A true collector's item in chronicling motoring history

PAST IMPERFECT:The first and second story of a remarkable motoring book

FEW AUTHORS have the distinction of writing a second preface to a book that first made its appearance some 40 years before.

Yet that is precisely what happened to Gerard Rose, whose A Record of Motor Racing was first published by the Royal Automobile Club in 1909 and then in a new edition by Motor Racing Publications in 1949. Like the book itself, the story of how it came to be republished is quite remarkable.

But to begin at the beginning we must return to 1909 and the Royal Automobile Club, whose committee suggested that there should be a written record of the beginnings of motorsport, and that the records “ought to be collected and preserved for future generations”. This was quickly agreed, but where to find a suitable author? Eventually, a young engineering student named Gerard Rose was found, who was willing to undertake the work.

Strangely, Rose had no motoring or motor racing background, but set to his task with great enthusiasm and the assistance of the automobile clubs of France, Germany, Britain and the US. The finished manuscript was regarded as being the most complete and accurate collection of the data about the motor races from 1894 to 1904 and the Royal Automobile Club proceeded with its publication.

Having finished his task, Rose returned to his engineering studies and had no further contact with motoring while he pursued a career as an industrial consultant.

Although no record exists of the number of original editions produced, it was undoubtedly small and the book soon became much sought after by serious motor historians and those who wished to know and understand the origins of motor racing. In the years that followed, copies of the book were extremely hard to come by and those lucky enough to own a copy tended to prize it.

And so it was that on December 20th, 1946, a small group of motoring writers met for dinner. Present were “Sam” Clutton, Anthony Heal, Kent Karslake, Laurence Pomeroy and Wildegoose.

Somehow they had found an address for Rose and wrote to him extending an invitation to join them, not really expecting that he would receive their invitation. When a relatively young man appeared, they were suspicious that he was an imposter.

Rose recorded that they “regarded me with some suspicion until my ability to discuss or enlarge on almost any episode of the old racing days proved my identity to their satisfaction”.

In fact, they learned, Rose was only 22 when he penned the book, making even more remarkable what he achieved.

Over dinner, the re-publication of Rose’s book was discussed, but it soon became clear that the printing blocks, and more importantly, the illustrations, had long since disappeared. The noted motoring writer, St John Nixon, came to the rescue and provided for dismemberment an original copy of the book.

Thus, a new facsimile of the first edition could be produced by photo-lithography and was duly published in 1949.

So, are you likely to find a copy at your local autojumble? I once asked a book dealer, Terry Wills, just how rare either edition of the book was.

“You know, when I first started as a book dealer, the first book collection I bought for stock included a copy,” he said. “I thought about keeping it for myself but sold it on expecting to see more copies of it in the future. That was many years ago and I’ve never seen another copy – first or second edition – in all the time since.”