author

1st December

Thanks to Grant Morrow for finding this super jacket for John Gillam’s novel of Gallipoli. A nice collection of War stories from Max Pemberton. An autobiography of a blinded officer which I’ve had for years but failed to include & Sir Max Aitken’s account of the Canadian Forces.

18th October

A scarce book from the nurse, Violetta Thurstan, on the War’s refugees in Russia ; a good anthology of War literature which I’d not seen before : an account of NZ Sappers & an American journalists tale of a Baseball player who goes to the front.

19th September

Wow! That was a long gap! Basically I’ve not come across many images worth recording - so little has appeared on the usual sites. Nice to see the UK edition of Gen. Pershing’s memoirs though & the Czernin is quite nice.

,29th June

A particularly interesting account of General Botha’s campaign against the German forces in South West Africa (now Namibia); General Allen’s account of the Occupation of the Rhineland & a couple of routine Regimentals. Fellow collectors may wish to know that the late John Farrow’s collection is now in the hands of our favourite dealer & that a number of catalogues of them will be appearing over the next few months.

22nd June

Back to a normal 4 book inclusion (it may not last!). A jacket for the Artists Rifles Roll of Honour ; a rather nice, if sadly foxed, humorous account of hospital life during the War ; the UK edition of Storm Jameson’s novel of life after the War & a scarce account of Jamaica's part in it.

15th June

Sorry for the long delay - health issues, now resolved & computer problems, now largely resolved. So just 2 to start with, Etienne’s Naval Tales & Commander Griffith’s account of the 10th Cruiser Squadron in the Atlantic Blockade. I should be posting more frequently from now on!

21st April

Gleaned from the latest Turner Donovan Catalogue is this dreadful but exceedingly scarce jacket for Major Sandes ‘In Kut & Captivity’. What induces people to glue the jacket to the cloth is beyond me!

7th April

Finally stirred out of my lethargy by this stunning jacket - Alfred Fennah’s ‘Retaliation’. I’ve been collecting these books for most of my life & I’ve never come across this before. Fennah served throughout the War with the 2/10th Liverpool Scottish ending up as a Sergeant. It’s even in Enser but I missed it!

I’d like to record here the passing in February of this year of one of my original and most helpful contributors - John Richard Farrow. John accumulated an extensive library of WW1 books along with many albums of original photographs. I shall greatly miss his regular emails commenting on his latest purchases, vagaries of dealer pricing & shortages of quality material although he always managed to find something to buy. We will miss you, John.

13th February

A mixed bag consisting of the UK editions of J.M.Barrie’s collection of plays on the War ; J.F.C.Fuller’s thoughts on the Army; Irish Politicians in the War & a super Canadian jacket for Harvey’s ‘Soldiers Sketches’.

6th January 2023

A few more improved images for books that have now come into the collection. I must put together a ‘Gallant Legion’ page.

18th December

A couple of improved images, as shown.

15th NovemberJust a single entry today is this new offering from Peter Harrington’s. I wasn’t aware that the Official History volume on Constantinople had seen the light of day prior to the N & M issue of 2010 but it seems I was wrong. This typewritten version was issued in an edition of 51 copies in 1944. There is a copy in the War Office archives & several in the IWM, but this appears to be the only one to reach the market. Clearly I should have it to add to what I thought was my complete collection but at £4750 I’ll have to pass. At least we now have a record of it!

21st October

I’m particularly pleased to have found this copy of Herbert Read’s ‘Auguries of Life & Death’. Privately published in 1919 to mark the death of his brother Charles at Beaurevoir in France on October 5th 1918. It’s Read’s first published War poem & I’m only able to trace one other copy in a library in Australia. Plus 3 books of historical analysis of the War.

6th September

Mostly mine today. I’m particularly fond of the Brownrigg. Fascinating account of trying to keep a lid on the press during the War. This copy most warmly inscribed to the artist Muirhead Bone whom Brownrigg helped gain access to Naval ships at the time. The Barbusse is a series of essays, many dealing with the mistreatment of soldiers. Plus an evocative jacket for a Percy Westerman & some reminiscences from the War Office.

1st August

Following the auction of the remains of Henry Williamson’s library at Strides Auction in Chichester last week, I thought readers might like to know that one of the 2 major lots of WW1 books was bought by our favourite dealer, Tom Donovan. He’ll be publishing a catalogue of the books in a few months time but if you’re interested in any particular book Tom would be happy to discuss it with you. Below are a few of the books I bought. The Max Plowman (Mark VII) was given to Williamson by Douglas Bell, author of the anonymously published ‘Soldier’s Diary of the Great War’ for which Williamson wrote the introduction. He’s also marked a few passages for inclusion in his Philip Madison books.

26th July

John Ferguson was a Scottish Cleryman who wrote detective novels & some War poetry (On Vimy Ridge). This novel has been likened to Buchan’s 39 Steps & involves German spies during the War. Clara Neale was a Unit administrator of the QMAAC who here reflects on Wartime France alongside Constance Maud’s book covering similar themes. She was a delegate of the Red Cross in France. And to finish a Wartime spy novel from Dudley Lenton.

19th June

4 new entries but, sadly, none of them mine. Perhaps Monday’s new Turner Donovan catalogue will provide some goodies. We have Ronald Storrs’ memoirs - he was thought highly of by T.E.Lawrence ; a YMCA man’s account of the Argonne offensive, a War correspondent on Allenby & the memoirs of Admiral Gaunt in Counter intelligence.

8th June

The Gaps get longer! Waiting for something memorable to turn up & it has! Always really pleased to find any new addition to the ‘Series’ page & ‘On the Anzac Trail’ is one such. It’s a first hand account by a New Zealand Sapper who sadly remains anonymous although he probably gives enough information for a determined genealogist to track him down. Plus the UK edition of Ibanez ‘Four Horsemen’.

13th May

Firstly, a British journalist imprisoned in Ruhleben sees the German Revolution at first hand, then an American family in New York & the War’s effect on them, plus another history of 1914 & the story of the BEF from Mons to 1st Ypres.

27th April

Firstly, an example of the reuse of a jacket, an overview of the Dardanelles Campaign, a scarce jacket for Haig’s Command & the autobiography of a prominent Scout leader & his small part in the War.

4th April

Another long delay due mostly to the lack of interesting books coming to the market. Only the first one is mine & although its author was a Naval cadet during the War he saw no action, so the book is mostly concerned with the aftermath. Plus a history of the American Red Cross in the War; The Story of the 48th Battalion, A.I.F. & and the life of Kitchener’s assassin, Fritz Duquesne.

7th March

No excuse for the delay other than having Covid for the last few weeks. Also not wishing to think about War related things in the present climate. Anyway here are few colourful covers from Nelson’s Continental Library series which reprinted some of their earlier War books. They were not for sale in the UK , US or Canada. They’re at the foot of this page.

22nd January

Today there are 3 nice jackets from the excellent Babylon Revisited website plus 1 from me, Harold Chapin’s Letters. Chapin was an American dramatist who served as a Lance-Corporal in the RAMC & was killed at Loos in 1915.

7th January 2022

And a Happy New Year to you as well. Today we have 2 books courtesy of Maj.Gen. Peter Lambert - R.C.Duncan’s Letters to his son & R.G.Miller’s Poetry of a Tommy. Plus both volumes of Nevinson’s War Pictures, all of which were signed by the artist.

24th December

Firstly a Happy Christmas to both my readers! Secondly an appeal to Internet booksellers : If you don’t show a picture of the book you’re selling then at least be accurate with your description. 40 OB was listed as ‘with loss to front cover of dustwrapper’ - it would be nice to have the word ‘significant’ inserted somewhere. The consolation was that it’s signed by the author! Along with this account of the Secret Service department of the Admiralty, is a Russian novel describing the Brusilov Offensive against the Austro-Hungarian forces & 2 volumes of verse from W.W.Gibson both of which are inscribed by Gibson to Laurence Binyon - one of the 16 poets memorialised in the Abbey to another.

12th December

Having recently acquired some volumes of the Official New Zealand War History I thought I’d show all 4 volumes together - 2 were here already (1 with a new image) & the other 2 are fresh. I’ll try and do another update before Christmas.

25th November

A long gap but 4 books from my collection. Firstly, and a little outside my usual parameters, is J.L.Hodson’s look back at the War and its aftermath and its effects on personal relationships, ‘Return to the Wood’ (also slipped in is a copy of his play ‘Red Night’ which he inscribed to the actress Marjorie Mars who was in ‘Brief Encounter’.) Then this early account of the Zeppelin Wars (one of the 3 books advertised on the rear of the original jacket for ‘All Quiet’!). The UK edition of Deval’s humorous novel ‘Wooden Swords’ which tells of a fierce patriot fighting the War from Paris & finally Mackay’s ‘Ex-Soldier - We are Dead’, a novel of an ex-officer’s struggles to survive in post-war London (described by Hugh Cecil in ‘The Flowers of Battle’ as ‘Meritritious & Misogenistic’!).

27th October

Firstly one for the completists amongst you. I've just acquired the later issue of Bell’s ‘Blockade of Germany’ to go with my original & I thought it would be instructive to show the two together. 750 copies were printed in 1937 as part of the ‘Official History of the War’ series but only 100 copies were bound and were only available to consult on a restricted basis. These were marked ‘Confidential’, one of which is shown on the left. In 1961 restrictions were lifted & the remaining 650 copies were bound up & sold mostly, I suspect, to libraries. The binding is slightly different as is the font size & the word ‘Confidential’ is replaced with the publisher’s name. The restriction notice on the verso of the title page is covered up by a sticker indicating the lifting of said restrictions. The text of the book is identical. I’ve not seen a copy of the original issue for sale since buying mine over 20 years ago but there are several copies of the 1961 release on the net. Check with the dealer first though - many don’t know the difference between ‘printed’ & ‘published’ & may say it’s the 1937 issue whereas it’s likely from 1961. Also an examination of the spiritual experiences of men at the front in ‘Souls in Khaki’ & a fine cover on a fairly routine war-time romance, ‘The Revellers’.

14th October

2 editions of the Mata Hari-like spy novel, Red Poppies, the UK edition of the German playwright Ernst Toller’s ‘I Was a German’ showing the disintegration of theat country during & after the War & an early account of various War Neuroses. There’s also a slightly altered image of Captain Spindler’s accounts of his attempted Gun Running during the Irish Rising of 1916 on p.27.

29th September

Probably the highlight of the last Turner Donovan Catalogue was this copy of Oliver Bernard’s ‘Cock Sparrow’. Sorry, fellow collectors, but you have to get up early! Also this nice copy of Niemoller’s U-Boat memoir came up on ABE at the same time so it was an expensive week. Plus the US edition of Schlump & a novel of love, flying & treachery, ‘The Highflyers’.

19th September

Just one today but one of my most sought for images. A huge thanks to Grant Morrow for unearthing this gem. Given that by this 5th issue MacGill’s ‘Red Horizon’ had sold nearly 40,000 copies it’s a wonder so few (maybe just 1!) have survived. Now who’s going to find me Sapper’s ‘Human Touch’ ................................

5th September

Still a dearth of decent books around but here’s a few more to add to the collection - Some Trench verses, Some Henry James essays on the War, a personal narrative of service with a Heavy Battery & a history of the Zeppelin.

12th August

A visit to my friendly local bookseller has yielded these two splendid Artillery memoirs. The Hawks is an excellent account of Battery life at the front, more as a diary than letters. Strangely, for a privately printed volume, it went into a second edition. The Buckland is later, from 1940, & is a straightforward narrative of the doings of the Brigade Artillery. Plus a memoir of a War-time padre & Buchan’s book on the South African Forces in France.

