[ Robert S. Sievier, Anglo-Australian bookmaker, racehorse owner and gambler ] 'The Imperial Number' of 'The Winning Post' newspaper, entirely devoted to a commemoration of King Edward VII, well printed in letterpress on vellum paper.

For information about Sievier's colourful and disreputable career, see his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, which states that, under the name of 'Sutton', Sievier was 'the first bookmaker in Victoria to bet with bag and clerk, standing on a regular pitch and issuing numbered tickets for the horses backed'. In 1887 he returned to England afer his bookmaker's license was withdrawn following his assault on Lord Deerhurst. During a libel trial at the Old Bailey in 1920 (to which he was escorted by '[h]uge crowds cheering for 'Good Old Bob'', Sievier 'was shown to have used the Winning Post, the newspaper he founded in 1904, as an instrument of blackmail'. The present item is 11pp., folio, flashily printed in letterpress on vellum paper. In very good condition, lightly aged, with remains of purple silk stitching. In four columns of small type. Beginning with a dreadful poem, 'Vale! - Atque Vale!' The poem is followed by a five-page biography of 'His Late Majesty King Edward VII', with sub-headings including 'The Coronation - A Disappointment', 'King Edward VII. and Ireland' and 'King Edward's Character'. The next section is titled 'King Edward in France and on the Continent', and this is followed by 'As an All-round Sportsman', with a page devoted to his exploits on 'The Turf'. Other sections are titled 'As a Yachtsman', 'The late King and the Stock Exchange', 'The King as a Motorist' and 'A few Anecdotes'. The final sections are on 'His Majesty King George V' and 'The Future'. This item untraced on either OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC, except (presumably) in one run of the magazine, located at Oxford.