‘A Trip to America’, recorded by a young, bumptious traveller from a successful English military family (his father was Commander of British Forces in China at the time), determined not to be overawed by New York City, and then completely overawed my people, elevated railways and high-rise architecture: ‘The structures at first sight, strike one as ridiculous. Why go up to such outrageous heights? Well it is necessary for New York cannot expand... It is surrounded by water and must therefore go up, & it has gone up to a wonderful height.’ Young Mr Ventris is eloquent on the sorrow of emigrants around him in Liverpool and Queenstown in Ireland as ‘smiles fade away and give place to serious looks & then the tears come’. And on the outward journey he found himself sharing R.M.S. Umbria with homeward-bound performers from a landmark production for African-American representation in vaudeville theatre, In Dahomey: a Negro Musical. Ventris responds to his new friends in the language of the era: ‘the two smart neggresses who had been performing in London in the n***** play “In Dahomey”. They were “great” the life of our part of the boat - singing, laughing (what a laugh they had, what pearly teeth).’ But best of all, perhaps, Ventris has tipped into his diary all manner of ephemera, postcards, menus, a sensational newspaper front page, recording every aspect of his trip, culminating in a page of business cards of those he met on board the return trip. A lovely meeting of cultures.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A bespoke buckram binding on this elephant folio volume, in very good condition titled ‘A Trip to America’ in gilt to front board. Measures 43 cm x 28 cm. Cracked over front and rear gutters; text block is sound. Paper watermarked ‘County Palatine’, a little age toned as expected. Ventris writes in neat easily legible hand, 24 pp. Circa 7500 words. Signed on completion, ‘Edw F Ventris 1906’ to recto of last leaf.
Edward F Ventris (1888-1935) was from a military family (he compares one of the boat stewards to an off duty officer) who would himself serve in the Indian Army (at the time of this trip his father was newly appointed Commander of British Forces in China) and his son, Michael Ventris, deciphered Linear B.
NARRATIVE:
Hand written by Mr EJ Ventis of Reading who departs Liverpool on June 21st 1903 for a 3 week ‘flying visit’ - actually 4 - with his friend and companion Mr T J Buck on board R.M.S. Umbria, returning on Cunard Line’s R.M.S. Luciana.
A United States of America dollar bill pasted to the first leaf begins the story, ‘It is a mere nothing to go some 3000 miles and back in the course of a summer holiday. More than nothing - vulgar! Why? Simply because its the coin, the ‘almighty dollar’ which takes one.’ Having completed paperwork declaring themselves not to be practising polygamists and passing a very cursory medical, both men board and as the ship departs our writer ponders the motivations of his fellow shipmates ’some with dreams of wealth and a wealth of dreams’. 9 colour tinted postcards of Liverpool, b/w images of Cunard Line ships and a Cunard Line timetable complement the narrative. A Second Cabin two berth room (number 230) is much to the pair’s liking. The dining arrangements, ‘the very congenial company’, the American portion of the smoke room ‘all cards and cigars’ are described. Conversations with fellow passengers on the merits of London over New York fill the idle hours. At Queenstown off the coast of Ireland ‘an enterprising [...] of Irish peasants is trying to do a trade in the sale of Irish lace and bog sticks from a small boat’ and new passengers include ‘the fairest of Irish colleens’. The language embedded in everyday life reveals in the descriptions the socially accepted attitudes of the period, ‘two smart negresses who had been performing in London in the ‘nigger play’ In Dahomey. ‘They were great - the life of our part of the boat- singing, laughing (what a laugh and what pearly teeth). ‘Poor darkies’ our writer notes on later seeing the same women having lost the key for their trunk as a customs officer opens it with a hammer and chisel on the dockside on arrival. Pasted in are copies of the bills of fare, the duo’s original dining ticket used while on board, a b/w image of a group of ship’s officers, a paper cutting titled ‘The Atlantic Rest Cure’ and images of Cunard liners and interiors.
New York nears. Coney Island, Brooklyn City, Richmond and distant pleasure resorts appear in view with ‘their brilliant illuminations’ and the Statue of Liberty at the entrance of New York harbour signals their arrival. Paperwork complete the pair disembark on Sunday 28th June 1903 and head to the Union Hotel. The sights and sounds are duly recorded. The American arts of boot cleaning and trouser creasing catch our writers attention, ‘I noticed these were carried out to a most marked degree by all classes, from the errant boy to his more distinguished ‘Boo’. The feeling of immensity and the ‘rudeness and roughness’ of everybody are noted. The Brooklyn Bridge, the streetcars, the people, the cultural differences and the architecture are described, ‘The greatest feature of this wonderful city is the skyscraper.... the working of these express lifts is extremely injurious to the liftman, the rapid motion affecting and impairing the nerves’.
A trip to Coney Island ‘a wonderful town of booths and fairs..... pop corn and hot sausage vendors.... automatic machines of all descriptions’ fills several leaves. The ritual of bathing merits several paragraphs alone, ‘the bathing suit is donned first thing.... one is at liberty to sit about in it on the sands or in the refreshment houses... not only men but also the fair sex’.
Pasted in throughout are a Cunard Line Second Passenger List, 30 contemporary postcards of NY scenes, maps and a full page paper cutting from the New York Journal, July 10th 1903 titled ‘9 killed by awful heat’.
Trips beyond the city take the pair to Niagara and on to Buffalo and Toronto ‘a busy and smart town’. Nerve wracking scenes are recorded on Independence Day, July 4th, as ‘rockets went up and guns fired blanks’. Images of Niagara Falls, train timetables and more postcards fill the leaves. The return journey back across the Atlantic departs on July 11th allowing time for reflection. ‘One of our American friends on board suggested that the captain had missed the island, had somehow steered wide. Well things did seem small when we landed... We’re Important, but they’re big’. Edward J Ventris signs off his ‘Trip to America’ unable to not declare his own country ‘the better of the two’.