5th August

Sorry for the delay - due to lethargy rather than lack of material, which has built up somewhat, although there is certainly a dearth of decent material around. Here’s a really fine copy of General Callwell’s account of the Dardanelles, courtesy of Grant Morrow. An improved image (my own) of Lawrence’ Kangaroo & a complete run of Robert Graves poetry periodical ‘The Owl’. I bought it at one of those on-line International Book Fairs which I must say I’m rather fond of. It’s not strictly Great War although many of the War Poets contributed. It’s notable for having a chapter from T.E.Lawrence ‘Seven Pillars’ which at the time was unpublished apart from the 8 copies of the Oxford edition of 1922.

4th July

Here we have the signed, limited edition of Herbert Buckmaster’s (of Buck’s Fizz fame) ‘Buck’s Book’ which contains around 80 pages of his war-time experiences ; another from Seamus ‘Bound in Khaki’, a little volume of Irish verse, & a chaplain with the soldiers in Palestine & Syria.

27th June

Firstly a lovely jacket on the US 1st of Patrick Macgill’s ‘Brown Brethren’ from Seamus Taaffe , plus a book I’m surprised wasn’t here already, Edmund Candler’s 2-vol. Long Road to Baghdad. He was a War correspondent but this is a fine account of the whole Mesopotamian Campaign.

15th June

Sorry for the long gap - bit of a health scare since resolved. Normal service resumed with a couple of super jackets courtesy of Mike Tregoning & Seamus Taaffe (more from him later). The Anzac’s Pilgrims Progress is a series of Aussie Ballads edited by St’John Adcock. Whether or not he’s Lance Corporal Cobber we’ll probably never know. Plus a striking image for the 10th Irish at Gallipoli.

27th April

A couple of mine to start of with from the latest E.J.Morten Catalogue (they now have a website & an e-mail address - hooray!) - The story of the Faenza Rest Camp during the Italian Campaign & a journalists account of the War in Italy (could any book have had a more uninspiring jacket?). Plus the US & UK editions of the journey by the Allied Army Commission in HMS Hercules to view the Zeppelin sheds after the Armistice.

11th April

A novel about the Russian Revolution as seen from a Russian Battleship; Herbert Asquith’s biography of his father but with much on his own War service; a cheap edition of Hall’s ‘Kitchener’s Mob’ & an improved image of Rene Roy’s ‘Night’s Candles’ which tells of his life after being blinded at the Chemin des Dames.

21st March

4 recent purchases today. Firstly the Canadian edition of Manning Coles ‘Drink to Yesterday’, one of the few books here which is a Haycraft/Queen Cornerstone, i.e. a detective novel of outstanding significance, an improved copy of Dwinger’s ‘Army Behind Barbed Wire’, the diary of the ex-director of Krupp’s armaments factory & what looks like a rather dry account of German Social Democracy during the War (not sure why I bought that - probably just the fact of its age and having retained its jacket!).

14th March

Prompted by an enquiry from a visitor to the site I thought I’d show these 4 early editions of Ernst Junger’s ‘In Stahlgewittern’. The 1st from 1920 was privately printed and is essentially his diary from the front. It was revised in 1922 and then another edition from the same year and finally a further revision, this one from 1935.

28th February

Only 1 today, but a particularly scarce one. The first of ‘Trooper Bluegum’s’ 3 volumes of War memoirs/letters. He wrote them for the Sydney Morning Herald whilst serving as a lieutenant with the 2nd Light Horse Brigade in Gallipoli. He died shortly after the War ended in 1919 and is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery.

10th February

3 today. Nobel Prizewinner Romain Rolland’s collection of essays on the War, a look at the YMCA’s activities at the front by Bishop Wilson & an account of the activities of an old ship which was recruited into the War to search for submarines. Despite being equipped with depth charges they were unused as she was too slow to escape from the blast.

3rd February

Just a couple today as I’m still testing out the system. Both mine though. The first is a War Correspondent’s view of the Battle of the Marne from 1920. Not a bad account with plenty of excellent maps. And then Captain Evans (of the ‘Broke’) account of his Naval service during the War, this one having no maps at all which would have been a help. Mostly patrolling the Dover Straits.

28th January

For some time I thought I’d be unable to update this site ever again. My Website host, Strato, have altered their upload protocol from ftp to sftp. Sadly the program that this site is written in, Webplus 10, no longer exists & is incapable of operating sftp. That means going through an intermediary program which is far less simple to use. Consequently updates will be even less frequent than at present. I shall continue working on the problem & the site will remain active so patience will be required all round.

6th January 2021

A New Year & hopefully better than the last. The gloom of 2020 was hardly lifted by any significant book purchases ; dealers presumably unable to view much in the way of new stock. So lets start the year with a seemingly strange addition - Virginia Woolf’s ‘To the Lighthouse’. Not an easy read but worth the effort. The action, such as it is, covers the years 1910-20. Not a War book in any sense but War hangs over it, one of the characters being killed at the Front. Also the 2nd volume of Roger Keyes memoirs, A.P.Herbert’s poems & a plea for America’s help for the French War effort.

13th December

‘Wooly’ Robertson gives his views of some of the other leading figures of the War ; Vera Brittain has her poems collected, Lena Ashwell gives a spirited look at Wartime entertainments & a memorial volume to an American Flyer.

6th December

My Birthday! Hooray.(if anyone wants to buy me a present, Christie’s have an auction on Wednesday where they have an exceedingly rare copy of Rosenberg’s ‘Night & Day’. Don’t let the estimate of £17-20,000 put you off!). Here are a few images that have been sent in. Thanks to Tim Whitcombe for the German edition of Crozier’s ‘Brass Hat’ & to Grant Morrow for the Arthur Gleason. Plus an addition to the Sapper page (not WW1) & what looks like the 1st UK edition of Keable’s ‘Simon called Peter’.

30th November

The only noreworthy book today is Lt. Col. Head’s ‘No Great Shakes’. The Colonel had a most remarkable career which took him from the Boxer Rebellion in China to South Africa at the tail end of the Boer War. Thence to Ireland, on to India then Gallipoli & finally to the Western Front. The Gielgud only touches briefly on the end of our War being mostly set during the Polish revolution a half century earlier. And finally a general overview of America’s part in the War.

13th November

Hopefully I’m back in business. My web hosting service, Strato, decided to change the uploading protocols without informing me. I despaired of ever getting back in, but I’ve managed to change back to the old system (not secure they say but as there’s no financial aspect to this site it hardly matters). I may disappear again without warning, so every post may be my last.

Today there’s a nice copy of the UK 1st of Koppen’s ‘Higher Command’ & a couple of awful copies of the Manchester’s history & an early book on zeppelins.

3rd November

Today I’ve put on a new page which lists my WW1 Poetry Collection. The original was illustrated but my pc couldn’t manage to transfer the pictures as well so for now it’s just text.

19th October

Just the one today inspired by the latest Turner Donovan Catalogue. It’s General Dyer’s account of one of the War’s more obscure fields of conflict on the borders of Baluchistan & Persia - The Raiders of the Sarhad. This copy is from Jonkers Rare Books. Tom has it sans jacket for around £145 whereas the Jonkers copy seems a little top heavy, even with jacket, at £1045.

2nd October

A couple of Regimentals I’ve had for some time - Ponsonby’s 3-vol. account of the Grenadiers & Atkinson on The Devonshires. Then an American nurse serving with the British & Major Branson’s ‘Lifetime of Deception’.

19th September

The companion volume to the previous entry has just arrived so I’ve added it to the last post. Military Operations : Italy, the last volume of the Official History to be published in 1949, here inscribed by Edmonds to Churchill & with Randolph’s bookplate. It also has a scribbled note, presumably to Churchill, reminding him to thank Edmonds for the copy.

14th September

No jacket but probably the most important copy of the Rhineland Occupation there is. Only 100 copies were printed in 1944 after much controversy. This copy is inscribed by Edmonds to Winston Churchill. They knew each other well, Edmonds having advised Churchill on the writing of parts of ‘The World Crisis’. According to Edmond’s autobiography in later life they played golf together. As with many of Churchill’s books his son Randolph put his bookplate in them after his father’s death.

6th September

Time restricts me to just this single addition today. Although quite a common book & probably falling short of ‘The Truth’, I’ve not seen the jacket before which largely mimics the cloth beneath.

28th August

Firstly, Irene Castle’s memorial to her husband Vernon. The couple were world famous Ballroom dancers in the years immediately preceding the War. Although they lived in the States, Vernon was born in Norwich & joined the RFC in 1916, spending the best part of a year over the front. He returned to America as an instructor where he was killed in a training accident. The book contains numerous War-time letters & drawings of dogfights. The ‘Contact’ (Alan Bott) replaces a later edition already here. Ewing’s ‘Royal Scots’ was highly praised by Cyril Falls as “putting more life into the account than is usual” & finally an account of Joffre’s battles.

19th August

A History of the 8th North Staffs, another of the Yankee Division, a ‘Humorous Novel’ by Arthur Guy Empey & Lt. Kindell’s account of fighting in Palestine with the 20th Machine Gun Squadron.

1st August

Firstly 2 books by F.C.Cooper of the South African Rifles. On Safari concerns his exploits in the East African campaign & Khaki Crusaders his time in Palestine. First rate accounts sadly never published in the UK. Nursing in Wartime was published only a few weeks after the War began. Most of what Nurse Oxford has to say still seems relevant today. Finally Granville Fortesque’s account of the War in France.

13th July

Down to earth after the excitement of Persia. A couple here from Tom’s Gallipoli catalogue - the first volume of Henry Day’s Memoirs & then the combined volume of that & Macedonian Memories. Also an Australian novel from 1935 of the raising of a private group of Cavalry who go to Gallipoli & a further series of letters home from Coningsby Dawson.

2nd July

The arrival of a rare copy of ‘Operations in Persia 1914-1919’ has prompted me to update the Official History page with some additional images that Martin Hickley kindly sent some months ago but which I then forgot about. Mea Culpa! My copy of Persia has been rebound in leather but you can see the original binding alongside thanks to Martin.

23rd June

Firstly, a splendid new Catalogue from Tom Donovan on the Gallipoli Campaign. This is in his new format which is fully illustrated & interactive. Could be a classic. On here we have a nice set of Lloyd George’s War Memoirs from Peter Harrington, common enough but scarce in jackets. A further part of Joseph Altsheler’s War trilogy & The Unbroken Line by Allen Warner - Along the French Trenches from Switzerland to the North Sea with a super jacket by Fred Leist.

7th June

Just for a change, all the new additions are mine. A slightly improved Skilbeck Smith, a fine copy in its jacket and cardboard case of Vol.7 of the Official German History, a review of Churchill’s War record up to & including the Dardanelles & a rarely seen jacketed copy of Col. Trew’s account of General Botha’s campaign in German South West Africa. Plus I’m expecting a really special Turner Donovan catalogue on the Gallipoli campaign around 15th June.

29th May

Nothing of great interest has come in lately so here’s a bit of shameless self promotion. This weeks Antiques Trade Gazette has a special supplement on the rare books trade, to coincide with the now cancelled Book Fair week in London. The highlight of the issue is obviously this interview with yours truly. Who said collecting old books wasn’t cool!

10th May

All gloom & doom here washed away by 2 things ; the opening of Garden Centres on Wednesday & the arrival of a book I never thought to see - a jacketed 1st of Charles Hamilton Sorley’s ‘Marlborough & Other Poems’. I was certain the jacket didn’t exist, never having cast eyes on one, but here it is and in superb condition. It’s on very thin paper which might explain its rarity. Also a picture of the whole of Military Ops. France & Flanders from Peter Harrington A remarkable set all in their jackets - yours for £12,500.

3rd May

There seem to be fewer and fewer books on the market at the moment. I suppose most dealers are unable to get out to view potential new stock. These images I’ve had for a while, only 1 of them being mine. So we have an earlier account of the Campaign in France & Belgium & the UK version of ‘Women of the War’, plus the words of Marshal Foch & further doings of Pershing’s troops.

