Photos of Ramsgate and Margate during the 1950s and The Second Sex book recommendation

 Photos of Ramsgate and Margate during the 1950s. So with the three Ramsgate photos I am guessing the date based on the clothes people are wearing and the lights on the clock House, which would either be for the festival of Britain in 1951 or the coronation in 1953. These are part of the batch of old Ramsgate photos that I bought over the counter here at Michael's Bookshop in Ramsgate a couple of weeks ago. These were from the relations of someone who had just died. The two Margate ones are from the Mick Twyman collection and these were handed to me on a CD by Andy Barrett who used to own the Belgium Bar. He gave me instructions to publish them on the internet so people could see them. The two Margate photos are labeled the naming of the North Foreland. That would be the name of the lifeboat I assume. The fallen lighthouse 1953, that would have been caused by the Great storm of 1953. This was a tidal surge storm where the low barometric pressure related to the storm causes the sea to rise.

Next a video about the book The second sex  by Simone de Beauvoir with instructions to get the Ebook for free online. This book is probably the most important feminist classic and forms the basis of feminism, to me it’s a must read for both sexes. 

Here is the link get the Ebook free online https://archive.org/stream/1949SimoneDeBeauvoirTheSecondSex/1949_simone-de-beauvoir-the-second-sex_djvu.txt

Margate, Primark, Westwood Cross and the High Street

I guess most of you who managed to either open the Thanet Times online edition or who have read the last paper edition will be aware that the new Primark store has opened at Westwood Cross.

The article, which I believe says this is the biggest Primark in Kent, and this does raise the question of how long Primark, in Margate High Street, will last?

These links take you some pictures of Margate, mostly the high street in August 2009

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id3.htm
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id4.htm
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id5.htm
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id6.htm
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id7.htm

Pre Turner Contemporary they do give some idea of the ups and downs of Margate since the opening of the gallery.

Shop wise however the key player throughout all of the ups and downs has been Primark, my wife last bought clothes there as recently as two weeks ago, in fact the last time we visited Margate.

Thinking about this I can't actually think of any other place in Margate where we regularly buy ordinary non food new goods, I wonder can anyone else?  

The picture above is dated 1820

The one below by Turner is undated, the should expand enough, if clicked on enough

I would guess it to be about 1787 when he was 12 and in school in Margate, its as close as I can get to a Turner of Primark, as you can see this was before Turner noticed anything special about the skies over Thanet.

This photo is of the seaward side of the Primark site in about 1870 at that time the sea came up to about where the middle of the shop is now.

Many thanks to reader Steve for repairing the photo

Turner and Margate High Street

After yesterdays watercolour of Margate from Westbrook I had a bit of delve to see what other paintings of Margate would be of interest and stumbled upon this one by Joseph Mallord William Turner of Margate High Street. It is undated but my guess is that turner did id it when he was a school in Margate, he was born in 1775 and went to school in Margate when he was twelve, and my guess is he was around twelve when he painted it.

The picture above “A View of the Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth” was Turner's first to be accepted for the Royal Academy's annual exhibition in April 1790, the month he turned fifteen and you can see the similarity of style.

Some of Turner’s pictures of Margate are difficult to identify, the one above is Titled “Margate” and I am pretty certain it’s the right way up, perhaps the word I am looking for is, demanding. 

The picture was drawn by G Varlo and engraved for the guide by J Shury, then I am afraid it was coloured by a colour-blind idiot but that is beside the point, which is for some time it was a picture in the main tourist guide to Margate and I guess people would have noticed if The High Street looked completely wrong.  

This is an old photo of the other side of the low buildings on the seaward side of The High Street in about 1860 I think.


You may need to click on it and then click on it again to make it big enough to see the detail.

I will add to this post as I get time

Old Margate Map Madness

The publication of the two old pictures of Margate this week which I think date from the period between 1860 and 1870 has meant that I have gone in search of a detailed map of Margate for that period.

The nearest I have been able to come up with is the one printed on the endpapers of David Scurrell’s book, The Book of Margate. As far as dating this map goes, if the date is mentioned in the book I haven’t found it. The part on the back endpaper shows both Margate stations so the map must be after 1863. I am guessing that it is about 1870.

Update I now have the date for the map, I found it in the book 1873.

For comparison here is a snapshot of the Google map which is up to date.

