The Wainwright Letters
Page 10
Don’t forget, too, that Eddie is eager to be of service. He’s your best friend, remember (you knew that, didn’t you?). find him an odd job to do about the house, now and then – he’ll be happy to help.
And then there’s me, too – a world away. Don’t forget me, either: I’m anxious to be hearing from you.
Funny thing, I feel ever so much better inside after writing this letter. I’ve convinced myself that Tom is happy, and I only wait now to hear from you that you are happy, too. Tell me so, please!
With love,
Alf
p.s. I haven’t forgotten about Derrick’s new book keeping system!
p.p.s. have you got a copy of the current issue of ‘OUT OF DOORS’?
LETTER 38: TO LAWRENCE WOLSTENHOME, 17 NOVEMBER 1950
KENDAL
FRIDAY
17th NOVEMBER 1950
Dear Lawrence,
I am writing this letter in manuscript, as a special treat for you. It hadn’t occurred to me earlier what a rare pleasure it must be to you to see handwriting like mine, and the steadiness and rhythmic flow thereof will serve further to demonstrate that I am not merely ‘hale and hearty’, as you suggest, but quite superbly magnificent.
Thank you for the book, now returned.
Your shame at not having heard about (or forgotten) ‘Pennine Campaign’ is quite merited, and I am chagrined to learn that this classic means nothing to you. To Miss D, who never seems to forget anything, my message is
Bless you, for remembering!
Cut along the perforated line.
Enclosed is another shad Production I found when flitting this summer. Do with it what you will: ‘tis but a worthless trifle. I send it merely in the hope that it might bring a momentary gleam to your darkness.
In reply to your enquiries:
‘PANNUS MIHI PANIS’ means ‘WOOL IS MY BREAD’ (centuries ago, wool was the main industry here) the ‘bent tin-tacks’ are fishhooks (used for weaving in those days)
I never attend Branch meetings (not being interested in the things they talk about)
Reading between the lines of your letter, it is palpably apparent that you are pathetically eager to see me again. When I’ve saved up enough for a haircut, I’ll be paying my annual weekend visit to Blackburn – within the next fortnight or so. I’ll ring you on the Saturday morning, and then, if you can tear yourself away from the several arms of your wife and daughter that afternoon, perhaps you’d treat me to the Rovers, or take me for a walk, or something equally stimulating?
AW
This next letter is from Mr Wainwright, Borough Treasurer. Not many have survived – compared with those to his family and old friends and of course later, as A. Wainwright, author. Presumably people did not treasure letters received from council officials whom they did not know and who meant nothing to them. But a Mr W. Tate was so upset by one letter he got from the Borough Treasurer in May 1954 that he always kept it, containing as it did a suggestion that he, Mr Tate, was somehow attempting to bribe a council official.
LETTER 39: TO MR W. TATE (COUNCIL HOUSE TENANT), 11 MAY 1954
TELEPHONE No 130
BOROUGH OF KENDAL
Municipal Offices
A. WAINWRIGHT
Lowther Street
BOROUGH TREASURER AND RATING OFFICER
KENDAL 11 MAY, 1954
Mr W. Tate
c/o 122, Burneside Road
Kendal
Dear Sir,
I have today received your letter accepting the tenancy of a house on the Hall Garth Estate.
There was a pound note in the envelope containing your letter. I do not understand why this was sent and should be obliged if you would let me know the reason. I will keep it until I have your explanation.
Yours faithfully.
A Wainwright
BOROUGH TREASURER
Bill Tate went along to AW’s office, puzzled by the accusation. ‘Young man,’ AW said to him, ‘what’s the explanation for the pound in the envelope?’ Mr Tate said it was a pure mistake – his wife had put the £1, meant for the coal man, in an envelope so she wouldn’t spend it, and he by mistake had used that envelope for his letter. AW accepted his explanation and solemnly from a drawer produced the pound note and gave it back to him.
‘Looking back to 40 years ago,’ so Mr Tate told me in 1994, ‘I should have thought that even then it would have taken more than a pound note to bribe a local government official. I did find Mr Wainwright to be a very courteous man.’
Part 5
Pictorial Guides, Book One: Letters, 1955
By the autumn of 1952, AW, now in his new house at 38 Kendal Green, had knocked his garden into shape, three years ahead of his self-imposed schedule, and on 9 November 1952, he sat down to write the first page of Book One of his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. His letters show that for many years he had been thinking of a Lakeland project, but at last he had it all planned out: seven books, covering 214 fells, which would take him thirteen years to complete.
He had finished Book One by the Christmas of 1954 and made plans for publication, deciding he would do it himself, with the help of Henry Marshall, the Kendal Librarian, who agreed to act as the official publisher, with Marshall’s name and address going on the books and all the leaflets, as AW did not want to reveal his own address and occupation.
A local jobbing printer in Kendal, Bateson and Hewitson, quoted him a price of £950 for 2,000 copies. AW had only £35 in savings, which seems a small amount, given that he had a quite well paid position, but perhaps he had spent all his savings on his new house and garden. However, the printer agreed that AW need not pay any more money till there was an income coming in from the books – if any.