26th April

It must be 6 weeks now. Given that I spend most of my time searching for & buying rare books, reading, watching films & gardening, I’m not sure my life has changed all that much. Anyway here’s another 4 for you, the most important of which is Capt. Barrett’s ‘Diary of an Australian Soldier’ who was a private in the Australian Field Ambulance & was later commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers. He was killed in April 1917.

10th April

4 splendid jackets designed by Edward Blampied supplied by Andrew Hall. This link should take you to his excellent website on the artist.

2nd April

3rd week of isolation - I could get to enjoy this. Bit of a cop-out today with these first 4 volumes of Conan Doyle’s History of the War which recently sold at auction. Thanks to Ralph Spurrier for buying them & sending me the pictures. I believe some are now available on ABE.

18th March

I wonder if books will arrive coated in Covid-19? I do hope not although it does apparently survive on cardboard for a day or so. I shall need as many as possible being in the vulnerable over 70s group & confined to the house. Today’s US edition of Sapper’s ‘Mufti’ won’t be coming my way as the dealer wants over £650 for it! Also 3 memorial volumes. The one to Edward Keppel seems particularly scarce as I can’t find mention of any other copy. A shame as it’s a fine one, this copy being inscribed by his mother, Lady Albemarle.

11th March

Thought I’d put this one up on its own - the 1st US edition of Ellen La Motte’s ‘Backwash of War’ (if it ever had a jacket, I’ve not seen one). Published in the US in 1916, it went through several editions before being banned when America entered the War. Seemingly it was deemed to shocking & unpatriotic. It was also banned in France & the UK & wasn’t published here until 1919. It had to wait till 1934 to reappear in the US. La Motte was a great friend of Gertrude Stein & this series of nursing vignettes was said to have been a major influence on the writing style of Ernest Hemingway, Stein having given him a copy of the book.

4nd March

Firstly Arthur Murray’s diplomatic efforts in the aftermath of War, then Pershing’s Chief-of Staff’s War Diary, Liddell Hart on the Real War & The Red Cross Story Book, a collection of stories by authors in the forces.

18th February

Another Battalion History but this one more readable than many being largely based around a series of articles written for Punch by one of its officers. He Died Again is a peculiar novel in which the Unknown Soldier rises from his grave to try and prevent the world from walking into another War. Plus the US edition of MacDonagh’s ‘Irish at the Front’ & a War memoir from Crown Prince William.

9th February

Firstly a couple of Divisional Histories. Both excellent accounts, that on the 40th has quite a lot on Brig.Gen. Crozier. The 56th is by Dudley Ward who wrote the accompanying volume on the Welsh Regiment of Foot Guards. Ford’s ‘Antwerp’ was a pamphlet issued by the Poetry Bookshop in 1915. Not in a jacket as such but in its splendid Wyndham Lewis cover, it needs to be here as part of the Ford grouping. It’s been called the first great modernist poem & I’d dearly love to have a copy. It’s particularly elusive, this one coming from Betram Rota’s Ford catalogue of 2013. It was £650 - I should have been bolder!

31st January

An account of the Intelligence services in the Canadian Corps, a rather appalling copy of the history of some of the Manchester Battalions, a memoir from the first Rabbi to serve with the American Forces & the Map volume only of Sir Archibalds Murray’s Despatches. He was C-in-C of the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces.

23rd January

I bought the Peter Kyne, Silent Comrade, thinking it one I didn’t have, but it turns out to be a retitled ‘They Also Serve’ for the UK market. Nice to have both printings I suppose albeit at a cost! The Farrell is a collection of splendid watercolours, some of the best I’ve come across.

John Reed’s account of the Russian Revolution may be peripheral to the War but is certainly a direct consequence of it so deserves inclusion here.

8th January 2020

Lots of new things for the New Year. An early account of the War & its impact on the Near East ; an account of the War & Revolution from an Officer in the Czar’s Chevalier Guards; a novel of a country doctor at War & an escape memoir from an Artillery Officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

30th December

Following on from the last entry, Israel Cohen’s is probably the first account of life in the prison for interned British civilians. I don’t actually have it yet as it’s on its way from Australia. Also a history of the A.E.F. from Shipley Thomas, a novel of Naval espionage from early in the War and the War Memories of 2nd Lt. Frank Holden.

17th December

Christmas induced lethargy means only a single book today. A not uncommon one but with a distinctly scarce jacket - Powell & Gribble’s ‘History of Ruhleben’. The camp was for British men living in Germany. They were housed in a former racecourse close to Berlin where, initially at least, conditions were particularly squalid. Judging by the excellent illustrations, by 1918 it looked more like Butlins (meaning it got better rather than worse!).

3rd December

Firstly H.Gregory’s rare account of his time in the MGC, 40th Div. He won the MM at Bourlon Wood & was captured during the German advance of 1918. He suffered greatly during his captivity, his wounds going untreated & was forced to work in a salt mine. Then we have an improved image of Heinz’ ‘Loretto’, another of William Le Queux’ many War novels & a little more from the American War correspondent, Frederick Palmer.

25th November

Really pleased to have found another of the ‘On Active Service Series’ in a jacket. Ashmead-Bartlett’s account of his time as Intelligent Officer with the 173rd Brigade. Only 7 of the 28 now missing! Plus an interesting volume on Russian planes in the War; Neville Hilditch describes various early campaigns although whether or not he was present at any of them is unclear & a collected volume of F.W.Harvey’s poems, the last to be published in his lifetime.

18th November

With the Zionists in Gallipoli was here before as a colonial issue ; this is the UK edition. It came from the recent auction of the late Bob Wyatt’s collection. Plus we have an overview of India’s contribution to the War & one of the many Gift Books issued during the early years to raise funds for various charities - this the French Red Cross with illustrations by Edmund Dulac. Given the quality of the colour illustrations one wonders how they could have made any profit on a 3/- sale.

11th November

Just one for Armistice Day - F.W.Harvey’s ‘Comrades in Captivity’. The image was here already but only as a partial jacket. The picture was drawn by a fellow inmate, G.Gordon Jackson. Most copies I’ve seen come in red cloth stamped with black lines & text, but this is in pale blue with blue text - an earlier binding? Lt. Harvey served with the 5th Gloucesters and was awarded the DCM.

4th November

3 more novels from William le Queux today. A remarkable character, serial liar & amazingly prolific author. During the War years alone he produced over 50 books.

27th October

Manwaring’s ‘If We Return’ is the 2nd edition from 1919 which is expanded to include additional letters that take us up to the Armistice. Mussolini’s War Diary details his career as a Sergeant on the Italian Front before being invalided out with Syphilis. Buddies in Budapest is a narrative by an American Nurse in Hungary before the US entry into the War. And finally an account of the Battle of Tannenberg. These 3 are all courtesy of one of our American contributors, Dave Golomon - many thanks.

20th October

The US edition of Aladar Kuncz’ account of being interned by the French throughout the War in increasingly harsh prisons. A scarce jacket on Buchan’s memorial volume to the Grenfell brothers (I dithered over buying it for a few days & then it was gone!) & a copy of Norman Wilkinson’s pictures of Gallipoli. He served in a submarine during the campaign & later was the inventor of ‘dazzle’ paint camouflage. The jacket has been cut down slightly and stuck in the book.

9th October

Just back from cruising around Scandinavia to find this stunner waiting for me. Stanton Hope served as a Lieutenant in the Drake Battalion of the Royal Naval Division & served for 6 months in Gallipoli before being evacuated on the last night, 8 - 9th January 1916. Lightly fictionalised, it’s based on his experiences there and is said to be among the best accounts of that campaign. The jacket is particularly scarce, maybe because of the ghoulish nature of the image by Nat Long.

23rd September

Just one today but such a lovely period jacket from future Sci Fi author, W. Douglas Newton. No idea what it’s about as it doesn’t figure in any of my bibliographies. There seems to have been a sequel, Phillip & the Flappers. Many thanks to Grant Morrow for this one.

15th September

I’m afraid my supply of important War books has rather dried up lately so it’s down to these. A couple of American novels from Dorothy Canfield & Gertrude Atherton, another Naval book from Lewes Freeman & another anthology of War poetry from Vincent Burns.

6th September

The Diary of Otto Braun is a German Memorial volume to the officer & poet killed on the Somme in 1918. Carry On is a series of letters from the author of ‘Love of an Unknown Soldier’. Plus a novel of traumatised youth during the War & a German appreciation of the War’s Generals.

27th August

Too hot to spend long at the computer, so we have a couple of volumes of War verse, General Crozier’s time in Nigeria before the War (some rather disturbing photo’s of his dispensing discipline to the natives) & a Captain’s account of his spiritual crises during his time at sea.

8th August

A couple of replacement images due to a change of ownership and therefore improved images. I thought ‘Hard Lying’ might be part of a series from Herbert Jenkins as its jacket design is the same as that for Franz Joseph’s ‘Emden’ & Carpenter’s ‘Blocking of Zeebrugge’ , but it seems they used the same design for most of their non-fiction titles throughout the 1920s. I found the image for MacGill’s ‘Red Horizon’ on t’internet but can’t vouch for its being the original. It sort of looks right but I’m not sure about the typeface, so it’s here with a big question mark. Plus a biography of Richard Harding Davis.

28th July

A couple of books of War Poetry from Laurence Binyon. The Four Years collects the poems from ‘The Winnowing Fan, The Anvil & The New World’ with a few additional ones. Oddly, this anthology was priced at 7/6 which would have been very expensive in 1919, three times the usual price for a volume of Poetry. Plus a novel of a young lady wandering in the War Zone from the Williamson’s & the notes of a US Diplomat from Paris & the Front.

20th July

Mostly Unit Histories today. The 8th Division is an improved image ; Chalmers on the 16th HLI goes with his later history of the 15th ; Haigh’s ‘Life in a Tank’ is a slightly worse image but it is mine (all of £6 from eBay) & Ogilvie’s History of the Fife & Forfar Yeomanry. It’s worth noting with most Unit histories that the originals are so much better than the modern reprints - the pictures are generally sharper and the maps often fold-out and contain some colour.

11th July

Sorry for the delay - my computer slowed down too much to run this program - hopefully fixed. So we have an ‘improved image*’ for ‘The Immortal Gamble’, the story of HMS Cornwallis at the Dardanelles, a new addition to Hodder’s ‘Soldier Books’ series, a novel of the American Home Front seen through the eyes of a child & some War stories by a Captain in the US Marines.

*(usually means I’ve bought the copy that was here & scanned it properly!)

23rd June

For a change all of today’s books are from my own collection. I was particularly pleased to find ‘Dixmude’, part of Heinemann’s ‘Soldiers Tales of the Great War’ series even with the rather heavy postage costs from the US. The Morgan is a fairly typical piece of anti-German propaganda from the early War years. The Newton describes training in 1918, the author never getting as far as the front. The Tryst is listed in Reilly as ‘War Poetry’ although only two of the poems vaguely relate to the War. The author became famous later on as a translator of Homer & editor of Penguin Classics.

15th June

A bit of a cop-out as today’s offerings that have come my way were all here already - all we have are some improved images. Nice to get them though.

27th May

Today we have Hurd’s history of the Cunard line during the War, a very Deco cover for a novel which ends briefly in Flanders Fields, an assessment of the effectiveness of the US Army Signal Corps activities & the Memoirs of Lord Gleichen who was with the Grenadiers at Omdurman, fought in the Boer War & commanded the 37th Division in France.

16th May

Sorry this update is so late but there’s an awful lot of gardening to do at this time of year!

I was alerted to the Stephen McKenna volume by an excellent book ‘Publishers, Readers and the Great War’ by Vincent Trott. The McKenna is actually set just after the War & tells of the political turmoil that followed. Both these copies can be had from Babylon Revisited.

The Tom Bevan (from Maggs) is part of a long series of War stories aimed at a juvenile audience plus the UK edition of Gibbs ‘Realities of War’ which supposedly tells the true story that the author was prevented from revealing during the War itself.

