Royal Ephemera Newsletter Launched in the UK by Jim Hanson, Featuring his Extensive Collection of Rare Ephemera from Queen Victoria through to Princess Diana

Well known amongst collectors of royal ephemera, Jim Hanson has a huge amount of knowledge of ephemera in general, but his interest lies mainly in the royal family. His collection includes immaculate examples of menus, invitations, photographs, orders of service, and various documents commemorating royal events from the Victorian times to the present day. His newsletter, produced in conjuction with Robert Golden and Tracey Beaney, has received glowing praise from UK collectors and US subscribers in particular.

Exeter, Devon, UK (PRWEB) November 26, 2007 -- Marriage and war may not seem to have much in common, but they are both topical subjects for royal ephemera collector, Jim Hanson. Jim, a former dairy farmer from Whimple, Devon, has started a newsletter called Royal Ephemera Newsletter, and the second issue has just been released which features ephemera from the reign of Queen Victoria.

Amongst Jim's collection and of topical interest is a dinner menu dated July 22, 1939 from Dartmouth Naval College. It was a very special dinner and marked the start of the longest relationship in the history of a British monarch, a marriage which celebrated 60 years on November 20 2007. The thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth had travelled to Dartmouth with her parents and was to meet Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. Similar to Victoria's instant attraction to Albert, Elizabeth did not forget Philip and married him eight years later. Jim talked about these items in an interview he gave recently to Radio Devon. The interview has been uploaded to Jim's website, http://www.royalephemera.com

Among Jim's collection of modern royal ephemera is an invitation to the marriage of our Queen's parents, the Duke York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on April 26 1923, an invitation to the coronation on May 12 1937 after they had become king and queen, and an invitation to Elizabeth's coronation when she became queen in 1953, besides letters from Prince Philip, Prince Charles and a handwritten note from Diana, Princess of Wales.

Edward VIII and the abdication feature strongly in his collection, and was the subject of the first newsletter, which includes an invitation to Mr and Mrs Ernest A Simpson to the Buckingham Palace summer garden party on July 21 1936 and a supper menu dated December 8 1936, five days after news of the abdication broke in the national press. Jim has affectionately named the supper "Edward's Last Supper".

While the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are never far from the front pages of today's national newspapers, Queen Victoria also had her share of eastern conflict and was dogged throughout the early and middle parts of her reign by troubles in Afghanistan, brought about by Britain's desire to maintain supremacy in neighbouring India, an intention shared by Russia.

When, on September 3 1879, Major Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British Envoy at Cabul, was killed when Afghan rebels attacked the British Residency and set fire to it, Queen Victoria personally wrote to his widow, even though she was not acquainted with her. Jim has this letter in his collection together with a covering letter by the Queen's private secretary, R S Carshalton.

This is just a handful of the ephemera and photographs in Jim's collection and he will be releasing more in his newsletters over the coming months.

The Royal Ephemera Newsletter is published every two months and costs £55 per annum for six printed copies including postage to anywhere in world, or £30 per annum for the downloadable version. There is also a wealth of information online at www.royalephemera.com which includes a discussion between Jim and Robert Golden, an expert on British Royalty and a columnist for Majesty magazine, on Edward VIII.

To subscribe to the newsletter, log onto the website, or call Tracey Beaney on +44 (0)1404 813706

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