£695.00
A rare privately produced 1912 souvenir of the banquet held at Fleetway House, headquarters of the Amalgamated Press, presented “with the compliments of Lord Northcliffe.” Extensively illustrated with contemporary photographs documenting Fleetway House, its construction and the Harmsworth publishing organisation, and including a mounted colour portrait of Northcliffe after Philip de László. Preserved in its distinctive original ribbon-bound presentation binding.
A remarkable privately produced presentation souvenir of the banquet held at Fleetway House, London, on 7 November 1912, issued by the Amalgamated Press and presented “with the compliments of Lord Northcliffe.”
The volume commemorates both the banquet and the extraordinary growth of the publishing empire created by Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe (1865–1922), one of the most influential figures in the history of British popular journalism.
The title is printed in black and red: Souvenir of Banquet Held at The Fleetway House, The Amalgamated Press Ltd., Thursday, November 7, 1912. A mounted colour portrait of Northcliffe after Philip de László appears prominently near the beginning of the volume, accompanied by a facsimile signature.
Extensively illustrated with photographs documenting Fleetway House, its construction and the personalities associated with the Amalgamated Press. Among those portrayed are Sir Harold Harmsworth, Cecil B. Harmsworth MP, St John Harmsworth and senior members of the organisation.
The accompanying text traces the extraordinary development of Harmsworth’s publishing enterprise from the first issue of Answers to Correspondents on 12 June 1888, produced from a small office at 26 Paternoster Square, through to an organisation publishing nearly fifty weekly titles and employing almost 3,000 permanent staff.
A particularly engaging section recounts the success of the celebrated “Answers” Puzzle, noting that close to one million examples were sold within only a few weeks.
Bound in an unusual cream-coloured presentation binding threaded horizontally with brown silk ribbons and retaining ribbon ties at the fore-edge. The upper board bears a gilt-bordered printed label:
“Souvenir The Fleetway House / With the Compliments / of Lord Northcliffe.”
Binding considerably toned and mottled with age, with rubbing and wear particularly to the spine and extremities; ribbons showing some age-related wear. Internally substantially cleaner, with the photographs and typography remaining particularly attractive.
Title: Souvenir of Banquet Held at The Fleetway House, The Amalgamated Press Ltd.
Associated Person: Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Year: 1912
Edition: Original Private Presentation / Banquet Souvenir
Publisher: The Amalgamated Press Ltd., London
Date of Event: Thursday, 7 November 1912
Format: Large-format illustrated presentation volume, specially bound with ribbon ties
Few individuals changed British newspapers as profoundly as Lord Northcliffe.
Beginning with relatively modest publishing ventures during the 1880s, Alfred Harmsworth recognised that Britain’s rapidly expanding literate population represented an enormous new audience. Newspapers could be shorter, livelier, cheaper and more accessible — and could reach millions rather than merely the traditional political and commercial elite.
His publishing empire eventually encompassed titles including the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Times and The Observer, making Northcliffe one of the most powerful figures in British media.
This volume captures his organisation during that transformation.
Its own account begins in 1888, when Answers to Correspondents was launched from a tiny office at Paternoster Square. The staff was so small, the souvenir recalls, that “four would have made a crowd, and six a crush.”
The first issue sold roughly 13,000 copies.
Twenty-four years later, the operation surrounding Fleetway House was producing nearly fifty weekly publications, with circulation measured in millions and a permanent workforce approaching 3,000.
Fleetway House became the physical embodiment of that expansion. Photographs in this volume show not only the completed building but its actual construction — workmen on the roof, structural steelwork and cranes rising over London — creating an unusually vivid record of the headquarters of one of Britain’s great publishing organisations.
The banquet of 7 November 1912 therefore celebrated considerably more than a building. It marked the arrival of a new kind of mass media.
This presentation volume was produced for that occasion and distributed with Northcliffe’s compliments, making it an artefact from the formative period of modern British popular journalism.
An unusual and highly evocative piece of British newspaper and publishing history, with a direct association to Lord Northcliffe and the Amalgamated Press.
Its appeal lies particularly in its private commemorative character. This was not an ordinary commercially issued history of the company but a special souvenir produced in connection with a specific Fleetway House banquet in November 1912, retaining its original presentation label from Lord Northcliffe.
The extensive contemporary photography adds considerable documentary value, recording Fleetway House, its construction and many of the individuals responsible for the organisation’s remarkable expansion.
The mounted portrait after Philip de László, unusual ribbon-bound presentation binding and Northcliffe association make the volume considerably more interesting than a conventional corporate history.
For collections concerned with journalism, newspapers, publishing, advertising, London, mass communications or the development of modern media, it represents a fascinating primary-source artefact from one of the defining organisations of early twentieth-century British publishing.