24th April

American youth seemed to have had an insatiable appetite for stirring adventure books during the War. The Moving Picture Boys series here joins numerous other similar series. Plus a discussion on War-time grain supply, An American surgeon with the Red Cross in Serbia & an early survey of War Planes.

12th April

Firstly Sir George Arthur’s monumental 3-volume biography of Lord Kitchener. Only the last volume concerns the War. Falls gives it a star. Another of William Carr’s accounts of the Naval War, this one also covering the beginnings of WW2. A slightly improved image of Wren’s ‘Rangwick to Hargicourt’ from the latest Turner Donovan Catalogue 161 & a privately printed memoir of the Mesopotamian Campaign by Emyr Roberts of the 187th MGC. The only other copy I can trace is in the BL & it doesn’t seem to have been picked up by any of the War’s bibliographers. A rather engaging first-hand account.

31st March

Firstly a 1st US jacket for Sapper Dorothy Lawrence courtesy of Maggs Booksellers. This remarkable woman joined the 179th Tunnelling Co., 51st Div., but only served for 10 days at the front before being arrested. Sadly her remaining days were spent in a lunatic asylum before dying in 1964. A rare survivor but perhaps a trifle dear at £750. A UK 1st of Werner’s account of working in a base hospital in Normandy, a later edition of Hodgson’s poetry, this copy inscribed by his sister, & Jeffery Day’s Poems.

24th March

A big thank you to John Etheridge & Grant Morrow for supplying the first two of today’s images. Denis Garstin, brother of Crosbie, fought with the 10th Hussars & was killed on the Russian Front in 1918. His stories are almost certainly based on real events. Eye Witness gathers various accounts of the War from the Marne to Neuve Chapelle. Plus two post-war accounts of American Gun & Chemical Warfare production.

19th March

A late addition to the previous entry is this superb example of Brooke’s ‘1914 & Other Poems’ which has just come my way. I don’t think I’ve seen a finer copy!

17th March

Here’s a novelty picked up yesterday at the Lewes Book Fair - Arline de Haas’ ‘Noah’s Ark’, a photoplay play edition. The film itself sounds most peculiar. It was the first English language movie by Michael Curtiz (‘Casablanca’) & has two parallel stories involving a supposed deluge during the War with the biblical flood - the same cast being in each half. I may treat myself to the DVD.

4th March

Shortage of fresh images compels me to put in an improved jacket for the Abbe Klein’s account of working in a French Hospital during the War. Perhaps rather too much religion but some rather moving descriptions of the wounded. A couple of Mildred Aldrich : a later Hilltop & a first US of Peak, plus some Essays from Lewis Freeman.

25th February

Today sees the issue of the first catalogue of books from our sadly missed contributor, David Pritchard, courtesy of Tom Donovan Military Books. David was very diligent in providing me with images of his books so most are already here. However there are a couple which are new for us. Tom promises many more from the collection over the coming months.

17th February

A remarkably futuristic jacket for Charles Codman’s account of his service with the 96th USAS from June 1918 until he was shot down & captured in September of that year. Thanks to Grant Morrow for providing this image. It makes my own contribution, Creswell’s ‘Naval Warfare’ look rather dull. Intended for young officers it gives a general overview, although the bulk of the book concerns WW1. Apparently the warehouse containing unsold stock was bombed in 1940 which necessitated a revised edition to be produced in 1942. Also a deluxe edition of ‘Friends of France’ produced by members of the American Ambulance Unit in 1916.

8th February

The War Diary of the German U-Boat 202 is shown below in the UK & US editions. The author’s name is given differently on the two jackets but I’ll go with the UK version of Lt.Comm. Freiherr von Spiegel. That edition also seems to credit the translator, Capt. Barry Domvile as author. Also shown is the 1954 edition of Ivor Gurney’s Poems edited by Edmund Blunden. Later than most books shown here it consists entirely of poems not previously collected many of which concern the War. Gurney was severely bi-polar when he wrote some of these but they are truly fine poems bearing comparison with the best of Owen & Rosenberg. I suspect by its scarcity it sold no more copies than his earlier collections.

27th January

Today’s three consist of a selection of colour sketches of the Canadian Front, a novel about the lives of civilians in war-time Germany and a history of the Seventh Canadian Siege Battery ( a little late being published in 1953 but a striking jacket nonetheless).

A late addition is my newly found copy of Arnold Bennett’s ‘The Roll-Call’, one of 3 novels he wrote with a war-time background & possibly the scarcest in this rather fine jacket - not a bad buy at £8!

18th January

Gleason’s ‘ War Ambulance’ was here in B&W so now shows a little colour. The author was a War correspondent. Robert Loraine had a very varied career, being an actor, a soldier in the Boer War & a flyer with the RFC. He’s credited with the first use of the word ‘joystick’ to describe a plane’s steering control. Plus the UK edition of ‘Mrs. Fischer’s War’.

9th January 2019

Firstly a small but comprehensive Unit history of the 2/8th Sherwood Foresters written by their commander, Lt.Col.Oates. An excellent account containing full casualty lists & some of the best maps I’ve seen in such a work. Flight Commander’s ‘Cavalry of the Air’ was here already but this is a much improved image. Finally some tales of the 9th Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Highlanders) in 1916.

30th December

3 from the US today, all published in 1918 - Arnold Bennett’s ‘Pretty Lady’ with a much more War-like jacket than the UK one; a lady sergeant with the Serbian army in the War & an American nurse’s stories of serving with the US navy.

23rd December

A rather atmospheric jacket for J.E.Buckrose (Annie Edith Foster Jameson) ‘War-Time in Our Street’, a series of fictional vignettes of life on the home front. Unfortunately, as is often the case, it’s only the front panel of the jacket that survives, being pasted inside the book. Thanks to Dave Goloman for finding this early work on the Art of Camouflage published by Murray in 1920. Plus the US ed. of Carpenter’s ‘Blocking of Zeebrugge’ & some essays by Edmund Blunden with a postscript to ‘Undertones of War’.

16th December

Today’s offerings are 4 rare POW memoirs all from a batch recently posted on-line by Hard to Find books of Dunedin, New Zealand - www.hardtofind.co.nz There are several more than are shown here - just search ‘POW’ on their website. (I’m afraid I’ve already bought the first 2 but couldn’t afford the rest). The Gilliland I last saw in an old Turner Donovan Catalogue but not since. The Hennebois ‘In German Hands’ & Warnod’s ‘Prisoner of War’ are from Heinemann’s ‘Soldier’s Tales of the Great War’ series. The last is new to me.

9th December

I digress today to show this special copy of Fawcett & Hooper’s ‘Fighting at Jutland’ that’s come my way. 3 copies of this original 1920 edition were specially bound. One in blue Morocco was presented to George V and is in the Royal Collection. The other two were bound in vellum and presented to the authors. This is Fawcett’s copy - he fought at Jutland aboard the destroyer HMS Lydiard.

3rd December

Peter Martin Lampel’s ‘Youth Betrayed’ isn’t strictly speaking a War book but deals with the immediate aftermath in Germany. Lampel was a member of the so-called ‘Black Army’ which sought to reverse the effects of the Armistice by re-arming Germany. It faded away long before the rise of the Nazis. The Mystery of the Casement Ship tells of the failed attempt by the German Navy to run the British blockade to supply the Irish nationalists during the Easter uprising in 1916 & 2 further additions to the Memorials page.

25th Novenber

GHQ by ‘GSO’ is Sir Frank Fox’s account of his service at Haig’s Headquarters at Montreuil-Sur-Mer during the War. An invaluable account according to Falls. Plus an American War correspondent in France & Italy, an account of his Naval service by Admiral Kerr & some War memoirs by an American Major-General.

18th November

Europe in Zig-Zags isn’t strictly a War book but I was so taken with the wonderful Art Deco jacket that I’ve squeezed it in. It’s really a travelogue but the author does examine the after effects of the War on the continent, politically more than physically. The double volume of Kipling’s ‘Years Between’ was the last volume in the ‘Service Kipling’ series intended as pocket-sized editions for the troops, although this was perhaps rather late coming in 1919. There were 3,000 copies of each volume printed.

11th November 2018

Armistice Day - the War is over.

The picture is of Owl Trench, one of the first I visited on the Western Front. Close to Hebuterne on the Somme, it contains the graves of 53 soldiers, 43 of them from the 16th West Yorks, who fell on 27th February 1917 during an attack on the rearguard of the German 31st Division.

4th November

Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the death of Wilfred Owen.

3 books today. One of H.G.Rawlinson’s excellent Histories of the Rajputana Rifles (his best according to Perkins). Although covering 1805-1922 it concentrates mainly on the Mesopotamian Campaign in WW1. At last the genuine Canadian first of Robert Service’s ‘Rhymes of a Red-Cross Man’ thanks to Ian Burns & finally an early biography of General Pershing who commanded the AEF on the Western Front from 1917-18.

28th October

Just one today. Prior to last week there was only a single copy of F.W.Harvey’s account of his incarceration in a German Prison Camp on ABE when suddenly within the space of a few days 3 further copies appear. Even stranger, 2 of them have the front panel of the jacket stuck inside - a jacket of such scarcity I’ve never seen one. The jacket it seems is by one G.Gordon Jackson & copies can be had for £250 or considerably more but with a rather nice acrostic inscription by Harvey available from Peter Harrington.

23rd October

Sad to report that David Pritchard, one of the major contributors to this site, died earlier this year after a long battle with cancer. Our sympathies go out to his wife, Helen. David had what I believe to be the finest collection of WW1 books in their original jackets that I’ve ever come across. In fact he built up his collection twice, having sold his first one to John Marrin many years ago. It was that collection that gave the early Marrin catalogues such a distinctive and desirable appeal. His ability to source rare & in most cases pristine copies led me to believe he must have had access to some form of time machine which enabled him to visit the original publishers! We are a shrinking band & we shall miss him greatly.

21st October

Firstly the US edition of Ian Hay’s ‘Carrying On’ mimicking the jacket of the UK edition of his previous book. 2 editions of Chlumberg’s play ‘Miracle at Verdun’, based on his service in the German Army on the Italian front. Bizarrely he died by falling into the orchestra pit during rehearsals for this play. And a novel of twin brothers who fight on opposite sides. When one is captured as a spy the other swops places thus sacrificing himself (rather Tale of two Cities!).

4th October

2 new additions to the Memorials page, both from the most recent Turner Donovan catalogue; Douglas Jerrold’s invective against the prevailing disillusion of current War memoirs & a town War record, unusual for retaining its jacket.

19th September

Just a couple of poetry books today but both of great importance. Vera Brittain’s ‘Verses of a V.A.D.’ was here already but this is a vastly superior copy. In fact it’s hard to imagine a finer as it came with 2 jackets, the outer one keeping the inner in near perfect condition. Also we have a 1st of Charles Sorley’s ‘Marlborough & Other Poems’. The first of this rarely appears but having searched long & hard for it I see a second copy has appeared on ABE barely a week later - a bit like London buses. I’ve not seen any of the first 3 editions in jackets so I suspect they were never issued with them.

10th September

2 improved images to start of with for Crosse’ ‘Defeat of Austria’ & Falls ‘War Books’. Compton Mackenzie’s ‘Sylvia & Michael’ is here largely on the recommendation of Cyril Falls, who says there are vivid scenes in the novel from the Sebian Defeat and the opening of the Salonika Campaign & ‘Versailles’, to quote from the fly leaf, ‘is an intensely dramatic, brilliantly witty, and bitingly ironical narrative of the Peace Treaty’.

26th August

Firstly a big thank you to Tim Whitcombe for pointing out that the image of Captain Doorly’s ‘In the Wake’ shown on p.10 was actually the rear cover. The proper image is shown below. The King’s Pilgrimage was published in 1922 to commemorate the visit of George V to the cemeteries of France & Belgium. 25,000 copies were printed to raise funds to enable relatives to visit the Graves of their loved ones. It contains an original poem by Kipling who also wrote the King’s speech printed here although not acknowledged as such at the time. Jacketed copies are distinctly rare. Plus some American Secret Service memories & a History of English espionage.

