights of the pantomime, bookings were reserved for Debenture and Preference shareholders only, of which there were a considerable number, as nearly all the money for the new building has been raised locally. The pantomime, which ran till the end of the year, was greeted with whole-hearted applause from start to finish.
Treasure 53: An Account of Pedestrianism
228 National Walking Month takes place in May and is promoted by the UK charity Living Streets. Their aim is to encourage people to see walking as a natural choice and they hope to see a reduction in health problems, congestion and pollution, and social isolation while boosting local communities by bringing high streets to life. Specific events such as Walk to School Week and Walk to Work Week are also held during this month.
One of the books in our Local Studies collection describes the exploits of walkers in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1813, Walter Thom published 'Pedestrianism; or, An account of the performances of celebrated pedestrians during the last and present century; with a full narrative of Captain Barclay's public and private matches; and an essay on training.'
Pedestrianism was the term used for competitive walking races which were extremely popular as a spectator sport in the 18th and 19th centuries, both in indoor and outdoor venues, not only in Britain but also in America, Canada and Australia. Large sums of money could be won and betting on the results was prolific.
Walter Thom came from Bervie in Kincardineshire but moved to Aberdeen in the early 1800s where he published The History of Aberdeen in 1811. He then moved to Edinburgh for a short time before travelling to Ireland where he became editor firstly of the Dublin Correspondent and later of The Dublin Journal. He died in Dublin in 1824.
In his preface to Pedestrianism, Thom explains that his choice of subjects treated in the volume will deserve attention of all classes "as exercise conduces so much to the strength and soundness of both body and mind".
He discusses the Olympic Games and gymnastic exercises as practised by the ancient Greeks before moving to "modern pedestrianism" which he claims "affords the best species of exercise, and may be said to include much that is valuable to mankind". He describes feats of pedestrianism from the 1700s and 1800s, which included races over a period of days or those which only lasted one or two hours.
Treasure 58: Princess Mary's Gift Book, 1914
234 One of our treasures this month was a wartime endeavour of Princess Mary (25 April 1897 - 28 March 1965), the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary.
Princess Mary's Gift Book was a fundraising volume published on 27 November 1914 by Hodder & Stoughton. All profits from its sale went to the Queen's 'Work For Women' Fund, which was created to secure paid employment for women whose livelihood was threatened by the war.
The volume features stories and poems by some of the most popular authors of the day such as J. M. Barrie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling. The stories are accompanied by black and white illustrations and colour paintings by famous artists like Arthur Rackham and all the artwork was created specifically for the book.
Princess Mary's Gift Book was designed to appeal to all members of the family. It opens with a piece by J. M. Barrie on how best to enjoy a holiday in bed and includes many other stories and poems including Magepa the Buck and Out of the Jaws of Death: A Pimpernel by H. Rider Haggard and Baroness Orczy.
The gift book was sold for 2s. 6d. and half a million copies were sold within a month of its publication.
View the Treasures from our Collection interactive exhibition on the touchscreen to find out more about Princess Mary and her gift book - and discover the coincidence linking the book to one of the biggest supernatural scandals of the 20th Century.
Treasure 72: George MacDonald Victorian Children's Books
274 In our Local Studies collection we hold a number of works by Victorian author George MacDonald. He wrote extensively over his lifetime in a variety of genres yet it is probably for his fantasy writing that he is most highly regarded. He is sometimes referred to as the founding father of modern fantasy writing and subsequent renowned writers C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien drew inspiration from his work.
MacDonald's novels "At the Back of the North Wind" (1871); "The Princess and the Goblin" (1872) and its sequel "The Princess and Curdie" (1882) are titles that we are still familiar with today and, as a result of their enduring popularity, they continue to be reprinted and sold nearly 150 years after they were first published.
In common with other popular fiction from the Victorian period, they were originally serialized and instalments appeared in Good Words for the Young - a magazine which aimed to provide wholesome literature for children to read.
The editions of George MacDonald's children's books in our collection are all printed by Glasgow firm Blackie & Son Ltd whose business activities included bookselling, publishing, printing and book production. Their children's publications are notable for their colourful covers and striking illustrations.
View the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition on our touchscreens to find out more about the Victorian author and his varied works.
Treasure 80: The Great Wizard of the North's Hand-Book of Natural Magic by John Henry Anderson
291 Ninety years since the Aberdeen Magical Society was founded, we feature a rare edition of the Hand-book of Natural Magic written and published by the famous 'Wizard of the North', John Henry Anderson, one of the best magicians of the 19th Century.
The book reveals 128 experiments "adapted for performance at the parlour or drawing-room table or fire-side? practicable without expensive chemical or mechanical apparatus".
The book features tricks such as The Conjuror's Table, The Gun Trick, and The Self-Balancing Pail, in addition to a number of card tricks and ruses.
For nearly forty years of his life, John Henry Anderson baffled appreciative audiences with his popular performances, which often featured advanced and intricate props. The 'Wizard of the North' travelled around the world delighting audiences in many countries, including Australia and America.
John Henry Anderson died in February 1874 and was buried alongside his mother Mary Robertson, in Mither Kirk graveyard in Aberdeen. He had many imitators and the great Houdini himself said he was one of his mentors. Houdini paid his respects to John Henry Anderson when he visited the Granite City in 1909.
In 1930, the Aberdeen Magical Society arranged to have the gravestone of Professor Anderson restored "as a mark of respect to this past-master in the art of conjuring entertainment" (Press and Journal, 8 August 1930).
Explore the life and work of the great wizard, and find out more about Aberdeen Magical Society in our interactive exhibition on the touchscreens in Central, Airyhall, Tillydrone and Mastrick libraries. |