You are bidding on one typewritten, hand-signed letter by the English naval historian Roger Charles Anderson FSA (1883-1976).
DatedBasset Holt, Southampton, Oct. 1st 1922.
Addressed to the marine writer Christoph Voigt (1863-1946), whose submitted work "Ship aesthetics. "The beauty of the ship in ancient and modern times from a technical and artistic point of view" (published in 1922; a reprint that is also very popular today) he criticized in detail.
Anderson apologizes for writing in English because his German isn't good enough; However, Voigt could answer in German, as Anderson's German is sufficient for reading.
Written on stationery with printed letterhead from the "Society of Nautical Research", of which Anderson was the sole editor.
Scope:2½ written pages (sheets written on one side in the format 26.4 x 20.5 cm).
Without envelope.
Condition: Sheets folded in the middle. Thin paper browned and slightly stained, with edge damage. Please BEAAlso check out the pictures!
OverRoger Charles Anderson FSA (Source: English Wikipedia) and the Society for Nautical Research (Source: German & English Wikipedia):
Roger Charles Anderson FSA (23 July 1883 – 2 October 1976) was an independently-wealthy English maritime historian, collector, and a leading figure in the early years of the Society for Nautical Research and of the Navy Records Society. Four times editor of the Mariner's Mirror, Anderson was also a founding trustee, and later chairman of the board of trustees, of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.[1] He was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and held the higher Doctor of Letters degree. In 2005, the Swedish naval historian Jan Glete characterized Anderson as "one of the most important naval historians of the twentieth century. He mainly wrote about early modern warship technology and used his linguistic skills to write books and essays based on the literature from several countries."
Early life and education: The only child of Edith Tayloe Anderson (1859–1938) and John Rodgerson Anderson (1845–1922) of Basset Wood, Southampton, and a partner in the London ship brokerage firm of Trinder, Anderson & Co. in the Australian trade,[3] Roger Anderson was educated at Winchester College and Clare College, Cambridge. In 1905, joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served until 1911 as a midshipman and sub-lieutenant. During World War I, he returned to serve as a lieutenant and lieutenant-commander, spending a portion of his service time in motor launches at Gibraltar.[4] As a lieutenant, RNVR, on 1 January 1916, he married Romola Urquhart Mackenzie, daughter of Robert Fowler Mackenzie of Mosslein, Whitstable, at St Alphage's Church, Seasalter, Whitstable, Kent.[5] The couple had no children.
Historical interests and activities:
The Society for Nautical Research:Anderson's interest in sailing ships and their rigging led him to become one of the founding members of the Society for Nautical Research in 1910. In 1912, when the Society's journal, the Mariner's Mirror, ran into initial problems of finding material suitable to publish in a timely manner, Anderson was one of six men on the editorial committee who assumed the joint editorship from its first editor. Soon, this arrangement proved to be unworkable and Anderson became the sole editor by the acclamation of his colleagues in 1912. He remained editor until 1923, although publication was suspended during the war years. The Admiralty Librarian, WG Perrin succeeded Anderson as editor, turning the journal into a quarterly. With Perrin's sudden death in 1931–32, Anderson took over the editorship briefly until the new Admiralty Librarian David Bonner-Smith took up the editorial reins. On Bonner-Smith's resignation in 1939, Anderson became the editor for the third and final time, retaining the position through the Second World War until 1946.[6] He subsequently produced a number of the Society's occasional publications and served as president of the Society from 1951 to 1960.
National Maritime Museum:Shortly after Geoffrey Callender's appointment as Professor of Naval History at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1922, Callender began to promote the idea that the College's former naval museum that had originated with the Greenwich Naval Hospital's Collection, should be re-established for teaching purposes . The collection had been partially dispersed with some models going to the Imperial War Museum, but part of it remained available. By 1924, Callender had succeeded in establishing a committee of experts to oversee the management and display of the remaining collection. All of the committee members were associated with the College, except for Anderson, the sole outside expert.[7] This collection soon formed the basis for Callender's suggestion in 1927 to the Society for Nautical Research that it take over the collection and house it in the Queen's House, after the Royal Hospital School vacated it to move to Holbrook. The Society enthusiastically took up the proposal and formally suggested that the museum become a national naval museum. Anderson became a member of the museum's first board of directors when it was established in 1927. At this point, Anderson made it known that he was willing to bequeath his collection of ship models, naval signal books, manuscripts, and Willem van de Velde drawings, along with an endowment of £50,000.[8] He became the second chairman of the board of Trustees, succeeding James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope.
Southampton Record Society: Anderson edited several volumes for the Southampton Records Society in the 1920s and served as Joint Hon. General Editor from 1931 to 1939.
