Voices From The Past
Martin Chandler |Published: 1996
Pages: 2
Author: Rosenwater, Irving
Publisher: Private
Rating: 2.5 stars
This is a particularly odd one, representing as it does something of an afterthought. The initial catalyst seems to have been an entirely mainstream publication put together by Rosenwater in 1995 for Andre Deutsch, in which he collected together 500 Notable Cricket Quotations. There was also a limited edition of 95 specially bound copies, all numbered and signed and with one of the quotations hand written on the limitation sheet.
Around 10% of the quotations in the book came from the mouths or pens of Yorkshireman, and this has clearly caused Rosenwater to reflect on the paucity of sound recordings of the Yorkshire accents of the likes of writer AW Pullin (“Old Ebor”). The couple of pages of Voices From The Past represent the sort of musings that Rosenwater does not normally set out in writing though, as ever, his comments are underpinned by some facts. Examples are that the voice of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, born as long ago as 1809, is preserved, and that the voice another renowned Yorkshireman, Lord Hawke was also recorded.
So this one is not exactly essential reading, but it certainly raises an interesting point and, for the enthusiast and completist, is certainly one that has to be acquired even though, produced in an edition of just 20 copies, it is far from the easiest Rosenwater to find.
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