Stopping by Curtin Library I thought I’d check their KSP collection – could be an edition I hadn’t seen or even a signature… Still amazed to find this message from KSP inside a cheap paperback edition. It’s been sitting unnoticed on their shelves for decades. I took it to the front desk and suggested they consider moving it to a special collection.
June 8, 2016
Discovery inside a cheap paperback
About Nathan Hobby
A Biographer in Perth 
June 8th, 2016 at 10:36 am
Amazing!
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June 8th, 2016 at 10:52 am
Awesome Nathan.
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June 8th, 2016 at 11:01 am
Well done, Nathan Hobby. I hope the librarian took your advice.
Denise Faithfull in Sydney
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June 8th, 2016 at 7:14 pm
One can only hope! Of course, sent off to a rare book collection, no-one will be able to go and have a look at it easily. Trade offs.
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June 8th, 2016 at 11:29 am
What a great find! 🙂
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June 8th, 2016 at 11:56 am
Well of course I scampered off to see whether my copy of the exact same edition had a similar message.
But *sigh*, no, only the previous owner’s name, and that she was in 1C at D.A.T.C. (Dandenong Technical College, maybe).
Still, it’s nice to discover that this was a set text at this school, some time in the sixties if the YOP (1961) is a guide.
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June 8th, 2016 at 7:13 pm
It was worth checking!
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June 8th, 2016 at 9:40 pm
How exciting a find Nathan. I do hope you gave it to someone who understood the importance and is likely to pass it on to the right part of the library. And, really, in the Rare Books section it might occasionally go on display for all the see whereas where it is now no-one ever sees it really do they? The odd borrower perhaps, but one has to assume that past borrowers probably hadn’t noticed the inscription. Probably just as well as they might have pinched it!!
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June 9th, 2016 at 8:09 am
Thank you Sue – and you’re exactly right. Much better chance of being appreciated (venerated?) when it’s recognised for what it is. At least it hadn’t had a dateslip glued over the top by a zealous library clerk. (I have seen this – though for an academic book and an obscure author – in a library I’ve worked in.)
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June 9th, 2016 at 12:13 am
What an exciting find! 👏👏👏
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June 13th, 2016 at 8:11 pm
I think it must be signed to Bert Vickers (F.B. Vickers) as that is his birthday.
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June 14th, 2016 at 7:00 am
Yes, I think you’re right! Mystery solved. I don’t have in my notes at all, as it’s outside my period – but the ADB mentions their association – http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vickers-frederick-bert-15891 . I wonder if he donated all his books to WAIT/Curtin when he died.
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