Death, Memorials, and Legacy: RC Anderson died at the age of 93 on 2 October 1976, while living at 9 Grove Place, Lymington, Hampshire.[9] He was buried with his parents in the churchyard at St Nicolas' Church, North Stoneham, Eastleigh, Hampshire. A memorial service was held in the Chapel of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
On his death, he left the Society of Nautical Research, the Navy Records Society, and the National Maritime Museum as joint residual legatees. In 1984, his wife, Romola Anderson, gave the Navy Records Society a generous gift. As a result, that Society dedicated the fifth volume of its Naval Miscellany series, edited by the Society's Hon. Secretary NAM Rodger, "To the Memory of RC Anderson, Historian and Benefactor."[10] As Captain AB Sainsbury wrote in his history of the Society's first hundred years, "Dr. RC Anderson must be distinguished among individual benefactors, and the Society recognized his considerable generosity by dedicating a volume to his memory, a compliment intended to be as particular as "Pitt escorting Nelson to his carriage."
In an obituary published in the Mariner's Mirror, George Naish of the National Maritime wrote of his published works, "His writings were often only dull but always thoroughly trustworthy. He thrived on facts and figures."[12] Anderson's memorial, Naish wrote "is in the galleries and library of the Museum, well stocked with the books and ship models he loved so well and had donated in many cases"
On the death of Mrs. Romola Anderson in June 1990, the Navy Records Society received a sum of about £70,000.
In 1997, the Society of Nautical Research created its Anderson Medal in memory of RC Anderson. There are two series of awards, the first is awarded to an exemplary volume on maritime history published during the previous year. The Society made its first award in this category to NAM Rodger in 1998. The second series is awarded for lifetime achievement in maritime history. The Society made its first award in the lifetime achievement series in 2017 to John Hattendorf.[15][16]
Navy Records Society: Anderson served on the Council of the Navy Records Society and edited four volumes of documents for the Society.
Publications by RC Anderson
In addition to the following books, Anderson contributed several articles to the English Historical Review and some thirty to the Mariner's Mirror,[17] as well as an edited selection in the Navy Record's Society's Naval Miscellany, vol IV.
Canoeing and camping adventures (London, 1910).
Naval wars in the Baltic during the sailing-ship epoch, 1522–1850 (London, 1910; 1969).
The Naval Pocket (1912–15)
A treatise on rigging written about the year 1625, from a manuscript at Petworth House, edited by RC Anderson ([Southampton, Eng.]: Society for Nautical Research, 1921).
Letters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries from the archives of Southampton, edited by RC Anderson (Southampton: Cox & Sharland, 1921).
The Assize of bread book, 1477–1517, edited by R. C. Anderson. (Southampton: Cox & Sharland, 1923)
The sailing-ship: six thousand years of history, by Romola and RC Anderson (London: GG Harrap & Company Ltd. 1926; New York: Robert M. McBride, 1926; reprinted as A short history of the sailing ship New York: Dover , 1962).
The book of examinations, 1601–1602: with a list of ships belonging to Southampton in the years 1570–1603, edited by RC Anderson (Southampton: Cox & Sharland, 1926).
The Journal of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, admiral and general at sea, 1659–1665, edited by RC Anderson. Publications of the Navy Records Society, v. 64 (London, 1929).
The book of examinations and depositions, 1622–1644, edited by RC Anderson (Southampton: Cox & Sharland, 1929–36).
The rigging of ships in the days of the spritsail topmast 1600–1720 (Salem, Mass: Marine Research Society, 1927; New York: Dover, 1994).
Bibliography of printed books on shipbuilding, rigging, seamanship and kindred subjects, of the period of wooden sailing ships and galleys (1930)
The journals of Sir Thomas Allin, 1660–1678, edited by R. C. Anderson. Publications of the Navy Records Society, vols. 79, 80 (London, 1939–40). Publications of the Navy Records Society, vol. 101 (London, 1959).
Journals and narratives of the Third Dutch War, edited by RC Anderson. Publications of the Navy Records Society, v. 86. ([London]: Navy Records Society, 1946).
Index to the Mariner's Mirror, vols 1–35 (London: Society for Nautical Research, 1956).
A treatise on shipbuilding and a treatise on rigging, written about 1620–1625," edited by W. Salisbury and RC Anderson. Occasional publication, 6 (London: Society for Nautical Research, 1958).
A memoir of James Trevenen, edited by Christopher Lloyd and R. C. Anderson. Publications of the Navy Records Society, vol. 101 (London, 1959).
Oared fighting ships from classical times to the coming of steam (London: P. Marshall, 1962; Kings Langley, [Eng.]: Argus Books, 1976).
List of English men-of-war, 1509–1649 ([London]: Society for Nautical Research, 1959).
Naval wars in the Levant, 1559–1853 (Liverpool: University Press, 1952)
Catalog of ship models. Scale models (London: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, 1952).
Seventeenth-century rigging: a handbook for model-makers (London: P. Marshall, 1955).
List of English Naval Captains, 1642–60 (London: Society for Nautical Research, 1964).
60 years in small boats (London: National Maritime Museum, 1984)
The Society for Nautical Research (SNR) is a British naval history society founded in 1910. The headquarters is Greenwich (London).
It has around 1,600 members from over 30 countries (2013) and is also internationally oriented thematically.
