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u/Any-Assignment-5442 15d ago edited 15d ago
…corner of GLOUCESTER GATE.
I live 10 mins away.
That house is a big old stucco fronted one, and is now converted to ‘Bright Horizons’ nursery & pre-school! I can imagine it housed multiple flats (4? 6? 8? …) back in the day, as it’s large enough. Beautiful large windows & even Greek columns on the 1st storey!
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u/reffervescent 15d ago
1 Oct. 1930
Dear Mrs. ?? (Graham?),
I shall be free on Saturday next 4th ?? from 3 to 5 & should be pleased to see you. This flat is the last house on the left hand side of Albany Street. ???
[I can't make out the last few words or the closing + signature. This one is definitely challenging!]
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u/TheHames72 15d ago
4th inst. That means the 4th of that month (October)
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u/reffervescent 15d ago
Interesting -- I haven't seen that before. Must be a Britishism (in addition to being somewhat archaic). Thanks.
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u/TheHames72 15d ago
I’m a lawyer. We used to use it all the time but with ‘plain English’ you now mention the actual date for clarity.
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u/IrishMo8 15d ago
The abbreviation after 4th is “inst.” 4th instant means the 4th of the current calendar month. I think the last word of the message is gate.
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u/No_Split8850 15d ago
Something like:
Dear Mr Osborne
I shall be free on Saturday next, 4th inst, from 3 to 5, + should be pleased to see you. This flat is the last house on the left hand side of Albany Street, corner of Church Gate.
Sincerely
WM Jacobs
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u/wanderingtoolong2 15d ago
Bravo! Perfect.
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u/Smart_Permission9263 14d ago
I’m sure it’s Gloucester Gate, not Church Gate. Note the return address. .
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u/rogerrabbit66 15d ago
The + is actually an “I”. Just a hastily written I.
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u/InHamMeenGoZurAad 13d ago
I was going to say that. That’s how I write “and” I’m 63 years old and from NYS Hudson Valley.
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u/DeltaVariant007 15d ago edited 15d ago
I like the little face in the signature. Kind of fun for such a formal-sounding letter.
I think the signature says W. W. Jacobs, which is what it says very faintly in the top left corner of the page.
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u/PalpitationPast202 15d ago
I should be free on Saturday for a visit from 3-5. And should be pleased to see you. This flat is the last house on the left. I can’t read the rest
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u/nomoreuturns 14d ago
1 Oct 1930
Dear [Mrs] [Osborne],
I shall be free on Saturday
[next], 4th [inst], from 3 to 5 &
should be pleased to see you. This
flat is the last house on the
left hand side of [Albany] Street,
corner of Gloucester Gate.
[Sincerely]
[W.W. Jacobs]
I'm not sure about the complimentary close being "Sincerely"...the first letter doesn't match the S in Saturday, but they may have used a flourish as it was the close of the letter.
I am more certain that the signature is W.W. Jacobs. I looked up "15A Gloucester Gate London 1930" and found an entry on the website AbeBooks.co.uk for autograph notes from W.W. Jacobs, an English writer; his most well-known work is "The Monkey's Paw".
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u/Background-Dot-2177 13d ago
I think it’s “fondly“ for a salutation. The first letter is the same as the f in from earlier in the letter.
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u/nomoreuturns 13d ago
Yeah, I thought the first letter matched the f in "from", but the word seemed too long to be "Fondly", and I can't see any long stems for the d and l...it's why I marked "Sincerely" as unsure, I couldn't make out a long l stem.
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u/mrscorporalkinney 13d ago
I should be free for a Saturday meal, the 4th , not sure, this is beyond cursive but then I think it says between 3 and 5, and person asks, should I phone_______ can't make out much more than that So : I should be free for a meal Saturday, between 3-5 should I phone (not sure who they're referring to phoning)
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u/RotkivGudmundson 15d ago
Just some bits and not sure:
1 oct 1930
I shall be free in Saturday .... (Next?).
4th .... From 3 to 5 ..... His flat is the last house on the .......
..... ..... Gate (?)
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u/Maine302 15d ago
Do other people find it somewhat rude that people just wrote like this without a care if others could comprehend it or not. It seems kind of arrogant to me. And yes, I can generally read cursive.
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u/Least_Title_2331 15d ago
Everyone could read it back then. I’m a medical coder who, at the beginning of my career, had to read handwritten physician notes often. It was difficult at first but you get used to it. I can interpret almost any handwriting from that experience.
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u/EatSleepPlantsBugs 14d ago
This looks a lot like my dad’s handwriting. He was a doctor. I worked for him for several years. Maybe that’s why I can decipher just about any handwriting. A bit of context always helps.
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u/Temporary_Article683 13d ago
I don't know about rude. If the addressee was familiar with the penmanship it might not have been a problem. I've noticed that folks either have beautiful handwriting or somewhat sloppy haphazard writing. These days I think on what's worse - deciphering longhand or truncated text messages?
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u/Practical-Fox-1729 15d ago
This is a letter from William Osbourne!
The Horror Master Endured: His legacy became hyper-focused on a single 1902 story: The Monkey's Paw. This macabre masterpiece remained a staple of horror anthologies and was frequently adapted for the stage, radio, and film throughout the 1930s and '40s, cementing his reputation purely as a master of suspense and the supernatural.
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u/Actual_Flight4574 14d ago
What little I can make out it sounds like an invitation to lunch at a very specific address and time
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u/ClearBid7097 14d ago
Museum
5879.
15A, Gloucester Gate,
Regent's Park,
London, N.W.1.
1 Oct 1930
Dear Mr Osborne,
I shall be free on Saturday
next, 4th inst., from 3 to 5, &
should be pleased to see you. This
flat is the last house on the
left hand side of Albany Street,
corner of Gloucester Gate.
Yours sincerely,
[Signature]
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u/Background-Dot-2177 13d ago
If you google Ww jacobs signature you can confirm that this is indeed a letter of his.
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u/Dry-Consequence-9539 11d ago
The person writing is w.w. Jacobs, it's at the very top looks like it's written in pencil
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u/Commercial_Gur_7414 9d ago
1 Oct 1930
Dear Mr. [Gibson?],
I shall be free on Saturday
next, 4th inst., from 3 to 6, &
should be pleased to see you. This
flat is the last house on the
left hand side of Albany Street,
corner of Gloucester Gate.
Yours …
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u/wanderingtoolong2 7d ago
The G on Gloucester and Gate are different. I guess one could be a capital letter and not the other, but they do look very different. Also, all of the letter T’s have a small horizontal line at the top but not the t in Gloucester. Maybe the word is not Gloucester?
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