When is a book not just a book? I’m aware that there are a LOT of answers to this question but in this instance it’s when it’s also a treasure hunt. In this week’s lectures we’ve been discussing ideas around material culture and objects as evidence so I want to take this opportunity to discuss my favourite book: Masquerade by Kit Williams.
To follow Jules Prown’s methodology for discussing material culture, I’ll be describing the object what it looks like and what it’s made of (description); discussing the link between myself and the book and how it makes me feel (deduction) then finishing up with how someone might understand the book from an outside perspective (speculation) (Prown 1982).
Picking the book up, Masquerade looks like a children’s book; brightly coloured, large illustrations combined with text on paper pages in a hardback cover. Upon closer inspection, you see the illustrations are detailed plate paintings and the text is full of riddles and poems as it winds through the story. Quite typical as you flick through it, although the title page presents a rhyme, giving a hint of what’s in store:
Within the pages of this book there is a story told
Of love, adventures, fortunes lost, and a jewel of solid gold.
To solve the hidden riddle, you must use your eyes,
And find the hare in every picture that may point you to the prize.
Turning to the back of the book you can find a photo of the mentioned; a gorgeous 18-carat gold hare necklace with charms and precious gems attached. Williams promises the reader that it’s ‘as likely to be found by a bright child of ten with an understanding of language, simple mathematics and astronomy, as it is to be found by an Oxford Don’. With the promise of treasure, the reader leaps off on a journey with Jack Hare to deliver a precious gift from the moon to the sun; a token of her love and admiration. It’s not unusual to have adventure in a story book that leads to treasure, but it is quite rare when the treasure hunt is real and the promised treasure is genuinely buried for the readers to find. My copy of the book is a little battered around the edges but otherwise in good condition to say that it’s over 40 years old. Published in 1979, it belonged to my Dad as a boy and remained at my grandparents’ house. It has slightly yellowed pages and the hint of old book smell from the book cupboard it was kept in.
Every time I visited, I anxiously pored over the pages of the book, desperately trying to solve the riddles; some were easy enough, others proved a little trickier and offered red herrings. I have very fond memories of engrossing myself in the plate paintings, seeking out the hidden hare in every one, with my grandparents giving a helping hand along the way; my Grandad was an avid puzzler so I suspect he really enjoyed the continued efforts to solve each puzzle. When my Nana moved house following my Grandad passing away, the book was given to me to keep and look after.
Evidently, it has a lot of sentimental value to me; it evokes memories of sitting in my grandparents’ living room, admiring the beauty of the book and spending time with family. The running theme of hares through the book seems to have made a lasting impression on me as they run through my possessions; from mugs and coasters to jewellery and pinboards. Going back to Masquerade now, it still has a pull; it draws me into a world that is fantastical, steeped in folklore and rhymes. Despite the time that’s elapsed since the book was written, it has a timeless feel to it and I think this is something that I value most about it. Every time I pick up the book I get a kick of nostalgia for my own childhood but also get drawn into the riddles, word games and paintings that are simultaneously realistic and surrealist. The riddles eluded me – even after reading how to solve the puzzles to finish the hunt, I knew that it simply would have been beyond my capabilities but that doesn’t diminish my love for it.
Without knowing about me or my family, my sentimental attachment to Masquerade would be lost entirely, however I imagine that there will be plenty of people who share memories of this book from entirely different perspectives. There will be people out there that bought the book in 1979 and embarked upon the quest to solve the puzzle and find the treasure. International airlines offered tickets to the UK for treasure hunters to seek the golden hare, offering a shovel when you stepped off the plane. Due to the nature of the way to solve the puzzles, other copies of the book may have been annotated and scribbled in; a point that many commenters on a dedicated Masquerade website, Bunny Ears, note as they reminisce about their own copies of the book – multiple scribbled copies in some cases.
When you add in Masquerade’s dimension of the real-life treasure hunt, it isn’t just a book; it is an object to find another object. The golden hare was found in 1982 (subject to a bit of controversy), so how does this affect the book? Does it diminish the book and make it redundant as the treasure hunt has served its purpose? I would argue not; the fascinating thing about Masquerade is that it’s an enchanting object within its own right for its artwork and storytelling. Even though there is no longer treasure at the end of it, there’s still a desire to work through the puzzles and see how it’s solved. My own copy of Masquerade currently sits on a shelf next to Bamber Gascoigne’s Quest for the Golden Hare – a book that explains how Masquerade came to be written in the first place and gives a full explanation of how the puzzle can be solved. Tucked inside this book are scribbled notes and my own half-conceived riddles, inspired by Williams’ words.
If you’re ever seeking some escapism, I’d highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Masquerade and joining Jack Hare in his adventure.
Further reading for anyone that’s intrigued about Masquerade and want to find out more:
Bamber Gascoigne, Quest for the Golden Hare (London: Jonathan Cape, 1983).
BBC News, Masquerade: Kit Williams’ archive auctioned for £17,500 (2019) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-48926994> [accessed 9 November 2020].
Kit Williams: Artist (2020) <https://www.kitwilliams.co.uk/> [accessed 9 November 2020].
Kit Williams, Masquerade (London: Jonathan Cape, 1979).
Masquerade and the Mysteries of Kit Williams <http://bunnyears.net/kitwilliams/> [accessed 9 November 2020].
Prown, Jules David, ‘Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method’, Winterthur Portfolio, 17.1, (1982), 1-19.
Shields, Mark, Masquerade: How a real-life treasure hunt obsessed a nation (2019) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-47671776> [accessed 9 November 2020].
Sotheby’s, Lot 294: Williams, The Archive relating to Kit Williams’ publishing phenomenon and worldwide treasure-hunt: Masquerade, [c. 1979] <https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/english-literature-history-childrens-books-and-illustrations/williams-the-archive-relating-to-kit-williams> [accessed 9 November 2020].
sIMPly archivists 