In the course of my day job (interviewing members of the public for a variety of government research projects) I often become involved in a general chat with the people that I have been working with. It was through such a conversation that I acquired this book. It was given to me by a very elderly lady in Doncaster when I told her of my interest in items hidden inside books. Apparently the book had been given to her by her father, a professional photographer named Howard Baxter. Mr Baxter had in turn been given the book by his mentor, another photographer called Albert Haines.

Mr Haines told Howard that the photograph contained within the book was an impossible image. It had appeared from nowhere whilst he was trying to print a picture showing the presentation of a football trophy. He had put the negative plate showing the presentation and the photographic paper into the printing frame and exposed the frame. However, when the picture was developed the image that appeared was not that of the trophy presentation but of a woman.
Mr Haines checked thoroughly in case he had made a mistake but it was as it first appeared -the image had come from nowhere.

Later that afternoon when Mr Haines was tidying his studio he found a cameo brooch, lying on his workbench. He had never seen the brooch before, and as he was the only person who ever entered the darkroom, it’s appearance was a total mystery. Mr Haines did not know what to do with the mysterious photograph and brooch -he did not feel inclined to throw them away but he did find them rather disturbing. He also felt strongly that he did not want any of the members of his family to find them in case they became mixed up in something unnatural. His solution was to hide the objects inside a book. Knowing that his family were not in the least bit interested in poetry, he chose a book of the works of Alexander Pope.
When Mr Haines grew old he told Howard the story and gave him the book, then years later Howard passed it on to his daughter who in turn passed it on to me.