The Lost World and its journey

Recently I picked up a copy of The Lost World. It's a battered copy, but it's still one I love very much. 

It has the wonderful tan cover with donosaur prints across the cover. The publisher is listed as 'Henry Frowde. Hodder & Stoughton'. I can find surprisingly little about this 'large paper edition'. Frowde was known as a publisher of Bibles. Some bookseller copies state that  "1,000 copies were printed, of which 190 were bound in blue cloth (First State) in 1912 and the remaining 810 were issued in tan/brown cloth (Second State)". It appears the second state may have been published in 1914. The edition has thirteen illustration plates. Reviewing British newspapers does not show articles specifically referring to the release of this beautiful edition. How did it come to be? And why did it come to be? 

One of the interesting aspects of these editions are the meta 'cosplay' pictures of Professor Challenger, with the photograph being of Doyle himself dressed as Challenger. 

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This particular book was given as a prize to Herbert Charles Stevens, a student at Waller Road School in London. At the time his teacher was William J Langridge and the award was in 1921. Tipped into the book I found another certificate, from the 'Royal Ordnance Factories' to H.C. Stevens 'for diligence & proficiency whilst serving as an apprentice engineer' for 1925-26. 

It's wonderful to think this prize book was well-loved (which is why it's a little battered), and hopefully was treasured. What did the book do between around 1914 and when it was awarded in 1921? Did it sit new on a shelf waiting to be awarded for six years?

The awardee was Herbert Charles Stevens. He lived in London, and it's not easy to track Herbert in 1911 and 1921 censuses because many didn't list their middle names. In the 1939 register (created at the start of World War 2) Herbert was living on Southwood Rd, New Eltham in London - a single 'Chartered Engineer' who was born on 27 May 1908. With Herbert were his parents Charles and Hilda Olive. The career, location (London) and age of Herbert in this register match with someone who would have been attending Waller Road School at the time - so we can guess that my copy of 'Lost World' was sitting on a shelf in Southwood Rd in 1939, and thankfully survived the London Blitz. Thankfully, Herbert also survived the blitz, and he died in the Greater London area in 1992 aged about 84 (Bexley, 11, 434). Who knows what happened to my 'Lost World' copy from that point on till it came into my hands this year (2025, from a bookstore in Preston).

1939 Register

Let's go further in this deep dive!! What about the teach who awarded the book? Well, William Langridge should be easier to track down as we know he was a teacher in 1921 - the year of a census. In 1921, William J Langridge was living at 111 Howson Rd, Lewisham, London - a 50 year-old London native and 'Schoolmaster' at the London County Council Waller Road School (very tidy!). With William was his wife Emma R, a retired Schoolmistress, and their daughter Gwyneth aged 13. William was still living with his daughter in 1939.

1921 Census

Well, maybe I did go a little too far with this deep diving into the awarder and awardee of this copy of the Lost World, but it shows what you can learn about the journey of a book and its bookplate!