19th August

Bit of a cheat today but this near perfect set of Naval Operations from the Official History has just arrived courtesy of Ebay. Apart from the odd chip this is as fine a set as one could imagine - totally un-foxed & entirely free of any library marks. It must have sat in total darkness since 1923!

5th August

Just two additions today but of such importance & scarcity that they get the space to themselves. Major Donohoe’s ‘With the Persian Expedition’ tells of his accompanying the Baghdad expedition in 1918 to relieve ‘Stalky’ Dunsterville’s ‘Dunsterforce’ in Iraq. The author was a journalist who was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps in 1916. Edwin Blackwell’s ‘Romford to Beirut’ is the War record of ‘B’ Battery, 271st Brigade, RFA (1/2nd Essex). Blackwell & his co-author, Edwin Axe, were NCO’s in the unit. Falls called it ‘a model of a Battery history’.

30th July

This history of the Hull Commercials looks interesting but it’s still in the post so I’ve not yet seen it. Judging by the headgear in the photo they were off to the tropics. The jacketless volume is Capt. F.C.Waller’s atmospheric account of his time with the 6th KOSB of the 9th Scottish Division. It covers his home training and from May 1915 to the Battle of Loos where he was wounded during the attack on Mad Point. Privately printed in Winchester in 1917, I doubt it was ever jacketed. Plus Capt. Landau’s account of running the Espionage network La Dame Blanche behind German Lines.

23rd July

Today there are 3 additions to the ‘Memorials’ page. ‘Some Letters from a Subaltern on the Western Front’ gathers the letters of Lt. John Baldwin Hoyle of the 7th South Lancs, Killed in Action on the 1st Day of the Somme ; ‘A Soldier of England’, a memorial to Lt. Leslie Yorath Sanders of the RGA, KIA in March 1917 while attached to the 3rd Field Survey Company of the R.E. & ‘Leaving Rouen for the Somme’, the letters of 2nd Lt. A.E. Coles of the 1st Somerset Light Infantry who fell on the 4th October 1917. Plus the UK edition of Edgar Middleton’s flying stories.

11th July

Charlton’s ‘War from the Air’ is based on a series of lectures given at Trinity College by the Air Commodore. Only a small part concerns WW1 but is of sufficient interest to merit inclusion here. The Naval Blockade is an academic treatise written by a Frenchman dealing with the effect of the Blockade on all countries wether in the War or not. And a collection of reflections on the Western Front by a War Office visitor.

3rd July

No jackets at all today! A scarce early work by the author of ‘A Subaltern’s War’, Charles Carrington, is this history of his Battalion, the 1/5th Warwicks. It may have had a jacket but I’ve not heard of one. Plus another Memorial volume, this time to Geoffrey Blemell Pollard of the RFA, KIA nr. La Bassee in Oct. 1914 & a selection of Poems by Captain Mann of the RAF.

18th June

‘The Man from World’s End’ is a collection of short stories, some involving the War, which is noteworthy for its rather striking jacket. Plus General Hamilton’s attempt to show the public what the army is really like & a journalist’s view of the last years of the War and the Russian Revolution.

4th June

The Cockpit is a collection of flying stories’ some based on fact, including a ‘Biggles’ one from Capt. W.E.Johns. This was supposedly first published in 1934 with 8 illustrations. This edition is from 1936 with presumably new illustrations as these & the jacket are all dated to that year. Plus the Official History of the Otago Regiment of NZ in the War from Gallipoli to Ypres and beyond.

28th May

Just for a change I’ve found 3 books to buy although only one of any real significance - Major Grant’s brief History of ‘A’ Battery of the 84th Army Brigade from its formation in 1914 to its disbandment in June 1919 & through the major battles of the War. Despite being ‘in the thick of it’, Battery life seems to have been fairly safe - of the 35 officers listed as serving with the unit, none were killed during that time. Plus a volume of fairly mediocre War poetry written, I suspect, from the home front, and a novel largely concerning a family that runs a Munitions factory.

20th May

Here we have the story of two American brothers who served briefly in the 2nd Regiment of the French Foreign Legion in the early part of the War & a series of observations by the US Ambassador to Denmark from 1907-1918 on German aggression.

13th May

Just 2 again and one of them here already. Col. Weston’s ‘Three Years with the New Zealanders’ isn’t new but a much nicer copy than the existing one. Some interesting original photo’s which I imagine were taken by the author. Plus a German prisoner’s account of various prison camps.

6th May

Just a couple today. A routine history of the Fifth Beds & Herts Regiment at Gallipoli, Egypt & Palestine & the first US edition of Donald Hankey’s letters.

30th April

Sorry for the long delay - nothing worth entering! Today’s books are all mine for a change. A jacketless but rare account of the siege of Kut, a War correspondent’s autobiography, the story of the Kaiser’s exile at Doorn & a fine & comprehensive history of the 5/6th Cameronians in the War

2nd April

Easter brings the memoirs of an American lady trapped in Poland by the German invasion, an account of the disarmament of Germany after the War & two further Memorial volumes to fallen Officers.

25th March

I hadn’t before considered including Brooke’s ‘Letters from America’ on-site, but having now bought a copy I find the last two essays were written after the start of the War & make some mention of it. I believe the work is still in print so I’d be interested to see how the penultimate letter is now titled - it was originally called ‘Some N*****s’ which would be decidedly offensive today. Plus a Colonel’s recollections of the Boer war & WW1, another Colonel on Military Hygiene & a stirring Naval yarn from Gilbert Hackforth-Jones.

18th March

Conan Doyle’s ‘British Campaign in France & Flanders’ used to one of the most ubiquitous of War books although lately it seems to have disappeared (including my own set!). What you never saw were copies in their jackets so I thought I’d show this set which passed through the US auction house ‘Profiles in History’ at the end of last year. It fetched $480 I believe, which seems about right. Not sure how it stands up these days as a reliable account of the War though.

11th March

Today’s mixed bag brings a juvenile naval yarn, a cheap re-issue of ‘The Marne - & After’, a collection of War-themed short stories & a novel of a young man who returns from the War to read his own obituary, a misconception he corrects by writing his own account!

3rd March

More books to chose from for a change, so a normal service can be resumed for a while. Thanks to Grant Morrow for providing the US edition of Cushing’s Surgeon’s Journal, from me Gerald French’s collection of his father’s Diaries & Correspondence & a collection of ghostly tales by Alice Brown the title story of which touches on the War.

22nd February

Enough Munitions already! Here’s one I’ve searched for for just as long (last seen in Marrin’s Cat.38 at £135) & it pops up for 40 times less than last weeks entry. To my mind Bucher’s ‘In the Line’ (from the German ‘Westfront 1914-1918’) is one of the finest of the German memoirs taking its place alongside Junger, Broger, Renn et al. The author served with the Infantry throughout the War being present at most of the major conflicts including a particularly frightening encounter with American tanks in 1918. I’d point out however that Lengel describes it as ‘dark & dreary’!

15th February

Not a jacket in site, but the arrival today of 7 of the 12 volumes of the History of the Ministry of Munitions trumps all else. When I started collecting the Official History I never hoped to find any copies of this ultra rare publication and then 7 turn up at once. 250 copies of the over 50 separate parts were printed, some of which were bound up as 12 volumes. Distribution was strictly limited to Government departments and the like, these from the Ministry of Aviation library. I think the gaps in this set may be permanent!

8th February

Firstly, Bacon’s biography of First Sea Lord and Commander of the Dover Patrol, Admiral ‘Jackie’ Fisher, followed by Major Macfall’s call for no early peace talks with the Germans prior to their inevitable defeat. Also welcome are two additions from John Etheridge - a Memorial volume, unusually jacketed, to Alec Rowan Heron of the KRRC who was killed near Givenchy in 1915 and the first appearance of Wallace Ellison’s account of his various escape attempts during three and half years imprisonment by the Germans.

27th January

Only two today & one of those not actually going on the site. Firstly a splendid, albeit rather damaged, jacket for Aaronsohn’s account of his time as a reluctant recruit to the Turkish forces as a Palestinian Jew. The jacket is by John Hargrave who wrote ‘The Pals at Suvla Bay’. Plus the copy of Nichols’ 18th Division history which I recently acquired. I show it because it belonged to Major-General Richard Lee, the Division’s second commander after Maxse, which contains a few additions to the text by Lee & a couple of letters to him from Maxse & Field Marshall Birdwood.

17th January

Sheer laziness & a particularly virulent winter cold (4 weeks and counting) has limited me to just one addition today. However as it’s an edition I’ve not seen before that’s OK. I’d not realised that Empey’s ‘Over the Top’ had been given a UK release, but given that he did serve in the British Army it’s hardly surprising. Same publisher, Putnam’s, but a different title, ‘From the Fire Step’. Who knows why - maybe there was an existing book of that title already? Either way, many thanks to Grant Morrow for unearthing this.

9th January 2018

Nothing exiting to start the New Year, I’m afraid. The US edition of the 2nd volume of Mottram’s ‘Spanish Farm Trilogy’, Tom Kettle’s Irish view of the War, Robertson’s account of the War years as Chief of the Imperial General Staff & his falling out with Lloyd-George & a pamphlet of Cockney Rhymes.

30th December

3 vibrant jackets today to finish off 2017, a year some of us would rather forget! Guns of Galt with its fine jacket by Herbert Fouts, is a novel largely centred on the building of a Battleship, the Huascar, & its action in the War. Then a biography of Admiral von Hipper, who led a group of Battle Cruisers at Jutland & later Commanded the German High Seas Fleet and finally a re-issue of Hall’s ‘High Adventure’ probably from the early 1930s with a jacket by Cosimini.

18th December

No unseen jackets today, alas, only an improved one for the US edition of ‘The Good Soldier, Schweik’. I have however been actively tracking down more Memorial volumes, so here are 3 I’ve recently purchased. The most significant is probably that of Edward Hornby Shears, Lt. in the 1st Battalion Irish Guards who was killed at Boesinghe on 4th July 1917. It’s his front line diary for the first 6 months of that year & is a fine account. Ronald Poulton was a Lt. in the 1/4th Royal Berkshires, killed nr. Hazebrouk on the 5th May 1915. There are some 50 pages of his letters from France. Finally a memorial volume not to be found in Tom Donovan’s excellent bibliography of these books - William Henry Ratcliffe, 2nd Lt. 1st South Staffs, killed on the first day of the Somme nr. Mametz.

10th December

Today’s mixed batch shows another biography of Marshal Foch, a young girls account of her time in Alsace Lorraine during the War, another young lady’s letters from France in the later stages of the War & some military cartoons by Edmund Sullivan.

28th November

Fendall’s account of the formation & activities of the East African Force was a book previously unknown to me, so when a reasonably priced copy appeared on ABE I snapped it up - or I thought I had until that little message arrived to say the book had been previously sold. How annoying! & so my appetite being thoroughly wetted I had to find another which of course has cost me twice what the other copy would have. Oh well, at least Falls says it’s a good account containing valuable information. Plus some minor War poetry, currently available on Ebay & the 1st US edition of Spring’s flying novel, Contact.

15th November

Wauchope’s 3-volume History of the Black Watch in the Great War (this copy inscribed by Wauchope to General Wavell), a volume of War Poetry for Canadian troops, a later issue of Blaker’s ‘Medal Without Bar’ & an American collection of off-duty War stories.

7th November

I recently had tea in the splendidly old-fashioned Hydro Hotel Eastbourne where alongside the tables are shelves of old books. My eye was drawn to one by Richard Blaker, author of ‘Medal without Bar’. It’s a novel, much of it centred around the War, so worthy of inclusion here. For less than the price of the tea, ABE was able to furnish me with the copy shown below which comes with the Youngman Carter designed jacket & the bonus of the author’s signature! Plus a Memorial volume to a soldier in the Royal Sussex, Kiernan’s History of the Air War & an American volume of War verse.

