A BOOK dealer from the Malvern area is looking for more information about a series of unique handmade magazines dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Jonathan Gibbs, for many years proprietor of the Malvern Bookshop on the Priory Steps, acquired four copies of the Wyche Wizard several years ago from a bookseller in Hay-on-Wye.

Each issue evidently came out in an edition of one, with all the articles handwritten, and illustrated with original pen-and-ink drawings and watercolours.

The identity of the editor is not known, and the contributing artists and writers are referred to by initials or by pseudonyms such as Katt or Bogey.

The magazines include poems and essays on a wide variety of topics, from bullfighting (illustrated by actual photographs) to church brasses.

Various illustrations include studies of local architecture and much else besides.

Mr Gibbs has four editions - the seventh, from 1898, the ninth, from 1899, the 14th, from 1902 and the 15th, from 1903. The 15th is the final one, as a note from the editor makes clear.

This last issue includes a contribution from Sir Edward Elgar, one of the few contributors to give his name. This is a short extract from his oratorio The Apostles, on a page dated April 4, 1903.

Mr Gibbs would like to hear from anyone who has more information about the Wyche Wizard and the people behind it, or on the whereabouts of the other 11 issues.

Anyone with any information can contact Mr Gibbs on 593169 or Robert Hale at the Malvern Gazette on 892200.