Arkill’s, Harrogate, Illustrated Xmas Annual, 1909

80pp. Printed card covers. Covers worn, chipped and rubbed at corners and spine ends and a little faded. Internally neat , clean and bright, pages have been well-thumbed. A Christmas Annual produced by R Arkrill, a leading printer, bookbinder and stationer in Harrogate. Packed full of contemporary advertisements from Harrograte firms, includes lots of local information and photographs of local people, scenes and events, with two short stories (The Splendid Pauper by Frank H Shaw and Christmas in Queer Company by William Le Queux). There’s puzzle and games section towards the end, a photographic feature on Knaresborough Castle Record chests and a fairy verse play for children to act out (In the Witches Parlour by Evelyn Grogan). The stories, and play, were apparently commissioned specifically for this annual from leading authors of note. Le Queux, in particular, was a popular science fiction, spy thriller and alternate history author whose best seller, The Invasion of 1910, was serialised in magazine form originally, from May 1906. Alistair Cooke, the journalist, paid tribute to Le Queux in his Letter from America.