29th October

I bought today’s addition at the recent Lewes Bookfair. Haig’s Despatches isn’t a particularly scarce book, even in it’s jacket. What makes this one so special is that Haig has inscribed it to his publisher, J.M.Dent, thanking him for his help in getting it published. I posted it on the Great War Forum where it didn’t attract much interest, but as far as I can determine, books signed by the Field Marshal are few and far between. There weren’t frankly many books for him to sign, there being only this & his 1907 book on the Cavalry to contain all his own words. At £180 it seemed like rather a bargain!

22nd October

Unusual for me to show three volumes of a magazine but this one appears of particular importance. Published by HMSO & seemingly aimed at the patients and staff of the various hospitals dealing with disabled servicemen it only survived for 6 months. This can probably be explained by its late arrival on the scene in August 1918, and could have been predicted by its failure to attract sufficient advertising - 42 pages of them in the first issue falling to 15 in the second & a mere 2 by the third. Edited by John Galsworthy it carried articles & stories by many of the leading writers of the day - Kipling, Conrad, Barrie, Hardy, Chesterton, Graves, etc. As far as I’ve been able to ascertain all the contributions were original which should give it a certain kudos amongst collectors. Interspersing such writing with accounts of artificial limbs and surgical procedures may have proved to be rather a turn-off in the end! Also a previously unrecorded Memorial volume to an officer in the RAMC which contains his powerful front line diary.

18th October

Just one today but I was so pleased to see it (courtesy of Geoffrey of the GWF) that I thought it should stand alone. ‘Retreat from Death’ is a novel concerning a young soldiers plight during the 1918 March retreat up until the Armistice. Described on the front flap as ‘different from any other yet published’ (how often have I read that!) it seems to be rather a ‘marmite’ novel. Often cited as a brutally realistic account it also attracts totally opposite views, Hager & Taylor calling it ‘a dreary & depressing view of the War’ (Falls would have hated it!). Although the original is scarce it was republished in 2005. (I’ve always thought I could easily spot an American jacket from a UK one, but this had me fooled. It has all the US characteristics - typeface, geometric design, colouring - but no, it’s from Hutchinson here in the UK - sneaky!).

11th October

A novel set in Germany at the time of the US entry into the War, a novel of an American lady who spies for Germany, a collection of humorous stories of the US Naval Reserve & some reflections by a Scottish minister of War in the Middle East.

1st October

Douglas Jerrold is probably best known today for his diatribe against the literature of disillusionment - ‘The Lie about the War’. Published 5 years earlier, this excellent history of the Hawke Battalion contains his first thoughts on the matter. Little did he realise how much more of it there was to come! Plus a considered history of the US 35 Division & a more light-hearted one of the Australian 3rd. Finally the 1st US edition of Commander Edwards account of the submarine war.

24th September

Two accounts today of American Field Artillery units. I can’t speak for that on the 101st but the one on the 305th, written by their CO, Charles Wadsworth Camp, appears to be a first rate history with many maps & illustrations. Charteris biography of Haig is the first American edition and we have Ross-of-Bladensburg’s history of the Coldstream Guards in the War. A fine and comprehensive account in 3-volumes including a map one. It’s a shame there’s only one illustration, of the author himself, in the entire account. Over a thousand pages without a little visual relief is asking rather too much of this reader!

14th September

A shortage of new material accounts for the delay in updating the site lately. Here today is a fine panoramic jacket for a cheap edition of Georges Duhamel’s French War novel, admired by Cyril Falls, ‘Civilisation 1914-1918’, the US edition of ‘A Soldier’s Diary of the Great War’ & a more recent German edition of Frederick Manning’s great novel ‘Her Privates We’.

29th August

A couple of War novels today from the ever excellent Babylon Revisited book dealers site and two collections of War poetry - POW & Flying.

20th August

Kipling with the British Fleet was a reprint of ‘Fringes of the Fleet’ published separately by 4 American newspapers belonging to the Hearst group in 1916. Plus a collection of Russian State papers for the War years, an account of the relations between Tommys & Doughboys & Yeats Brown’s collection of escape stories through the years.

13th August

The Blunden, below, is really too late for the site having been published in 1957 but it contains many War poems, is a useful anthology of his work & is nicely inscribed by the poet. Plus the true UK first of Falls’ invaluable bibliography, an account by Kathleen Burke of her time in France as an advocate for the Scottish Women’s Hospitals & a rare jacket for the History of Tanks since 1916.

6th August

Not the most exciting of updates today - the 1st illustrated edition of ‘Marching on Tanga’, the US edition of Hall’s ‘High Adventure’, a first look at the War’s VC winners & a seemingly impenetrable War-time detective story set in Paris in 1915 featuring the famous Arsene Lupin.

30th July

UK & US editions of Blunden’s ‘The Shepherd’, one of his first substantial collections of War poetry. A novel by Escott Lynn, largely based on Lt.Col. Mure’s ‘With the Incomparable 29th’ & the memoirs of General Sir James Willcocks, big game hunting in India & Africa to action of the Western Front..

23rd July

Captain Torossian was an Armenian who fought for the Turks at Gallipoli. Following the Armenian genocide he switched sides and, consequently, his memoirs have been dismissed by some Turkish historians although subsequent research has shown them to be authentic. L.V.Jacks’ ‘Service Record’ tells of his time with the 119th Field Artillery, 32nd Division in the last year of the War. Lt.Col. Murphy, of the Indian Army, writes with some authority on the Turkish armies exploits from 1910 - 1918 including Gallipoli & finally an account of the defeat of Austria in 1918 from the Asiago plateau to the Armistice by the senior chaplain to the Seventh Division.

16th July

3 volumes of poetry today which between them will set you back some £9,000. The Vera Brittain is indeed a scarce volume, particularly in its jacket, but she is a very minor poet so clearly the price is entirely down to ‘Testament’ and not merit. The vendors of the Thomas seem to regard it as a variant 1st but the jacket is clearly for a second issue. I rather think the 1st had a clear glassine one. Plus the US 1st of Sassoon’s ‘Old Huntsman’ & thoughts on the War by a Catholic Nun who was herself a nurse during the conflict.

9th July

Firstly a splendid jacket by Youngman Carter for a novel which is completely new to me, & I suspect most people, ‘Brother Officers’ by R.P.Morrison, courtesy of David & Helen Pritchard. Sadly I can offer no information on its contents as none of my books or the net can enlighten me - the Australian War Memorial has a copy though. Plus Col. Jamie on the 177th Brigade, from the same source, & both volumes of Hilaire Belloc’s History of the early part of the War.

2nd July

3 from me today. The Taffrail is a fifth printing from 1934 with the same image as the 1st but with the colour palette reduced to a simple blue. The Blunden is a fragment of trench history written shortly after the War & long before ‘Undertones’. Published here in a limited edition of 275 copies by his brother. I was expecting a lot from this rather expensive item but found it rather nondescript in comparison to other contemporary accounts. ‘One of the Lambs’ is an exceedingly scarce account of Gallipoli by a Captain in the Queen’s Regiment. At one point he encounters two dead female snipers - naked & covered in pigment! And finally the US edition of a BP Scout in the same campaign.

25th June

Only one picture this week because, a. I’m running low on fresh images, b. I love this scarce Helen McKie jacket & c. It’s too darned hot!

‘Kitchener Chaps’ was published in the first half of 1915 and must be one of the earliest such collections of War stories. Not based on any real experience of front line action this type of book was primarily intended to reassure the folks in the UK that Tommy was carrying on with life much as he did at home. It wasn’t until 1917 that more realistic accounts came to be published. ( A good example is a book called ‘After Victory’ by ‘An Amateur Officer’ from that year which certainly pulls no punches in its depiction of an attack - sadly, no jacket).

18th June

Hilaire Belloc’s War History was intended to cover the whole conflict but in the end only 2 volumes were produced. He had some knowledge of the military having served as a driver with the French 8th Artillery at the end of the previous century. This is a slightly unusual copy being a UK 1st but in a jacket priced in dollars. Plus the story of a Jewish American forced into service with the Turks, a general history of the War at Sea & an account by an American Captain in the Motor Machine Gun Corps doing service with Allenby in the Middle East.

11th June

Not the most exciting batch today - maybe all the dealers are on holiday! So we just have Tomlinson’s essay, ‘Illusion 1915’, here in it’s limited signed edition plus another American Flying novel. It’s unusual to find the author of Little Lord Fauntleroy & The Secret Garden here, but Francis Hodgson Burnett’s novel ‘Robin’, part of a series, is a romance set during the War, in which the heroine’s lover is lost at the front. I can’t say it’s one I’m likely to read let alone buy.

4th June

Firstly, Charteris’ ‘At G.H.Q.’. It was here already in b&w but having finally found a copy you can now see the the glory of its red text! Charteris was Haig’s Head of Intelligence throughout the War & the book is a series of letters to his wife with a great deal of gossip thrown in! Plus, the story of a Motor Launch Patrol boat during the War with some atmospheric drawings by Donald Maxwell, a history of the 42nd ‘Rainbow’ division & a 1930’s re-issue of a boys war-time adventure novel from 1920 noteworthy for its splendid cover by Vernon Ward.

28th May

3 from my own collection for a change. I suspect there are numerous accounts of civic involvement in the War, but this one from Birmingham is the first I’ve seen in a jacket. Even the ubiquitous one from Croydon never appears wrapped. Perhaps not the most gripping of reads but there are some interesting details of Munitions manufacture, recruitment etc. & a few noteworthy photos. The R.W.Campbell is a book I’ve long had, it tells of the training of a New Army cadet, but I was very pleased to finally see it in its jacket. A trifle dear, but as it came from the Babylon Revisited site & I’ve been using their images for years, I felt duty bound to buy it. Pity it doesn’t have a more military image but at least it doesn’t have the gormless Spud Tamson on the cover! And finally a jacket for the Punch anthology which I’d thought scarce until three turned up within days of each other. Sadly the cartoons weren’t as funny as I’d hoped.

21st May

Despite my reluctance to buy Unit histories, once I see the description ‘extremely scarce in jacket’ I find it impossible to resist. Usually as dry as dust this one on the 2nd Tyneside Pioneers really is a rewarding read, written by an officer with a genuine appreciation for the hardships undergone by the poor devils building the front line trenches under heavy shellfire. Plus some War themed plays by the author of Peter Pan, the second copy of the History of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry in Palestine to appear on Ebay in as many days (are they printing new ones??) & a splendid, if restored jacket, for the UK edition of Gurdon’s ‘Over & Above’ from the Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC website.

14th May

John Oxenham (William Arthur Dunkerley) was a prolific novelist & journalist, best known now, if at all, from his poetry collection ‘Bees in Amber’. I’ve had the book for years & hoped to see a more militaristic jacket on it but nice to see it anyhow. It’s a novel about 2 couples trapped on the continent after the declaration of War & their subsequent struggles to return home. Oxenham seems to have written 34 novels prior to this one! Maj.Gen. Maurice’s account of the War’s early days was already here as a 1930 edition but this second impression is only a few months after its first appearance in 1919. The US first of Wilfred Owen’s poems seems to be even scarcer in its jacket than the UK one (from William Reece) & the poetry anthology ‘Lest We Forget’ shows just how bad war verse could be prior to the war poets raising their heads.

5th May

A later issue of Clarke Venables ‘Oh Hell’ shows an inventive use of typography, a rather charmingly naive cover for one of the many US childrens series War books, a US edition of the official analysis of all the German Divisions that fought in the War & the War from an American journalists viewpoint.

27th April

Another cheat today, 3 Kipling pamphlets & a Memorial volume. The Kiplings were all issued in September 1914, presumably in an attempt to boost morale. Only ‘For All We Have & Are’ was relatively new, having been first published a couple of weeks previously in The Times. The other 2 date back to the previous century but were doubtless considered to be similarly uplifting. The Memorial volume is to an officer who served in the RFA & RGA who was killed in April 1918. It’s an interesting series of letters describing the workings of a Field Battery.

