A few days ago I posted on Christine by Alice Cholmondeley (AKA Elizabeth von Arnim) and made this comment on a dedication inside my wonderful old copy:
"This edition was published in 1917 by the Macmillan Company, New York with a lovely cover and printing and inside a greetings card to Nelly from a Mr Russell O Snyder from Wilkinsbury, Pennsylvania. Now I wonder just who Mr Snyder was and why he gave this to Nelly - was she his sweetheart, his wife, his daughter? We shall never know. A slightly odd and unusual book to give as a Christmas present considering its content."
Well, to my total and utter astonishment and delight up popped an email a day later from Trevene Shillam, who lives in a relatively isolated part of New South Wales, no broadband as yet but fingers crossed, who reads my blog and because of being on dial up does not leave comments very often, but after reading my post on Christine, send me an email and and this is what it contained:
"My husband's great grandmother was Ellen Shillam who, when widowed, emigrated to the USA and married a Mr A R Snyder. Her youngest daughter who accompanied her was Nell who was born in Coventry in the UK in 1905.....it's probably stretching coincidence too far to suppose she was the actual recipient, but the two names struck me when I read them and it would be nice to think you identified a previous owner of the book"
Can you beat that? I can't.
