Friday, December 9, 2011

Silent Auction XI

This is the fourth -- and last -- part of the generous donation by Paul, a former Chair of the Richard III Society of Canada:

Official First Day Cover stamps from St. Vincent showing
the monarchs of England from William I to Elizabeth II. Issued
to commemorate Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977. 

Four English stamps depicting the levels of medieval society
-- the peasant, freeman, knight, and lord -- issued to
commemorate the 900th anniversary of Domesday Book (1986). 

(Posting by Victoria)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Silent Auction X

It turns out that my parents are moving and clearing out old books, so here's another update to our growing pile of silent auction goodies:

Queen Victoria (Walter L. Arnstein, hardcover)
Western European Costume II: 17th to Early 19th Century (Iris Brooke, paperback)
Henry VIII’s Last Victim (Jessie Childs, hardcover)
The Last Princess: The Devoted Life of Queen Victoria’s Youngest Daughter (Matthew Dennison, hardcover)
The Wives of Henry VIII (Antonia Fraser, paperback)
Love and Louis XIV (Antonia Fraser, hardcover)
Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consort, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria (Julia P. Gelardi, hardcover)
The Tenth Gift (Jane Johnson, paperback)
Woodswoman: Living Alone In The Adirondack Wilderness (Anne LaBastille, paperback)
The Bishop’s Man (Linden MacIntyre, paperback)
The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton, paperback)
Marie Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette’s Daughter (Susan Nagel, hardcover)
The Other Family (Joanna Trollope, hardcover)
Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley (Alison Weir, hardcover)

(Posting by Victoria) 

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Silent Auction IX

This is the third part of the generous donation by Paul, a former Chair of the Richard III Society of Canada:


These four Ricardian coasters will be sold as a set.
(Slight damage to the lower 
right coaster.)


Two sets of replica coins from Richard III's reign.
The sets will be auctioned separately. 


An engraving attributed to Albrecht Durer known as the
 Prodigal Son, with mat. 
Engraving measures approximately
five inches or thirteen centimeters across. 

(Posting by Victoria)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Silent Auction VIII

This is the second part of the generous donation by Paul, a former Chair of the Richard III Society of Canada. These are the Ricardian titles:

The Trial of Richard III (Richard Drewett and Mark Redhead, softcover)
The Devil Within: A Medieval Murder Mystery Morality Play For Michaelmas (Paul Egelstaff, softcover)
The Itinerary of King Richard III 1483-1485 (Rhoda Edwards, softcover)
The Battle Of Bosworth (James Gairdner, softcover)
The Wars of the Roses (Anthony Goodman, hardcover)
We speak no Treason, Volumes One and Two (Rosemary Hawley Jarman, softcover) (only sold as a set)
The Betrayal of Richard III (V.B. Lamb, hardcover)
The White Boar (Marian Palmer, hardcover)
The Murders of Richard III (Elizabeth Peters, softcover)
The Sunne in Splendour (Sharon Kay Penman, softcover)
Richard III: England’s Black Legend (Desmond Seward, hardcover)
Henry VI, Part Third & The Tragedy Of Richard The Third Containing His Treacherous Plots Against His Brother Clarence; The Pittifull Murthur Of His Innocent Nephews; His Tyrannical Vsurpation; With The Whole Cause Of His Detested Life And Most Deserved Death (William Shakespeare, hardcover)
The Daughter of Time (Josephine Tey, softcover)
The Mystery of the Princes (Audrey Williamson, softcover)
Francis Lovel (West Midlands Branch, Richard III Society of England, softcover)
Richard III (G.W.O. Woodward)

(Posting by Victoria)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Silent Auction VII

Paul, a former Chair of the Richard III Society of Canada, very kindly donated a large number of books to the Society. Below are just some of the books that he donated to us:

Alnwick Castle (guidebook)
Balvenie Castle (guidebook)
Beowulf (paperback)
Dumbarton Castle (guidebook)
Royal Palaces in Britain (guidebook)
Royal Westminster Abbey (Bryan Bevan, hardcover)
The Age of Chivalry: The Legends of Charlemagne (Foreword by Palmer Bovie, softcover)
Royal Heraldry: Beasts and Badges of Britain (J.P. Brooke-Little, softcover)
Brass Rubbings (Muriel Clayton, softcover)
Royal Buildings (Howard Colvin, softcover)
Medieval Holidays & Festivals (Madeleine Pelner Cosman, hardcover)
The Conquering Family (Thomas Costain, softcover)
The Magnificent Century (Thomas Costain, softcover)
A History of Medieval Civilization (Joseph H. Dahmus, hardcover)
Dover Castle (S.W.G. Elvins, flyer)
Tudor Rebellions (Anthony Fletcher, softcover)
The Middle Ages: A Dover Coloring Book (Selected by Edmund V. Gillon, softcover)
A Medieval Alphabet Coloring Book (W.O. Hassall, softcover)
The Plantagenets (John Harvey, softcover)
Simon de Montfort 1265-1965 (C.H. Knowles, softcover)
An Outline of Heraldry in England and Scotland (Robert Inns-Smith, softcover)
The Shadow of the Tower (Joan Macalpine, softcover)
The Prince and Selected Discourses (Niccolò Machiavelli, softcover)
British Heraldry (Richard Marks and Ann Payne)
Herbs in the Middle Ages (Evelyn Meagher, softcover)
The Devil’s Crown (Keith Miles, softcover)
The History of the Kings of Britain (Geoffrey of Monmouth, softcover)
England in the Late Middle Ages (A.R. Myers, softcover)
King Edward III (Michael Packe, hardcover)
The Mary Rose (Margaret Rose, softcover)
Battles in Britain 1066-1746 (William Seymour, softcover)
Richard III (William Shakespeare, edited by Francis Fergusson, softcover)
The Kings and Queens of Great Britain poster (circa 1980) (Anne Taute)
Heralds and Ancestors (Anthony Wagner, softcover)
King Henry VIII: An Illustrated Biography (G.W.O. Woodward, softcover)

