David Murray and Elizabeth Surtees are world travellers themselves, so it’s not surprising that a beautiful set of travel books, printed between 1901 and 1921, caught their eye.
Called the Twenty Shilling Series, the rare antiquarian books, travelogues of their time, would have provided a wealth of information for travellers of the early 20th century, says Murray, as well as to those who couldn’t afford to travel. The books were sold by subscription for just 15 shillings in advance, a common method for selling books at that time so publishers knew in advance how many to print for subscription, which were guaranteed sales, and how many more they speculated they could sell.
Those sold after the subscription were 20 shillings, about a week’s pay for a London worker, Murray says, so expensive for a book, but cheaper than a trip they couldn’t afford to take.
The couple’s Twenty Shilling Series, 92 books collected over a period of about 15 years and the only complete set in Canada, has recently been donated to Brock University.
“We are book people, and have been for ages. As you approach the end of life, you look around and think, what’s going to happen to all of this?,” says Murray. “And you want something good to happen, rather than giving it to family that won’t appreciate it. So you think of an institution that will value it, and use it for learning.”
Having donated books to Brock and to Laurier universities over the years, the couple decided to gift the series — each book featuring a place or country around the world, Murray explains, with one volume dedicated to Canada — to Brock for its library’s Archives and Special Collections section.
“It will be looked after by them, and will be of scholarly value to the institution,” he says.
The books, printed by publishing house Adam and Charles Black, based in London, England, are “well-decorated,” he says, with high-quality colour plates, good writing and interesting covers. “You wouldn’t see that kind of quality nowadays.”
They are books “you might have given as a Christmas present,” says Murray, “or if you subscribed to them, accumulate with pride.”
It was very rewarding to the couple to build the collection, and important that it not be scattered, he said.
“We enjoyed having them. We are world travellers ourselves, and have been to many of these places. We could pick up one of these books and see how different they looked in 1922. We’ll miss them, but with them at Brock, we can go and visit them any time.”
Murray says he’s sure if anyone knew they were there and called up Brock’s special collections department, “they would be able to go and see them.”
The books, he added, “are national treasures, and should be exhibited.”
He found his first volume before meeting Surtees, he says, and they continued searching them out together. Collecting rare books and attending book fairs — more common in pre-COVID days — have been favourite pastimes for the local couple, who met in a bookstore in Toronto, and bonded over their mutual interests, which also include art and travel.
They were both browsing, Murray says, at a Yonge Street store that specialized in books on art.
“I had been given two tickets to the opening of an art exhibition nearby. As a single gentleman, I welcomed the opportunity to go anywhere on a Monday night, which it was. This attractive, demure lady was there also looking at books, and I said, ‘I’ve got these two tickets. I’ll give you one if you would like to go. I’m going, and you can have the other ticket.’”
He was trying not to sound like he was asking for a date, he says, and she agreed to go. “And that’s how I met her.”
Surtees had homes in Toronto and Elora, Murray in Toronto, and although they saw each other socially for years, “we weren’t an item,” he says.
Eventually they were, although they weren’t married until they came to live in Niagara, which was 2001, where they first lived on Johnston Street, downsized to Gage, “500 metres around the block,” and at that time donated some paintings to Willowbank School of Restoration Arts. They have since moved to a new home on Four Mile Creek Road in St. Davids, where they live now.
The Twenty Shilling Series, Murray says, “was acquired over the years, one by one, at book fairs and bookstores, including one locally, in Port Colborne, a well-
regarded antiquarian bookstore with books on all sorts of subjects.”
Once you start a collection, Murray adds, “you say to yourself, you have to have the rest. We knew there was no full set in Canada, and we were going to have one. It even had its own book case.”
Murray says they have donated other books of value, including an atlas to Western University. He has an interesting story to tell in relation to the ceremony held to recognize that donation, when they came across a special Shakespeare exhibit at the university.
There is one portrait thought to be the only depiction of William Shakespeare painted while he was alive, authenticated by many experts through years of research, Murray explains. It was exhibited for a time at the Royal Ontario Museum, and an artist bought a ticket, spent his time looking at the painting and taking in the details, and after his five minutes of viewing it sketched what he remembered. After visit number four, he went home and painted a reproduction, or copy of what he saw, in exactly the same dimensions.
Murray tracked down the artist of the copy, asked if he could buy it, and when the artist named “a three-figure price,” it was his.
There was only ever that one copy of the reproduction, he says, and when he was at Western, and saw the exhibit of Shakespeare, he decided to offer it to the university. After an appraisal, he was offered a tax receipt — for more than three figures, he adds — so it is now part of a special collection in Western, it too going to a good home.
Murray and Surtees are supporters of Brock, and have created two graduate student awards at the university.
Also members of the Niagara Historical Society, the David C. Murray and Elizabeth Surtees/Niagara Historical Society Scholarship in the History of Niagara is awarded each year to a master’s student in history carrying out research on a local history subject at Brock.
Retired as a labour arbitrator, Murray has also created the David C. Murray Scholarship in Political Science for a master’s student planning to specialize in law, human resources and dispute resolution, including labour arbitration.
Some volumes of the Twenty Shilling Series are on display on the main floor of the Brock University Library until the end of August.