Despite his aversion to personal publicity, AW realised he would have to make an effort to draw attention to his book, get some promotion for it in order to get it into the shops.
In April 1955, he wrote to the magazine Cumbria to enquire about advertising rates. Cumbria – and its sister magazine The Dalesman – was based in Clapham in North Lancashire, but the magazine was printed in Kendal by the Westmorland Gazette, who were also printing AW’s book, it being too big a job for Bateman and Hewitson, even though they were nominally handling it.
AW was pleased to find the rates were only £10 for a page. He asked if there could be some accompanying editorial about the book – which he suggested could be done by Mr Griffin (his friend Harry Griffin, the journalist and author and noted Lakeland walker).
LETTER 40: TO MR HEWKIN, 29 APRIL 1955
Mr Leslie Hewkin
Municipal Offices
Wykefield Cottage
Lowther Street
Ambleside
Kendal
Westmorland
29th April 1955
Dear Mr. Hewkin,
Thank you for your letter – and enclosure, which was just what I wanted.
The advertisement rates for CUMBRIA are actually less than I thought they would be. I must now write to the Advertisement Manager to reserve a full page for the June number, but before doing so wonder whether you would have any objection if I asked for the left-hand page opposite your editorial? I think you usually like to keep this free of advertisement, but my own display (which I now have ready) is quite neat and attractive with a couple of small drawings and would not look out of place in that position.
Please don’t go out of your way to see Mr. Scott. The question of the drawings is a small one really and I doubt whether they would reproduce well in any case – they would in half-tones, but this isn’t altogether a satisfactory treatment for line drawings.
The book is now being printed. I am terribly anxious to see it finished. As soon as I can get hold of a full set of pages (with or without the binding case) I will send it on to you. Mr Griffin will collaborate in the drafting of the editorial matter if you want any assistance.
Yours sincerely,
LETTER 41: TO THE ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT OF CUMBRIA, 4 MAY 1
955
The Advertisement Manager
38 Kendal Green
Dalesman Publishing Co.
Kendal
Clapham
4th May 1955
Via Lancaster
Dear Sir
Please reserve for me a full page in your June issue of CUMBRIA (issued June 1st) for the purpose of advertising a book that is due for publication at Whitsuntide.
If it could possibly be arranged, I should be especially grateful if I could have the left-hand page facing the Editorial comments, which, I understand, will make reference to the book.
The advertising matter will take the form of a display for which a full page block will be supplied direct to the Westmorland Gazette. The block is at present being made, but a proof will be sent to you for approval within a few days.
A cheque for 10 pounds is enclosed.
Yours faithfully
AW
The publisher of Cumbria, Harry Scott, had caught sight of some of AW’s hand-drawn, handwritten material from Book One – still not published until June – and wrote to AW to say how impressed he was by it. This was probably AW’s first ever fan letter for his Pictorial Guides. Once it was out, readers were even writing to offer him a bed, if he was in their area.
LETTER 42: TO MR SCOTT, 9 MAY 1955
9 May 1955
Dear Mr Scott,
I can’t remember ever receiving a kinder and more generous letter than the one I have had from you. It is really extremely nice of you to show such an interest in my book, and I feel greatly encouraged by your remarks.
I welcome your opinion particularly, because it was always in my mind when I was compiling the book that I would take it over to Clapham when it was finished to see if you would publish it! Then, when the job was done, I hesitated. It seemed to me then to be unfair to ask anyone to risk money on something so different – success or failure, and the extent of success or failure, were unpredictable. Finally, I decided to [illegible] the risk myself. I just hadn’t the nerve to ask you, or my other publisher, to do something I wasn’t prepared to do myself … that’s how it comes about that I now find myself suffering the anxieties (and enjoying the excitements) of putting a new book before the public. At the moment, I feel like a man going to the gallows!
I am grateful for what you are doing, and are prepared to do, to help me, but must not trespass further on your kindness.
You shall have the [illegible] copy!
y/s
AW
LETTER 43: TO MRS CHANDLER, 8 JUNE 1955
Municipal Offices
Lowther Street
Kendal
Westmorland
8 June 1955
Dear Madam,
I don’t know whether I should address you as ‘Dear Miss Chandler’ or ‘Dear Mrs Chandler’, or which is safest in case of doubt – you don’t give me a clue. As for ‘Dear Sally’ – No, I just couldn’t!
Thank you for a wonderfully kind letter. Your extremely generous invitation quite affected me: how can you have such confidence in me, a stranger? But really, I cannot accept. I shall not be back in the Grasmere area until Book Three, that is, not until the winter of 1956. And anyway, I’m much too shy!
One thing you can do for me, though, if you will and are able to, and that is to recommend the book to other kindred souls. I fear the railway strike has sadly upset my publicity arrangements, and sales are too few for my peace of mind.
