The Christ's Hospital Book

[shoz]

I have just bought a copy of the Christ's Hospital Book for £25. Is that a good price? It is a first edition hardback copy in fairly good condition.

[Great Plum]

I have no idea but i have decided it's a fiar price!

[Hendrik]

i know i can't be the only one thinking this but...

what the f*** is the CH Book?

25 quid for a first edition hard back of anything ain't bad.
well, if it's a popular book, and the first editions are old or hard to come by...

[AKAP]

i know i can't be the only one thinking this but...

what the f*** is the CH Book?

In the words of my adopted home.
Divvenknow.

[sejintenej]

i know i can't be the only one thinking this but...

what the f*** is the CH Book?

25 quid for a first edition hard back of anything ain't bad.
well, if it's a popular book, and the first editions are old or hard to come by...

well, my question is "which CH Book"? I have two, one is 1553 to 1953 brought out to celebrate the quartercentenary (?sp) and is very thick - perhaps an inch and a half. The other one is considerably smaller and old (my daughter has it at present) - pre 1930 at the latest, perhaps even late 1800's

Each one has to be worth £25 in anyone's lucre.

[UserRemovedAccount]

what the f*** is the CH Book?

In reply to the elegantly phrased question above, there are numerous books about Housie, but the one normally referred to as "The CH Book" is "The Christ's Hospital Book " published in 1953 to mark the Quattercentenary. It was a collation of extracts from a wide variety of sources - personal reminiscences, diaries, newspaper reports, etc, etc, and, as far as I know, there was no one editor, but rather a committee of Old Blues. There was also a Foreword by the (then) Duke of Gloucester, who presumably signed a document drafted by someone else. It was published by Hamish Hamilton. I believe that it was reprinted in 1958. Copies are on sale at Abebooks on the Internet for as little as £5.00 (five pounds), but the price obviosuly depends largely on the condition.

[DavebytheSea]

In reply to the elegantly phrased question above, there are numerous books about Housie, but the one normally referred to as "The CH Book" is "The Christ's Hospital Book " published in 1953 to mark the Quattercentenary.

There are some interesting variations of the spelling of Quatercentenary on this thread. There must be other possibilities apart from the previous two posts by my contemporaries who were both, like myself, present at the celebration.

[Vonny]

i know i can't be the only one thinking this but...

what the f*** is the CH Book?

Just what I was thinking!

[mr tall]

As I posted on another thread: go to http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/Sea ... 0&sortby=2
where you will find copies of the book from £6 upwards.

So I think that answers your question. Yes, you paid too much! And you were told not to.

[Mark1]

well, the site linked appears to show that how good a deal you obtained really depends on the quality of the book: there are copies (presumeably very good condition) for up to $62, and Amazon list the book for £50. So it depends on the condition of your copy.

[Hannoir]

i thought it was the one that came out a few years ago

[UserRemovedAccount]

There are some interesting variations of the spelling of Quatercentenary on this thread. There must be other possibilities apart from the previous two posts by my contemporaries who were both, like myself, present at the celebration.

I have vague memories of this question of the spelling and pronunciation of the Latin version of Fourth Centenary arising in 1953. I am definitely NOT a Latin scholar and am open to correction by anyone who knows the subject better than I, but my understanding was then, and still is, that the Latin for “four” is “quattuor” for “fourteen” is “quattuordecim” and for “four hundred” is “quattuorcentum.” Thus, the correct spelling is “Quattercentenary,” the first part pronounced to rhyme with “platter” and NOT “Quatercentenary” with the first part rhyming with “date” or “plate”.

My personal recollection of the Quattercentenary was that for the only occasion during my time at Housie the entire Girls’ School ventured down from Hertford. These innocent young maidens were kept firmly separated from the brutal and licentious boys, but as with all guarding systems there was a weak point. A friend named Martin Moth and I discovered that for the major ceremony in Big School the top girls would sit in the body of the hall but that the mass would sit on the balcony. So, when they arrived Martin and I had already smuggled ourselves into the balcony and sat happily talking to a number of girls throughout the ceremony. Doubtless, the ceremony below was very impressive, but I do not have the slightest recollection of it as I was talking to a girl from Catford, with whom I was passionately in love for about four months. Unfortunately, the facts that she was at Hertford and I at Horsham in the term time, and she in Catford and I in Devon in the holidays proved an insuperable barrier to teenage love, but the very mention of that London suburb always brings back memories of a sunny day in June 1953!!

[Great Plum]

As I posted on another thread: go to http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/Sea ... 0&sortby=2
where you will find copies of the book from £6 upwards.

So I think that answers your question. Yes, you paid too much! And you were told not to.

I help enter books on an online bookstore (http://www.biancolibrary.com) in my spare time - ABE is a bit of hit and miss to be honest - there are a lot of unscrupulous book dealers who sell tat at low prices...

[Richard Ruck]

I also have a copy of The Christ's Hospital Book, 1953 First Edition, in very good nick. I paid £13.00 in a second-hand bookshop quite a few years ago.

By the way, in the book's 'acknowledgements' preface 'quatercentenary' is spelled with one 't' in the first part of the word.

The Editorial Committee comprised Edmund Blunden, Eric Bennett, Philip Youngman Carter and J.E. Morpurgo.

[englishangel]

Quatercentenary, from the Latin, having four parts, i.e. in this case four centuries.

I bought a book from ABE for my son. It was out of print and the one we got was an old school library book, but as he was desperate for it, and it had been described as such on the website he thought it was a bargain. It was in quite good nick too.