20th April

Just a couple today as I’m still feeling the effects of the heart drugs. ‘Crucifix Corner’ by the husband & wife authors C.N. & A.M.Williamson tells of a parents search through the battlefields to find where their son fell. I’d never heard of this couple before but it seems they were hugely popular in the early years of the century having already published 24 novels prior to this. ‘The Forty Days (of Musa Dagh)’ tells of the plight of 5,000 Armenians driven into the mountains by the Turks during the War. Apparently it was the first book to address this tragedy. The author is now best known for his ‘Song of Bernadette’, the basis of the Hollywood film.

9th April

A.G.Hales was an Australian War Correspondent & Boer War veteran who settled in London & wrote a long series of novels about a bible-quoting Scotsman called McGlusky. Even though the speech is written in a heavy Scottish brogue, the books proved enormously popular shifting well over 2 million copies across the series. Conal O’Riordan’s ‘In London’ about an Irish actor in London during the War, was on-site already but only in a side view. Having bought same copy it’s worth updating the particularly fine image of the Wellington Arch (possibly a new favourite!).Plus the limited edition of Gilbert’s ‘Last Crusade’ & a War-time production of Aladdin in Macedonia by the 85th Field Ambulance.

2nd April

Bit of a cheat today, 4 books by the same author. William Le Queux was a strange character, author, journalist, supposed expert on espionage. His output was prodigious, particularly during the War years. He was so convinced of the authenticity of his depictions of the German command that he thought he would become a target for assassination, demanding Police protection, which was refused. The books are largely fictional with a little inside knowledge thrown in.

30th March

Sorry for the long delay but getting over this is proving harder than I expected. The following are now on their correct pages. Tuohy’s ‘Battle of Brains’ is a collection of his espionage stories. Can’t find much information on him other than to say he was a journalist prior to the War & served as a Captain in the intelligence services. He wrote 5 books relating to the War of which 3 are here. I bought the Dunsterville thinking it a title I didn’t have but it’s merely a re-titled reprint of Stalky’s Reminiscences - sneaky!, plus an account of the Marne & a novelised account of the Balkans & WW1 based on the author’s experiences,courtesy of Dave Golemon.

15th March

I’m afraid the next update will be delayed. Last week I suffered a heart attack & have had six stents inserted so I’m still feeling too weak to do much. These are the next books to be entered but as yet they’re not on their respective pages.

5th March

Having finally managed to visit the excellent Paul Nash exhibition at Tate Britain, I was particularly pleased to find this copy of Richard Aldington’s ‘Images of War’ with illustrations by the artist. I’m not sure Aldington’s Imagist poetry has stood the test of time - it all seems rather too mannered - but the little Nash pen & inks are exquisite. This is no.122 of 200 copies. A previous owner has kindly tipped-in Aldington’s signature as well. Secondly, thanks to John Etheridge, a rare copy of ‘Boy of my Heart’ by Marie Connor Leighton, published as a tribute to her son Roland, Vera Brittain’s fiance, in 1916. Rather gushing, I’m told, but an important account of his short life. Plus the UK & US editions of Malcolm Cowley’s ‘Exile’s Return’, a major assessment of the ‘Lost Generation’ of American writers, who served in the War & spent long periods in the Cafe’s of Paris (last week I was in the Cremerie Polidor in Paris where many of them used to eat. Hasn’t changed a jot, apart from the prices!).

26th February

James Hanley’s self-published ‘The German Prisoner’ is without doubt the most thoroughly unpleasant War book I’ve had the misfortune to read. It tells the story of two soldiers who, finding themselves in a shell crater during an advance, chance upon a surrendering German who they proceed to sexually torture to death. Richard Aldington’s introduction praises the book for showing the true nature of War & how it changes individuals but the two soldiers involved are shown to have been so utterly depraved before the War began as to have been beyond any further influence. Limited, fortunately, to 500 copies I doubt it was ever jacketed. Plus an enlarged edition of Albert, King of the Belgians , an American with the French Flying Corps & a colour image of ‘The Lost Battalion’.

19th February

I’ve been actively collecting Memorial volumes lately, so for a change there are no dust jackets at all. We have Edward Anthony Steel, Lt.Col. with the RHA & RFA, Frederick Courtney Selous, Captain in the 25th Royal Fusiliers, James Logan Mackie, Captain in the Ayrshire Yeomanry & that scarce volume from the poet Charles Sorley, ‘Letters from Germany & the Army’.

12th February

All of today’s additions are shamelessly taken from the latest Turner Donovan catalogue 149. Details can be seen on their website.

5th February

Berta Ruck’s ‘Years for Rachel’ is a love story set during the War in which a long engagement is ending in favour of another. Described in Hager & Taylor as ‘unimaginative & banal’. Journalist Geoffrey Young’s ‘From the Trenches’ is described, like several others’ as the first account of the fighting. The elusive jacket has been cut down & stuck inside the book (another ex-IWM). ‘The Winnowing Fan’ has the first book appearance of Binyon’s ‘For the Fallen’ (available from Peter Harrington at an eye-watering £1250!), plus a previously unseen account of Women Munition workers (in wrappers, also ex-IWM).

29th January

Two scarce UK editions of famous US novels today - Dos Passos ‘1919’ & Scott Fitzgeralds ‘Tender is the Night’. Nice period examples but the Fitzgerald falls well short of the masterly US version. The predominantly red 1st of Reitz ‘Trekking On’ complements the blue of the later issue already on-site & finally the US edition of Britten-Austin’s ‘War God Walks Again’.

22nd January

I don’t know why I didn’t have copies of Graves’ ‘Country Sentiment’ here before - carelessness I suppose. It’s really the last of his many volumes of verse to contain any War poetry - there’s a substantial group of them at the end of the book. Chalmers Comes Back is a novel about a shell-shocked soldier & a young lady who go off to revolutionary Russia. Sillitoe Hill’s ‘Front Line & Beyond It’, a diary of a soldier in the KSLI who is captured shortly after arriving at the front, probably had a jacket but I can’t wait until that turns up before including it here.

15th January

Firstly a very scarce jacket on Capt. Wedgwood Benn’s memoir, ‘In the Side Shows’. Father of Tony Benn & winner of both the DSO & DFC, he joined the Middlesex Yeomanry at the age of 37, becoming an Observer with the RFC & saw service in Gallipoli & over the Piave. ‘Unsought Adventure’ is the autobiography of Charles Barry (Bryson) who served with the Imperial Russian Horse Artillery & later as a spy for the British at Murmansk. Also we have a history of the West Kent Yeomanry & a series of War sketches by de Montmorency.

8th January

Unusual to find the author of the ‘Just William’ books here but ‘Weatherley Parade’ is a family saga which takes us from the Boer War to WW2 & is interesting for its presentation of home front attitudes to the War.Plus a Warwick Deeping novel which clearly concerns the War but about which I can find no details, a jacketless Territorial memoir which is here because I can identify the author & a memorial volume from Lady Elcho to her sons, Ego & Yvo Charteris.

1st January 2017

Happy New Year to all my readers. A recent article on Richard Blaker by George Simmers on his Great War Fiction website, has led me to add a couple of his other novels to the site. Neither are truly War novels but the conflict does form the background to both. And another book by the journalist Floyd Gibbons on America’s entry into the War.

25th December

No special presents this Christmas Day but I imagine you’ll all have more exiting things to look at. So we have an account of Airships, both German & British, during & after the War, the earliest UK edition of Herbert’s ‘Secret Battle’ I’ve yet seen in a jacket & the US edition of Frankau’s ‘Three Englishmen’ in a rather fine jacket. Christmas greetings to anyone still reading this!

18th December

Firstly a series of stories, mostly true, of war in the Middle East culminating on the Western Front. I assume ‘Stor Lob’ is a pseudonym but I can find no information on him - nice jacket though. Also another chapter in the saga of Spud Tamson, the previous volume, according to the jacket, being the most successful War story yet written. Here the usually manic-looking ‘Spud’ seems about to devour his aged mother! Plus a play about a soldier returning from the siege of Douaumont, written by a notorious Nazi propagandist (apologies for its inclusion but it was written long before he became enamoured of the Third Reich) & one on the application of psychology to the training of soldiers (might have gone down well with the previous author!).

4th December

Today’s single book is one I’ve never come across in its jacket - Bruce Bairnsfather’s follow up to ‘Bullets & Billets’, ‘From Mud to Mufti’. Published later than anticipated in 1919, due to problems between the publishers Bystander & Grant Richards, it sold in far fewer numbers than its predecessor. The jacket is also extremely flimsy which may account for its never being previously recorded. This has prompted me to produce a Bruce Bairnsfather page which you can now find between pages 2 & 3.

27th November

Firstly what seems to be a very rare memorial volume to Edward Wyndham Tennant & his brother Christopher. Privately printed by their mother Lady Glenconner in 1916 it precedes by 3 years the commercially produced collection of 1919 which focused solely on Edward. The only other copy I can find is in Yale, even eluding Tom Donovan in his recent bibliography.Plus another fine Fred Leist jacket for Boyd Cable’s ‘Front Lines’, a collection of Raemaeker’s War pictures & a history of the 5th Battalion Durham Light Infantry recently sold on Ebay.

20th November

Today’s batch are all poetry books from Peter Harrington’s new acquisitions list. These are all scarce in their jackets witnessed by the fact that none have appeared here before. As a collector of such things I’d be quite keen to have them but finding more than £2700 for the 4 seems just a trifle too much!! For better value I’d recommend taking a look at the new listings from J and M books on ABE. Some rather desirable titles here including jacketed 1sts of Mars his Idiot, An Infant in Arms, Up to Mametz, Subaltern on the Somme & A Passionate Prodigality.

13th November

I’ve recently managed to find a copy (sadly without the jacket shown below) of Monica Salmond’s fine memoir of her time as a nurse in the War. Her claim to fame lies in her ancestry - only daughter of Lady Desborough, leading light of ‘The Souls’, & sister to Julian & Billy Grenfell. She gives an account of visiting Julian in hospital, shortly before his death.Plus an alternative jacket for the ‘New Elizabethans’ anthology, an American Airman’s story as told by his wife & Brian Lunn’s autobiography, which recounts his nervous breakdown which followed his service with the 11th Black Watch in Mesopotamia.

6th November

Today we have ‘Invicta’, Major Molony’s excellent account of the doings of the 1st Battalion Royal West Kents. It includes a very useful 75 page appendix listing every man who performed an act of Gallantry, whether awarded a medal or not. Journalist Harold Ashton’s ‘First from the Front’ probably is the first account of the fighting to be published. Parsons ‘Great Adventure’ is the US edition of the book published in the UK as ‘Flight into Hell’ & an account of the Australian troops in the last days of the War.

31st October

Firstly a most important Memorial volume recommended to me by JRF - ‘The Popes of Wrackleford’ which gives details of the 10 sons, 4 daughters & 3 sons-in-law who served in the War, three of whom were killed. A prominent Dorset family, the book has a foreword by their neighbour, Thomas Hardy. Plus the US & UK editions of Thomas Burke’s observations of London life during the War & Henrietta Leslie’s novel of a conflicted family where the husband is in the German trenches & the son in the British.

23rd October

Taking it easy this week with only 2 new titles. The ‘Taffrail’, (Captain Taprell Dorling), is an account of the work of Destroyers, Flotilla-Leaders, Torpedo Boats & Patrol Boats in the War. The Hutchinson is a novel about a woman who’s husband is shot as a spy who later confronts his executioner.

16th October

I’m particularly pleased to have found today’s first offering, ‘The History of the East Lancs Regiment’. Not being a big collector of Unit Histories this appealed because a. It’s rare, b. It’s in its jacket & most importantly c. It’s inscribed by one of its author’s, Maj. H. T. Macmullen to the daughter of its other author, Maj.Gen.Nicholson, who died before the book could be completed. Plus a further Kipling which contains some of his war-time speeches, F.A.Voight, of ‘Combed Out’ fame’s, book on Hindenburg & the UK edition of Neumann’s history of the German Air force in the War.

