Some time ago, staff at the bookshop came across something even more unusual than the regularly collected ephemera: a book itself. This book, a green confession book, dates back as early as 1912 until 1919, and has had us all marvelling at the responses…

Confession books – or confession albums as they were sometimes known as – were particularly popular during the late nineteenth century in Britain. This style of confession book was also particularly popular within schools and at social gatherings. These books often contained a set of prescribed questions, allowing the contributors to show their individuality within their responses, as described below.

Staff members have thoroughly enjoyed exploring this book and the secrets held within, admiring the handwriting and the linguistic differences of the time. The prompts are quite revealing of the era, with questions such as ‘What is your opinion of motor cars in general?’‘ and ‘Your favourite play?’ Needless to say, the answers themselves are equally witty and amusing, and- arguably- reveal much about the character that wrote them.

On New Year’s Eve in 1912, W. B. Shaw wrote ‘A fat cheque’, in answer to the question ‘Your favourite picture?‘, arguably revealing themselves to be somewhat of a comedian. This particular entry also referred to ’17 Blythswood Square’ as the response to ‘The most suitable place for a flirtation?’ which, upon some light research, is located in Glasgow centre- perhaps giving a vague location of the locality where the confessions book was filled in, or perhaps just a comment.

Further favourite entries include a response to ‘Your greatest ambition?’ as answered by William White in 1913 ‘To be a man like Dad. But he says that that is impossible,’ and E Arrol Hunter’s response to ‘Do you believe in spiritualism?’ on 18th June 1913 ‘Depends on the spirits’ also prompted some amusement when being read.