(Posting by Victoria)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Silent Auction VI

(I was tiding my mother's bookshelves and discovered a number of doubles, which she very kindly let me take for the silent auction.)

The Bastard King (Jean Plaidy, paperback)

Light on Lucrezia (Jean Plaidy, paperback)
St. Thomas's Eve (Jean Plaidy, paperback)
Ladies in Waiting (Anne Somerset, paperback)

(Posting by Victoria)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Silent Auction V

The Trial of Richard III, based on the London Weekend Television production (Richard Drewett and Mark Redhead, paperback)
Rubion (Tom Holland, paperback)
Take a Buttock of Beefe (Verity Isitt, paperback)
We Speak No Treason, complete set (Rosemary Hawley Jarman, hardcover)
Richard the Third (Paul Murray Kendall, hardcover)
Richard III: The Great Debate, More’s History of King Richard III and Walpole’s Historic Doubts (More and Walpole, paperback)
Richard III: England’s Black Legend (Desmond Seward, paperback)
The Joy of Eating
(Katie Stewart, hardcover) 
Food and Drink in Britain from the Stone Age to Recent Times (C. Anne Wilson, paperback)

Two three-inch plaster cast angel plaques with hangers on the back.
(To be auctioned as a set.)


A bone china Tewkesbury Abbey thimble. 

(Posting by Victoria)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Silent Auction IV

A Vision Of Light: A Margaret of Ashbury Novel (Judith Merkle Riley, paperback)
The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici (Jeanne Kalogridis, hardcover)

(Posting by Victoria)

Friday, May 6, 2011

Silent Auction III

Only two books to add to the silent auction list, but as there hasn't been an update to this blog in a while, I thought it would be good to let people know we haven't forgotten about the 2012 AGM. 

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Royal Blood (Vanora Bennett, paperback)
The Virgin's Lover (Philippa Gregory, paperback)

(Posting by Victoria)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Silent Auction II



A stained glass York rose, about eight inches wide, with hangers on the back
(snow and view not included). 


A pewter pig napkin ring.


These five cards with envelopes, beautifully stitched by Norma,
will be auctioned separately. 


Plaster cast candlesticks, about nine inches tall and to be auctioned as a set.
(Was it Henry Tudor in the Bloody Tower with the candlestick?)

 (Posting by Victoria)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Silent Auction

We are having a silent auction and thought attendees might like to see what's on offer so they can save their pocket money. This is just what has been collected so far!

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Portrait of an Unknown Woman
(Vanora Bennett, paperback)
King Arthur’s Round Table (Marin Biddle, paperback)
Dickon (Marjorie Bowen, paperback)
My Ancestors came with the Conqueror (Anthony J. Camp, paperback)
The Bible in English (David Daniel, hardcover)
Great Harry (Carolly Erickson, hardcover)
The First Elizabeth (Carolly Erickson, hardcover)
The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett, paperback)
Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles (Margaret George, paperback)
The Other Queen (Philippa Gregory, paperback)
The White Queen (Philippa Gregory, paperback)
The Prince in the Tower (Michael Hicks, paperback)
We Speak no Treason, Volume two (Rosemary Hawley Jarman, paperback)
Medieval Ghost Stories (Andrew Joynes, paperback)
Anne Boleyn (Norah Lofts, hardcover)
Eleanor of Aquitaine, two copies (Jean Markale, paperback)
April Blood (Lauro Marines, hardcover)
Falls the Shadow (Sharon Kay Penman, hardcover)
The Reluctant Queen (Jean Plaidy, paperback)
Marriage with my Kingdom (Alison Plowden, hardback)
The Forest (Edward Rutherford, paperback)
A Rose for the Crown (Anne Easter Smith, paperback)
Daughter of York (Anne Easter Smith, paperback)
The King’s Grace (Anne Easter Smith, paperback)
Elizabeth and Essex (Lytton Strachey, hardcover)
Elizabeth (David Starkey, paperback)
Cathedral Cats (Richard Surman, hardcover)
The Medieval Woman, an Illuminated Book of Days

(Posting by Victoria)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The First Joint Canada-US Branch Conference and Annual General Meeting

In 2004, the first Joint Canada-US Richard III Society AGM was held in Toronto. We thought that posting a review of the event would be a good way for possible attendees to see what we have in mind for the 2012 event.