Do this for me, please, and I promise that when I am back in the Grasmere area, I will venture to peep in at The Wray. Not for a bed, and not for a meal, but just to look upon the gracious woman who went to the trouble of writing so charming a letter and offering such kind hospitality to someone she had never met. Besides, I shall always be a bit curious about the ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’. You can’t blame me if, in the meantime, I think of you as Sally!
Yours sincerely
Perhaps the early fan letter which gave him most delight was from Walter Poucher (1891–88), a noted Lakeland author and photographer (and also chief perfumer for Yardley), whose books AW himself had greatly enjoyed.
LETTER 44: TO WALTER POUCHER, 8 JUNE 1955
Municipal Offices
Lowther Street
Kendal
Westmorland
8 June 1955
Dear Mr Poucher,
I was delighted to receive your very kind letter. No other I have received, or may receive, could possibly bring me more pleasure.
It gave me quite a thrill even to see your order form when it came in a fortnight ago. I said to myself ‘now the boot is on the other foot’ because for years I have been an ardent admirer and collector of your wonderful books: indeed, I acknowledge with gratitude the help I have gained from your photographs of the Lakeland fells, especially in cases where my own sketches left me in some doubt about details. Occasionally, in fact, I have been tempted to make my drawings direct from your photographs: this I must never do, but certainly you are entitled to some credit for giving me a fuller appreciation of the importance of choosing the right viewpoint and the skilful use of light and shadow.
Must your last Lakeland book really be your last? Do please come again!
– – –
Now dare I risk spoiling this reply by asking a favour?
This book is a private venture (a mistake, I am beginning to feel) and unfortunately much excellent publicity has been negatived by the railway strike. Postal enquiries are very few, and I am getting a little anxious. Your letter, indeed, came as a great encouragement when I was feeling a wee bit depressed. I must now rely on personal recommendation, and I wonder if you could, without going to any trouble about it, manage to put in a good word for the book if opportunity offers when you are amongst kindred souls. A word from you here and there would, I am sure, help quite a lot.
This letter does not call for any reply. You have already done much to cheer me up by the kind thought that prompted you to write, and I am really most grateful.
Yours sincerely,
AW sent out flyers announcing Book One, hoping for orders or publicity, to various bodies who might help the book, such as The Sanitarian, the official journal of Municipal Sanitary Inspectors, who kindly gave the book a mention and an address for orders. He also sent the flyer to old friends in the Blackburn office. One of those who replied and bought a copy was Fred Sellers (1906–90), who remained in the Blackburn Treasurer’s Office all his working life. He had worked beside AW in the 1920s. He was small and thin, as opposed to AW who was tall and thin, and featured in many of the office caricatures which AW drew at the time.
LETTER 45: TO FRED SELLERS, JUNE 1955
Henry Marshall
Low Bridge
Kentmere
Westmorland
Telephone: Kentmere 45
Dear Fred,
I recognized your handwriting on the envelope. It rather pleased me to be able to do this after all these years.
Thank you for your kind letter, for the generous references to myself and for certain nostalgic memories which, in turn, have revived others in my own mind – of the snivvies (‘hey, you’re going down the wrong one!’); of weary nights of swotting; of munroe’s teas (and wasn’t there someone called Tina?); of the Pay Office Male Voice Choir – and particularly one I shall never forget, of the time you opened a bottle of red ink.
I thought then that those were happy days, but they weren’t; these are the happy days.
It is a pleasure to send you an autographed copy of The Book, and an even greater pleasure to pocket your remittance.
Yours sincerely,
Alf Wainwright
Then the more nit picking letters started to arrive, with readers loving his work but showing off their own knowledge, trying to counter some of his assertions.
LETTER 46: TO MR POLLARD, 8 JUNE 1955
Municipal Offices
Lowther Street
Kendal
Westmorland
8 June 1955
&
nbsp; Dear Mr Pollard,
Mr Marshall has passed your letter on to me, and I was delighted to have it. Among the many letters I have received, yours in the only one that goes into any detail, the sort of detail I find so interesting. Quite obviously, a kindred soul!
Yes, fancy calling ‘Cofa Pike’ ‘Cawkhaw Pike’! And ‘Ill Bell’ ‘Hill Bell’! And ‘Yoke’ ‘York’! And still showing what is now a grassgrown track up Langdale as the main road! Yet, with all these criticisms, and many more, of the 2 and a half O.S. map, I’d much rather use it than Bartholomew. I’m rather surprised that you, a stickler for detail, don’t prefer it too, for Bartholomew is so lacking in information.
I wish I had time to point out some Bartholomew (and Baddeley) routes that you wouldn’t find at all reliable! You’d be on hands and knees much of the time:
‘Catstycam’ I preferred to ‘Catchedicam’ because it looks so much more pronounceable, and anyway, I thought the second name was a corruption of the first?
I know the spot exactly that you mention in your separate note. The edge of the main path is badly eroded just here and the start of the zigzag is obscure. Most people, not knowing it, are bound to miss it and continue into Kepplecove.
If there are two cairns, as you say, perhaps we’d better scatter one next time we are up there and make the book up-to-date!