Mystery Book Update

The plot thickens.

That fine gentleman of letters Nick Perring kindly inverted the image and came up with this.

These military chaps look a bit Chinese or Japanese don't they? 1937 was the start of the second Sino-Japanese War which lasted until 1945. Could that mean that this plate comes from some time between those two dates? The question mark in the bottom date suggesting that the conflict had yet to come to an end?

Does this help jog anyone's memory?

Any military historians out there?

Comments

[Richard Whittle]

They certainly look Japanese. The helmet isn't right but there's a "rising sun" (maybe). There also appears to be a white cotton bandana on the tip of the bayonet - or is that an artifact?

[Mike Nicholson]

The soldiers are I believe Japanese - the helmets and tunic collars are right for the period and the rifle would appear to be a representation of the standard Arisaka rife - probably the model 38. It was said to be the longest rifle of the period especially when the bayonet was fitted. I think you are probably right Scott that the plate was used for a book about the Sino-Japanese War. It was obviously produced well before Japan's entry into the Second World War and the figures are not the racial stereotypes beloved of later British and American publishers.

[Jane Willis]

My husband says that the soldiers are Chinese Nationalist infantrymen equipped with German helmets and Mauser or Mauser-style rifles. The Nationalist Chinese were trained by the Germans in the 1930s, hence the German kit. The star is the symbol of Nationalist China.

[Averill Buchanan]

Perhaps this has already been done - another angle to take in the investigation is to find out about the history of the house in which the plate was found. Who owned the house before and what were their connections? What builders worked there before? Are/were there any printers nearby (the plate discarded by a local company?)

[Scott Pack]

This is all fascinating stuff, thank you.

Someone on Twitter pointed out that if this was a printing plate the numbers would be reversed.

So what is it if not a printing plate?

[Anthony Hodge]

The numbers on the plate are reversed, we just flipped the image when we gave it to you so that it could be seen more clearly. So I think it definitely is a printing plate.

The house was previously owned by an old lady who had bought it in the 1920's and lived there ever since. She died at the ripe old age of 101 in 2008 and we actually bought the house off her daughter. So we have managed to find out some of the history of the house, and what her parents did etc, but there is nothing that we know of that would link up with the book.

There were other printing plates in the garage used in the construction of some homemade lathes, however they were less interesting economics books.

[Averill Buchanan]

It sounds like the "Japanese plate" probably came from the same source as the economics books; the economics books are probably easier to track to a publisher/printer. Can you tell us what they are called? Perhaps you've already tracked them down.

So the lady who owned the house came to live there while she was in her twenties - was she married? If so, what did her husband do?

Perhaps the local planning office work have records of work done to the house in the 1940s. Was the house hit during air raids and needed patching up?

Any more information Anthony? This is such a great idea for a novel!

[Anthony Hodge]

The plates from the economics books were just pages as opposed to covers and unfortunately are gone now.

The lady originally lived next door with her parents, who bought that house when it was built, and then bought next door for their daughter when it became free in the 1920s. We believe the house is one of the houses built for the 1907 cottage exhibitions in Letchworth Garden City and did not suffer any damage in the 1940s. We don't know what her first husband did as he died in the 1970s.