The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde

[mauseus]

Hi,

The bookplates thread interests me.

I bought the two volumes of the "Coin Collectors Manual", 1853, by Humphreys years ago when I was just beginning to develop an interest in numismatic literature. Looking at the price paid, £20 in 1990, it was probably too much given the poor condition of the books.

Inside each one there is a name inscribed in black ink plus a bookplate with the name Edward Jekyll. Curiously this is the name of the doctor in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 book "The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde" - but more of that later.

I searched Edward Jekyll on the internet and came up with such a name related to Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932). She an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist who created over 400 in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Then I came upon a link to an excellent family history website about the Archers, the Goodmans and associated families who included the Jekylls. On the page of Jekylls, including Gertrude Jekyll, is reproduced the crest from the bookplate - I had been fortunate enough to track down the right family.

So which Edward Jekyll is it? I'm not sure. It must be either Captain Edward Joseph Hill Jekyll (6 Feb 1804 - 26 Mar 1876) of the Grenadier Guards, father of Gertrude, or his son Captain Edward Joseph Jekyll (18 Aug 1839 - 3 Mar 1921) of the 64th foot, and therefore Getrude's brother. Looking at the membership of the Royal Numismatic Society does not help narrow this search down as the name does not appear to be present on any of the membership lists sadly.

I was leafing through Harrington Manville's book 'British Numismatic Auction Catalogues, 1710-1984' when I came across a sale catalogue of Sotheby's from 15-16 June 1915 which listed the collection of early British, Anglo Saxon and English coins of Edward Joseph Jekyll of Ampthill.

As the younger Captain Edward Jekyll died in 1921 I suspect that this is his collection (and therefore he was the previous owner of the book in the original post). That is not to say that any collection or library of the elder Edward Jekyll wasn't passed down to his son.

So where is the connection to the horror story? Well, Edward jr. and Gertrude had a younger brother, Rev Walter Jekyll, who was a friend of Stevenson and who borrowed the family name for the main character in the book.

[Steve Moulding]

Wow! What a fantastic story and detective work! That's a really cool set of connections.

If I had to make a guess, I'd say it was the elder Edward's plate. He would have been late 40s when the book was published, and the boy perhaps too young. But there are many other scenarios that would fit. Perhaps a gift to a young boy  to stoke his interest, or perhaps just simply bought by the younger Captain years later.

Steve

[SC]

Hopefully you don't begin to feel strangely or not your self after handling the book.........

SC

[Steve Moulding]

Mauseus, according to the Sotheby catalog at archive https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcolle00soth_84 quite a few lots contained coins dated well after Edward senior died in 1876. So this wasn't just a static collection that had been passed from father to the son (if indeed it ever did belong to Edward senior). It's a shame there are no listed provenances which would give more information, with the exception of lots 21-48 which were all "purchased by the owner from the Royal Museum at Stockholm". Maybe a clue.

Steve

[Mark Fox]

Dear Mauseus, Steve, Shawn, and Board,

In case anyone was interested, I did a little digging of my own:   
 
https://archive.org/details/britishnumismati2003harr/page/n237/mode/2up?q=Jekyll

https://archive.org/details/fixedprice2014kolb/page/n65/mode/2up

So we at least know the younger Edward had a true numismatic bent!  In the 1912 BNJ, he is cited thusly in the member list:

"Jekyll,  Edward  Joseph,  Esq.,  D.L.,  J.P.,  Higham  Bury,  Ampthill,  Bedfordshire."   

Way to go Steve and Richard for starting such fascinating threads! 

 
Best regards and Merry Christmas!

Mark Fox
Michigan

[Steve Moulding]

Hi all.   Mark, they were great leads! Inspired by your digging, I found that Edward Joseph Jekyll (the younger gentleman), in addition to being a member of the fairly new British Numismatic Society, was also a Fellow of the much older Royal Numismatic Society. He was elected on 17 November 1910 and resigned in January 1914 (I don't know why).

His name appears in the list of Fellows in a history of the RNS https://numismatics.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/a-history-of-the-royal-numismatic-society.pdf
and in the 1910 Numismatic Chronicle of the RNS https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.433/page/n18/mode/1up

So, he was serious! I'm sure there's more to be uncovered.

Thank you and Merry Christmas to you too!

Steve