Old Book

New to me, as I picked it up at the Redhall Walled Garden Open Day just over a week ago. I was attracted to the leather bindings and marbling cover and endpapers, then the date of publication, 1817. Flipping through, as you do, I noticed a couple of village names that are very familiar, being close to my home, so thought it might be of historical interest.

You may notice a stamp at the bottom of the page, suggesting that it belongs to the City of Birmingham Polytechnic Library but, fear not, the front endpaper bears a stamp indicating that it had been withdrawn - interestingly, from their reference section.

Many questions become clearer the more I read. Hutton begins with his line of succession dating from 1586, naming each bearer of the name until his own birth in 1723, then speaks more of the immediate family members. So far, so ordinary.

He then, in detail, describes events as he remembers them, year by year: his early life so harsh, as a very young child sent to live with relatives who were not kind, and to school where treatment was cruel. Apprenticed first to the silkmaking trade, then to stockingmaking and to the selling of paper thence to papermaking itself, to bookbinding and to the selling of books, becoming wealthy enough to buy land. His move from Derby, to Nottingham to Birmingham, visiting relatives in those villages mentioned at such infrequent intervals.

It is in fact a historical report on society of the period - how people were treated by employers, tenants and each other in business and in private, even how they travelled - in his own experience. I was astonished to read how his medical complaints were treated by bloodletting, to the degree of severe blood loss. 

Having only read up to his report on the Birmingham Riots, I am already aware of the changing fortunes of this self-made man. Fortune was not always kind yet he lived to the age of 92.


I fully understand why it was kept as a reference in the Polytechnic Library and wonder what has taken its place in the University. Also I feel a little guilty at the relatively small donation I made at the Open Day.