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The Richard III Society Joint Canadian-American Branch Conference and Annual General Meeting was held on the first weekend of October 2004, headquartered at the Quality Inn Midtown Hotel (now the Holiday Inn) on Bloor Street where most of the attendees stayed for the event.

This meeting was the first time that the Canadian and American societies were holding their annual general meetings together. The idea was originally suggested by an American member, when the members of the Michigan branch of the Society had joined Canadian members for a production of Shakespeare’s King Richard III in 2002 at the Stratford Festival production.

Prior to the joint AGM, a lot of planning was done for the event by members of the Canadian executive, such as Tracy, Sheilah, Christine, and myself.

The event was attended by 56 registrants, including Canadian members from as far away as Sudbury, ON. In all there were 14 Canadian members present. American members travelled from as far away as Washington state, California, Texas, and Florida to take part.

The event formally began with registration at the hotel on Friday afternoon at three in the afternoon. We invited people to gather at the registration room for five so that they could go for dinner together.

At eight that night, we had a meet and greet in the two meeting rooms in the hotel. We presented the 1983 coronation video (now transferred to DVD!), had food for our guests, a cash bar, played some Ricardian-themed games, look at the numerous silent auction items available and a jolly time was had by all.

Members of the St. Swithun’s Society of Canada and the Monarchist League of Canada joined us for the evening and had a display of their monarchy memorabilia, which was busy throughout the evening.

The next morning, we served a continental breakfast and had two workshops: Clement did a wonderful job on his presentation of secular and religious music in the late Plantagenet era. The presentation generated a lot of discussion and laughter. Attendees were given a chance to exercise their vocal chords by singing some songs during the workshop.

Kathryn Finter, an artist from Ottawa did a lovely slide presentation on medieval illuminated manuscript materials and techniques and did a brief demonstration at the end of her workshop. As a result of Kathryn’s presentation, her generous silent-auction donation of an illuminated letter D copied from Richard III’s Book of Hours received a lot of bids and was finally won by an American member, who bid $165 for the lovely art work. At the break point, those who had seen Kathryn went next door to see Clement’s presentation and those who’d seen Kathryn took part in Clement’s workshop.

At lunch, we went to the Duke of York pub on Prince Arthur. There, after a barbeque lunch, Alexandra Johnston, a professor at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, Founder and Director of Records of Early English Drama and the Chairman of the Board of the Poculi Ludique Societas did a fascinating slide presentation on Richard III, York and Drama.

For the afternoon, we headed over to the Bloor Street United Church  and watched the Poculi Ludique Societas put on a delightful performance of the two-person early 16th-century play, The World and the Child. Afterwards, Sandra Worth gave a brief talk on her Ricardian book The Rose of York: Love & War. At the end of the event, the joint Annual General Meeting was held. (I can’t say much here as I missed the AGM.)

After the official business ended, attendees returned to the hotel to pick up their silent auction items. Thanks go to American members Amber and William for their kind assistance with the silent auction. We had many donations and had bids on more than 130 items, the majority of which were books, but we also had tea towels, a stained-glass York rose won by a Canadian member, souvenir spoons, a Ricardian tee-shirt and myriad other items.

Then attendees changed for the parade to Seeley Hall (click here for a picture of the room) in Trinity College at the University of Toronto where the banquet was held. By all accounts, Seeley Hall was declared beautiful with its exposed beam ceiling, leaded glass windows and hardwood floor. Diners were entertained with the music of Hurly Burly, a medieval and renaissance musical group from Peterborough, ON, who performed during the removes.

At the beginning of the meal, Clement directed the attendees in a sing-along learned earlier in the day at his morning workshops. The meal was wonderful with mustard soup, rolls and butter, salad, noodles and cheese, green peas with onion, chicken, a pear in wine sauce, Bosworth jumbles cookies served with coffee and tea.

At the end of the meal, Clement bought out a subtlety in the shape of a castle, with lit sparklers, filled with sweets for the attendees. At the end of the meal, a fashion parade organized by Pamela was held with attendees giving descriptions of their lovely medieval outfits as they paraded.

After a long day, our attendees headed back to the hotel or to home for some much-needed rest and relaxation.

Bright and early on Sunday, we gathered for the last time for a buffet breakfast at the Fox and Fiddle in the hotel. Afterwards, we gathered in one of the hotel meeting rooms to watch a delightful presentation by Joyce, Jane and Nita of the Chicago branch called "Comic Conjecture: Plots and Ploys to Reclaim Richard the Third’s Good Name."

At the end of the presentation, which got a lot of attendees talking, the AGM event was closed by our Chair Tracy with a few well-chosen words and wishes for safe journeys home.

(Posting by Victoria)