In 1921 she organized a fundraiser for the preservation of HMS Victory. Their preservation is still one of their tasks today. In 1926 she also supervised her restoration in dry dock. She is also committed to the preservation of other historic ships, supports research into naval history and underwater archaeology, makes purchases for the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which she helped found in 1934 and whose first director Geoffrey Callender, honorary secretary and treasurer of the SNR, was. She was also involved in the founding of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth (1938), which grew out of the society's Victory Museum, as well as the founding of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, which, in addition to the naval history of Cornwall, also houses the collection smaller watercraft that was previously in Greenwich.
It organizes conferences and symposiums and publishes the trade journal Mariner's Mirror, which has been published quarterly since 1911.
The current patron is the Admiral Duke of Edinburgh and the president is the Duke of York (2013).
The Society for Nautical Research was founded in 1910, initially to encourage research into nautical antiquities such as seafaring, ship-building in all ages and nations, into the language and customs of the sea, and other items of nautical interest. The Chairman of the Society is Dr David Davies MA DPhil FRHistS FSNR. Past chairmen include Alan Villiers, Professor Michael Lloyd, Professor Richard Harding and the immediate past chairman, Admiral Sir Kenneth Eaton.
HMS Victory Preservation: In 1922 the Society initiated a national public appeal to raise funds to save Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, launched in 1765, which was then in a very poor state of repair.[7] The appeal was the recipient of funding from Sir James Caird, and the Save The Victory Fund raised sufficient funds to secure HMS Victory in dry dock in Portsmouth and provide a permanent endowment for the ship.[8] The Victory Technical Committee was established to undertake research into appropriate preservation measures and the Society ensured that artifacts from the ship were properly conserved in the Victory Museum.[9] In 1972 the Victory Museum expanded to become the Portsmouth Royal Naval Museum, under Admiralty administration, and subsequently the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth.[10] The Society still supports HMS Victory by funding research into areas such as paint samples and wood marks.[11] Since 1922 the Society has provided over £1 million to the upkeep of the ship.[12]
Creation of The National Maritime Museum: In 1913 the Society assisted in the reorganization and rationalization of the collection of the Royal Naval Museum in the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.[13] During World War 1 the collection was dispersed, but in 1924 the Society cataloged and created an inventory of the collections. In 1925 during a meeting of the Society's Council the concept of a National Maritime Museum was raised for the first time, when the task of setting up a permanent home for the Admiralty's collection of ship models was given to a new Trust.
In 1927 the Admiralty made an official announcement: “It having become necessary for a body of trustees to be appointed to take charge of the interests and property of the National Naval and Nautical Museum which is eventually to be accommodated in the Queen's House at Greenwich, The First Lord of the Admiralty has obtained consent from the following, Earl Stanhope DSO, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Admiral Sir George PW Hope, Chairman of the Council of the Society for Nautical Research, Sir Lionel Earle KCB KCVO, Secretary of the Office of Works, Mr Roger C. Anderson, FS A, Member of the Council of the Society for Nautical Research, Prof Geoffrey Callender, FSA, Royal Naval College Greenwich.
The Trust, which was largely staffed by officials of the Society, eventually created a home for the large collection of items, prints and drawings, including the Macpherson Collection, in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.
The Macpherson Collection Endowment Fund: In 1927 an appeal was launched to raise £120.00 in order to save 11,000 maritime prints, drawings and paintings collected by yachtsman and collector Arthur Macpherson from being sold abroad. Sir James Caird stepped in again and purchased the entire collection. This enabled the funds raised by public subscription to be used to establish the Macpherson Collection Endowment Fund, which purchases art, prints and drawings for the nation, which are held in the National Maritime Museum.[18] The Macpherson Collection Endowment Fund is administered by the Society.
Research and Awards: The Society for Nautical Research supports new research by providing grants to students undertaking nautical research and seminars and conferences on maritime topics.[20] It also provides financial support to the annual conference for new researchers in maritime history.[21] In addition the Society presents the annual Anderson Medal book award in memory of founder and naval scholar Dr Roger Charles Anderson [22] and the Victory Medal, awarded to those who have displayed notable dedication in the conservation of a historic vessel.[23] Since 2017 the Society has also organized its own conferences in partnership with other institutions. The most recent was held in Bristol in 2019 with SS Great Britain and the Brunel Institute.
The Mariner's Mirror: The Mariner's Mirror is the peer-reviewed quarterly journal of the Society for Nautical Research. First published in 1911, the journal publishes original papers, articles, notes and book reviews on a wide range of topics relating to humankind's relationship with the sea, including archaeology, shipbuilding and design, historic vessels, naval tactics, administration and logistics, merchant seafaring , shiphandling and seamanship and other subjects of nautical interest.
The Mariner's Mirror is ranked as an ERIH Plus journal by the European Reference Index for the Humanities and is published quarterly in collaboration with Taylor & Francis.
The Editor of The Mariner's Mirror is Dr Martin Bellamy.
Fellows of the Society for Nautical Research: In 2016 the society instituted Fellowships to recognize members' contribution to its work. As of November 1, 2018 there were 43 Fellows of the Society.
Other Activities: In 2020 the Society launched a podcast covering all topics and periods of maritime history.
Publications
Mariner's Mirror (1911-date), quarterly ISSN 0025-3359
Newsletter: Topmasts