Ramblings of a Deltiologist

D actually picked this one up for 20p as he is the deltiologist of all things Japanese. I was lucky that the previous owner of this photograph had written the names of the people on the back. Sadly, the deer were not mentioned. After searching the geneology sites, I decided to google their names. Sure enough, I found information on Dorothy Pilley and Ivor Richards. Other pictures of the two on the Web confirmed that the names on the reverse were the people in the picture. I am convinced the next postcard will be frustratingly dull in comparison, but we shall see. So, who are they? Dorothy Pilley is the lady. She is 33 in the photograph and she had been married for a few months to Ivor Richards, who is the 34 year-old gentleman in the picture. They met while climbing in Wales (Ivor is a very Welsh name and it is not a surprise they met climbing - I will get to that in a bit) and they married in Honolulu on 31 December 1926. The photograph was taken while they were on a world tour, but I...

Dorothy Pilley was born on 16 September1894 at 167 Camberwell Grove, Camberwell, London (will check out this address soon). She became interested in climbing, which was a predominantly male pastime, after a holiday in Wales. She didn't just climb Welsh mountains, she guided people in the French Alps, Mont Blanc chain, Spanish and French Pyrenees, Italian Alps, Oberland, and Valais. She married Ivor in December 1926 in Honolulu during a two-year world tour, which included the Canadian and American Rockies. In 1927 she ended the tour trekking in the Himalayas and then the Alps. I cannot find a reference to Japan in 1927. Her husband's academic positions took them to Peking in 1929-30, Yunnan Japanese Alps and Korea in 1936-8, and then on to the USA from 1939 to 1974 ( I will write about him next as he is also very interesting). She wrote a book in 1935 called 'Climbing Days' (already on order from Amazon). I will be scouring it for Japanese references when it arrives! She...

Nara is a city in Japan near Kyoto. Lots of deer roam around the town and people often feed them 'shika sembei' ('deer biscuits'). In the original photograph of Dorothy and Ivan this is exactly what they are doing. The deer are regarded as heavenly creatures and are thought to protect Nara and Japan.  Dorothy and Ivan were obviously being tourists.

Ivor was born on 26 February 1893 at Hillside, Sandbach, Cheshire. He attended Clifton College School in Bristol (as did John Cleese). After this, he became a student at Magdalene College, Cambridge University where he studied Moral Sciences and graduated in 1915 (during WW1). He seems to have been a sufferer of tuberculosis; he suffered two bouts in 1907 and 1915/16. I am wondering if this is what kept him out of WW1 (will check this). He apparently returned to Cambridge University after convalescing to pursue an academic career, but when nothing really came to fruition, he considered becoming a mountain guide in Scotland. The story goes that he went to visit Mansfield Forbes (a well-known eccentric figure at Cambridge University and founder of the Cambridge English Faculty) for some ‘letters of introduction’ to help him pursue his mountain guide career. In amongst the conversations about the wild Scottish mountains and Scottish domestic architecture (Forbes had a keen interest in the...

I have finally received the 1989 reissue of Dorothy Pilley's book 'Climbing Days'. It is quite a big book so it could take me a while to get through. On the inside of the cover she dedicates the book to I.A.R, Joseph Georges and All My Mountain Friends. I like the way she refers to her husband as a series of letters. I have been looking through old newspapers to find out more about Mrs I.A.R. I found a review of her book that makes reference to illustrations. Disappointingly, my 1989 version contains not a single picture, diagram or squiggle. I now need to hunt down the original. In 1935 this cost 16 shillings - not cheap. Interesting fact: a Mr Broadhurst was paying 16/- (sixteen shillings) a week to rent his shop on Camden St, Birmingham. The original costs about £30 so I guess it costs the same as it did back then!

Just like a scene from an old movie, my 1935 Bell and Sons first edition of Climbing Days arrived wrapped in several layers of protection. Written by the lady in the 1927 photo, Dorothy Pilley, and ordered through a specialist antiquarian bookseller in Scotland. What a treat to own the copy that sat in the library of The Ladies Alpine Club in London all those years ago when Dorothy Pilley was a member. The illustrations in this book just amaze me - ropes, ice axes and dodgy footholds.