found: A letter
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about the find:
where to start with this one?We found the book in a second hand book sale that came to Lampeter's Student Union. Linds, Julie and I pooled our loose change and put a third in each - I think it cost 30p in total. The only reason we bought it was for the letter!
And what a letter it is, too!
For those who can't decipher the handwriting, I've typed it out below, but it really does add to the sense of excitement if you read it yourself.
It's just amazing. The coronation, the cambridge boat race, the mysterious reference to a Sunday Times article.
I looked up the author (R.F. Bennett) and found out a whole bunch of info; apparently he worked at Bletchley Park during the war - you can read his obituary here http://tinyurl.com/68qv3w
---
From RF Bennett, Magdalene College, 16/6/1937
Dear [Hiedi? -unclear],
Upon your own head be the blame. You have often said you wanted a copy of my silly work, when it was published, so now I send it herewith.
And the result is that you will have to read some of it, because if you are not going to Paris we shall meet before long, and you'll at least have to pretend to some acquaintance [next page] with its tedious pages.
I'm sorry the Paris thing is off, because it might have been quite fun for you. But take the weekend (do you mean the MMB will pay for it?) and be thankful you don't have to stand about for hours [ladling out milk? unclear] in order to earn your fun. I heard of a new use for Paris the other day, from a communistically inclined schoolmaster friend of mine: he and his wife went across for a week to avoid the coronation, and apparently divided their time between historic spots and international tennis (Quite unorthodox as far as I know.
Today is practically the death of all things here. We survived the races after some nerve-strain (may I inform you that the Sunday Times was quite misleading about Saturday's stupidity. It wasn't the fault of anyone on the bank. I felt that as the responsible person they were getting at me.), and now the balls and other frolics come to an end tonight. I am staying up for a few more days - Tripos results on Sat. degree dinner next day, and also to comfort poor Arthur, who is undergoing yet one more of his eternal examinations. But I suspect to be home early next week and will ring up. Dare we go to the river again, or will it certainly rain? We used to be safe at Richmond anyway!
Now I must try and cope with a German letter which I [luuk? funk? unclear] - sending my professors a copy too: see what learned company you keep!
Blessings,
Ralph
responses:
It occurs to me that the fact this letter - dated 1937 - is still inside a book published in 1937, means that the Hiedi likely didn't read the book. And nor has anyone else since!by a guest user
perhaps it was never delivered...
by a guest user
these letters are encoded.
by a guest user
Is that how people talked back then? We are certainly becoming less literate.
by a guest user
It's Hilda, not Hiedi.
by a guest user
so it is! Thankyou, mysterious guest!
by u24
yeah, i'd maybe follow up on that encoding thought. It is war time and the basic encoding strategies point to maybe something else in there. the specific words chosen and the words and places hes referring to. The language seems a little off for the period and demographics.
by a guest user
haha, you really think they're encoded? It's not impossible; he did work as a code breaker at bletchley park.
But I doubt it.
by a guest user
"Is that how people talked back then? We are certainly becoming less literate."
Well, the writer of the letter was a writer, apparently.
by a guest user
People did not speak like the language used in the letter in the 1930's. This letter is coded.
by a guest user
I think it's quite possible it's coded simply because there is so much space between each word. No one write letters like that.
by a guest user
That's not the way people spoke back then. That's just how un-educated twats write to try to appear educated. Good writers write to be understood.
by a guest user
The spacing between words and lines is highly suspicious. I dabbled in codes and hidden writing as a kid - this is what you end up with if you're writing in some kind of invisible ink. See if you can find someone who knows about this stuff, and have them take a look at it.
by a guest user
People are making references to the war and the letter being encoded, but the letter is dated 1937, whereas WWII didn't start until 1939.
by a guest user
hmmm - its interesting to think its coded; have you noticed there are usually 8 words to a line? Or at least 7. Its unnatural to write like that!
If you had a numeric index you could use this letter as a code book ... there didnt happen to be a list of numbers too?
by a guest user
There probably wouldn't be a list of numbers. Both people would probably know how to decode it. Could be the date maybe?
by a guest user
If the individual pages of the letter are placed on top of each other and you look at a bright light source through the paper, does the long spaces of one page align with a word from the other page, and vice versa?
by a guest user
Concerning those who believe the letter to be encoded with some sort of key; the book itself could be the very key needed to decode the letter. Of course, one would need to know the decoding process agreed upon by the author and reader prior to the letter having been written.
As for the war starting after the letter had been written, there were already plenty of actions leading up to the war that occured in 1935 and before that as well. For example, in 1934 Japan withdrew from the Naval Treaty and in 1935 they withdrew from the League of Nations. Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Two months after this letter was written the Neutrality Act was signed which established the embargo of war materials. So war was definitely on the minds of the world at large.
This could be just an innocuous letter between friends or a mysterious coded message passed between liasons. The first two sentences are the ones I find most intriguing.
Thank you so much for sharing this letter and story with us!
by a guest user
I'm really sure it's not in code. There's absolutely nothing to suggest that...
by a guest user
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