Searching for old maps of Margate I also came across one for this part of Margate in 1809 from the book I publish http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/catalogue/id322.htm

If you click on the maps they will enlarge and if you click on the enlarged map it will often enlarge again, you can then do what I have been doing, placing the photographs and speculating about the changes to Margate seafront.

Some pictures of Margate in about 1900

Trials and Errors, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/trialsanderrors/ has just remastered some more Photochrom prints by Photoglob Zürich, of Margate between 1890 and 1900, from the Photochrom Prints Collection at the Library of Congress and emailed me so that I can publish them too. He has also reworked the one he published before.Click on them to enlarge and then click on them again to make even larger.

When I posted the picture above before Tony Beachcomber commented.
“The original photograph is the "Royal Sovereign" at the jetty 1894. This is dated by the colours of the funnel of the "Royal Sovereign" at the time. On the right the walk way leading to cold harbour is open. This was damaged during the storm of 29th November 1897 and never reopend, which is a handy thing to know when dating prints., etc. This colour format is the one used on boxes of sweets, rock etc., that were sold as gifts at the time. I think the originals carried "a present from Margate".”

I am not very good at dating and identifying Margate pictures, so this was of help and any more would be welcome.

Incidentally when the jetty appears in later pictures there is a barrier between the jetty and the spur walkway and part of the planked decking is missing.

I find that I am particularly attracted to this method of presenting photographs.

Pictures of Margate in 1902

I have just started on the reprint of a Margate guide for the 1903 4 season and although the print quality owes much to the school of potato printing and there will be much enhancing of the pictures to get it into print, here are a few initial pictures from the pictures.

Very few of these guides have much in the way of photographs of local shops and hotels and although photographs come up where the quality is better it is often difficult top date them or to work out where the building is.

Anyway if any of you fancy taking a stab at working out where the buildings are of were here is the link http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/410/id16.htm

The Pull It Surprise For Literature

I am offering any of my blog readers that care to take me up on it a £1 book voucher to spend in my bookshop, the voucher will expire at the end of this week (reminder that the shop is closed on Thursdays here) and can only be spent by visiting the shop all you need to do is email me michaelchild@aol.com I promise not add you to my spam list, although if you are a local politician you will already be on it.

It may not sound much but in terms of, never mind the quality feel the width this could be 20 paperbacks or 10 hardbacks from my austerity section.

The picture comes from my copy of the Kentish Tourist 1822, which is in the early stages of becoming available as a cheap reprint. Is says on the title page that this is an edition with very superior plates, but then most editions do, the vignette on the half title says that it’s volume 1, not the title page though, my understanding is that volume 2 was never published, somewhat frustrating for the collector that doesn’t know this.

Volume 1 is fairly scarce as it contains 48 engravings and a map of the county, one would expect to pay at least £20 for an individual engraving and £30 for the map, the poor old thing became a bit of a sitting duck for the picture framing industry, during the last 150 years or so.

I paid £45 for the engraving I put in the post I did yesterday to give you some idea.

Ships The Westminster and Claudine ashore near Margate

A rather nice old print from 1841 although it’s quite a common print the hand colouring on this one is better than most.

The New Baths at Margate in 1828

This plate was engraved for the 4 volume book: England’s Topographer. A New & Complete History of Of Kent from The Earliest Records to The Present Time. Including Every Modern Improvement. Embellished with a Series of Views From Original Drawings. With Historical Topographical Critical & Biographical Delineations……. by W H Ireland.

Ireland is most famous for producing fake Shakespeare’s of his own authorship and trying to sell them for large amounts of money. Known at the time as Shakespeare Ireland, his history of Kent was slated by the critics when first published. “Irelands history of Kent is a miserable performance, with pretensions to being a county history……….he does not appear to have visited the county…….” In those days before modern libel laws literary criticism was somewhat more robust than it is today.

I publish a cheap reprint of the Isle of Thanet section in the book and one day, given time, I hope to reprint more sections on the other parts of Kent.

As this book contains a great many engraved plates sad to say it is often broken up and the plates hand coloured and framed.

Old pictures of Margate

I think these pretty much speak for themselves click here to look at the pictures

Old Margate Postcards

Working under the principle that Margate’s need for solace is greatest at the moment, here are some more old pictures of the town click here to see them Once again too old to be copyright so do please use them to decorate any posting about Margate or anything else you want. I notice from the counter that has been on this blog for just under 2 weeks that about 100 visits a day seems to be about the norm, so best wishes too you all.