9th October

Firstly, a fine jacket for Maj.Gen. Liggett’s memoirs of his time as Commander of the 1st & 3rd Corps, AEF , then a pictorial history of the Australians at War, a rarely seen jacketed copy of the first major biography of Edward Thomas & finally the Inspector General of the Turkish Forces account of the War.( this last book is held by an internet bookseller called Parveen Papers. They recently sold me a fine jacketed set of Kipling’s ‘Irish Guards’ for a bargain £35 both volumes of which turned out to be signed by the Great Man Himself!)

3rd October

So pleased to find this week’s book it gets the whole page to itself. Written by Howard Vincent O’Brien, a journalist, who served as a lieutenant of Artillery in the AEF. Although he wished to be with his men at the front, he spent most of his time away on courses or at headquarters in Paris. The wonderfully art deco cover is by K. Romney Towndrow who later became a prominent art critic.

27th September

2 additions from my rapidly growing set of Memorial volumes today. Both privately printed ; the first an account of the War service of 4 brothers from the same family, Wright, only one of whom, a Brigade Major with the 6th Infantry, was killed. Plus that to an officer with the 2nd Gordon Highlanders killed at Loos in 1915. In addition there are 2 novels concerning the War & the Russian revolution, still available from the latest Turner Donovan Catalogue. Incidentally, the Four Brothers volume comes from a large quantity of WW1 books dumped by Brighton Council’s library service along with a considerable number of staff. The brothers came from a local Hove family where the book was also printed. It’s rare, was probably the only copy available locally & has not been recorded. The Luddites on the library committee should feel thoroughly ashamed! Fellow collectors, the preservation of our History rests with us!

20th September

I don’t usually collect Unit histories but this 2-vol. set on the Guards Division was in too perfect a condition to pass by - their badge looks rather Masonic to me! Plus the 1-vol. edition of Ludendorff’s memoirs, Corporal Callaway’s account of his time in the 353rd Infantry & a novel by Mrs. Humphry Ward about the wife of a missing soldier taking up with a wealthy landowner.

11th September

Firstly, a Russian nurse with the Swedish Red Cross tending German & Austrian POW’s, who were treated appallingly by their captors. She was known as the Angel of Siberia. Then, at last, the first appearance of the UK edition of Conan Doyle’s War History. A copy of the elusive Report of the Battlefields Nomenclature Committee & an excellent report of a journey to the various War cemeteries around the world.

4th September

Firstly a couple of additions to my ever widening Kipling collection - the 5-vol. copyright edition of The War in the Mountains, a series of essays on visiting the Italian Front & A Diversity of Creatures, a collection of short stories mostly written earlier but including the War based ‘Mary Postgate’. Plus a stout defence of his father by Gerald French & a biography of an American Air Ace.

23rd August

Just a single book today as I’ve been a little under the weather lately. But what a book!! Never thought I’d see this again. Rota had a copy many years ago as did Tom Donovan a few years later & this it seems is that very same copy so possibly the only one in existence. Far to expensive for me but I believe this copy will be appearing in the listings of a well-known London book dealer in the next few days.

4th August

A memorial volume to Dr Macfarlane, first published in 1923, here in a slightly enlarged edition from 1935. Lloyd George’s peculiar memoirs in the 2-volume edition from 1938, a routine Unit history from the prolific Everard Wyrall and 2 years in Constantinople, 1915-1916, from a newspaper correspondent.

25th July

The plain dark cloth below covers what is certainly one of the finest memorial volumes to come out of the War. ‘Pages from a Family Journal’ was compiled by Lady Desborough to commemorate the loss of her two sons, Julian & Billy Grenfell, during the early days of the War. It’s a fascinating account of gilded lives of extreme privilege. Julian’s letters are probably the most interesting - he’s constantly saying how much he adores the War. 250 copies were produced which she distributed to family friends & like-minded ‘souls’. This copy is inscribed to her ladies maid, Rosa Gaston. Plus a scarce early jacket by Douglas Swale for Klaxon’s submarine volume, a novel of a Russian secret agent & a volume of poetry for Marshal Foch!

18th July

Today we have the UK edition of McFee’s ‘Command’, a novel on the problems of achieving higher command at sea, Brewer’s ‘Riders in the Sky’, a long narrative poem of a young American Flyer, a Sussex Battalion history & a collection of essays on the treatment of War wounds.

10th July

Only a minor assortment today. An early US ‘39 Steps’, a later edition of Hamilton’s ‘First Seven Divisions’, Quiller-Couch’s novel of dubious goings on in a Cornish village in the earlier War years & a portrait of comradeship amongst French troops. Better things next week, I hope.

26th June

The expenditure of far too much money has bought me the first of these two rare books by Frederick Sleath. The author served in France as a 2nd Lt. with the 2nd Royal Scots but was invalided home after a freak accident with a trench board revealed an underlying heart condition. This led to his passing the remainder of the War in the War Office. He wrote half a dozen books, mostly thrillers, the first two of which concerned the War. Sniper Jackson, shown here as a b&w image from an old catalogue, is the book by which he’s chiefly remembered, drawing as it does on his time as the Battalion’s sniping officer. The Seventh Vial is a spirited romance which contains some graphic descriptions of air warfare. Plus a rare appearance of the Official History - Italy in a jacket, available on Ebay for around £400 & some essays on the destruction seen in France after the War by Lord Dunsany.

19th June

A recent purchase from the June Bookfairs is this 1-volume edition of Duff Cooper’s biography of Haig. It seems to be rather scarce. This may be due to the fact that Faber have merely stitched together unsold copies of the original 2-volume edition making this an extremely thick & heavy tome. It obviously didn’t sell well in 1939 as the price seems to have been rapidly reduced. Alongside is the best image I can find of the original 2 volumes plus an account of the Battle of the Somme with Haig on the jacket.

10th June

Sorry to have been away for so long but I bought myself a new computer & have been desperately trying to move this site to it. Sadly it’s proved to be beyond my limited computer skills in that this version of the software can’t be transferred or operate in the latest version of the program. So I’m back to square one but with a redundant but shiny new pc alongside me - the new screen’s nice though!! As I’m still traumatised by the whole sorry saga I can only manage 1 new book today but it’s a rather fine one. Thanks to John Etheridge for providing the image - a lucky Ebay find (dammit!!). It replaces an old b&w image. Service should be back to normal next week.

18th May

A rather nice early flying memoir today, ‘Short Flights with the Cloud Cavalry’. It’s a collection of short stories of an observation squadron over the Western Front. Noffsinger says it’s good on atmosphere but short on facts. Who ‘Spin’ was I have no idea. Plus an account of the French army at Verdun by an American ambulance driver & 2 novels concerning life with T.E.Lawrence by ‘Gurney Slade’ (Stephen Bartlett).

8th May

Nothing of lasting interest in today’s update with 2 improved images for Poling’s YMCA memoir ‘Huts in Hell’ & Chaplain Captain Guy Thornton’s account of his time with the NZEF in Egypt ‘With the Anzacs in Cairo’. Also the UK edition of Temple Thurston’s fictionalised life of Mata Hari, ‘Portrait of a Spy’ & the problems of supply during the War from the Controller of ‘Fats & Oils’!

2nd May

Last week saw the 100th anniversary of the surrender of the Kut Garrison. It’s rather apt therefore to have discovered on my shelves this copy of Dorina Neave’s ‘Remembering Kut’, which tells of the whole sorry story. It’s probably a sign that I have too many books when they seem to almost slip onto the shelves without my noticing! A particularly rare book, the UK edition of William March’s ‘Company K’, has turned up as a brace of copies from Peter Harrington. I bought the cheaper of the 2, both of which are file copies from the publisher, Gollancz. It’s interesting to note that the authors name has been misspelt on the jacket whereas it’s correctly spelt on the title page. A sign that I’ll buy almost anything is this slim volume on the Gordon Highlanders which has barely a page on WW1!

24th April

Back from bouncing around on the Bay of Biscay, so a rather brief precis today. Firstly the UK edition of Britten-Austin’s ‘According to Orders’, one of Lt. Drury’s Flag Lieutenant series, Dane’s account of the Battles in Flanders in 1915 & a lovely jacket for William Le Queux’ novel of a wartime aviatrix ‘Beryl of the Biplane’.

10th April

Prior to a short break, a further selection from the Treloar auction in Adelaide, including a History of the 10th Light Horse, AIF.

3rd April

Today’s four books are all taken from a remarkable auction of ANZAC books to be held by Michael Treloar Auctions of Adelaide on April 10th. A further batch will be added later. Here we have jacketed copies of Capt. Ellis’ History of the 5th Australian Division, Col. Collett’s of the 28th Battalion, Walter Belford’s of the 11th Battalion & James Cowan’s history of the Maoris in the Great War.

27th March

Today we have Vernon Bartlett’s autobiography, of which some 40 pages is given over to his War service; the first volume of W. L. Wyllie’s evocative watercolours depicting the War at Sea & Navarro’s account of the establishment of the Scottish Women’s Hospital at the Abbey of Royaumont.

20th March

Only 2 books today but such remarkably fine specimens they get the space to themselves. C.A. Malcolm’s ‘Piper in War & Peace’, whilst being a history of Scottish Regimental Piping throughout the ages, is largely taken up with their service during the Great War. ‘Open House in Flanders’ is the Baroness de la Grange’s diary of the War as seen from the Chateau de la Motte which served as the headquarters for various Corps Commanders & other dignitaries . Both books are still relatively common these days but distinctly scarce in their jackets.

14th March

Phew! The software seems to be compatible with Windows 10 otherwise that last post would have truly been my last!

Firstly an epic poem from Shane Leslie on the Battle of Jutland, a third edition of Gen. Maurice’s account of the opening days of the War, an improved image of Major Brereton’s account of the New Zealanders in the War & a ‘fictional’? series of letters between a wounded Tommy & his nurse.

11th March

Testing to see if the site works in Windows 10

7th March

Sorry for the delay in updating but there was really little of interest to add, however yesterday’s Military Fair at the Royal National has provided a few worthy additions. Stephen Foot ‘s (‘Tank Major’) autobiography is more usually seen in it’s revised edition, Three Lives & Now published in 1937, than in its original form as here. Charles Douie’s novel ‘Night of Stars’ isn’t strictly speaking WW1, beginning as it does on Armistice night 1918, but for me it completes a trilogy of his books all of which are inscribed. Corporal’s Corner, a soldier’s letters to a nurse, is merely an improved image for an existing book.

21st February

Just a couple today after the excitement of last weeks entries. The more important of the two is Arthur Graeme West’s posthumous ‘Diary of a Dead Officer’, published by The Herald in 1918. West served in the ranks of the Public Schools Batt., Royal Fusiliers & later as a Capt. in the 6th Ox & Bucks. He was killed by a sniper in April 1917. It was also published simultaneously under the Allen & Unwin imprint. This is the first time I’ve seen either jacketed. If you’re feeling especially flush with spare cash it can be had for a rather buoyant £500 on Ebay. Plus an autobiographical novel of a young American working in the support lines at the front.

14th February

2 particularly fine rarities today. Aubrey Herbert’s ‘Mons, Anzac & Kut’, published anonymously in 1919, is especially welcome being the only copy I’ve ever seen. Herbert’s was a remarkable life : an MP, wounded at Gallipoli, he escaped & later travelled to Egypt with Lawrence, subsequently landing at the Dardanelles in the first wave & later serving as an Intelligence officer in Mesopotamia, all the while having the most terrible eyesight. An operation to cure this by having all his teeth removed! led to his death in 1923 from blood poisoning. He was a champion of Albanian independence which resulted in his thrice being offered that countries crown. The ‘Belhaven’ was here already but this is an especially fine copy of an exceedingly rare book in a jacket. And finally a lovely wrap-around jacket by W.E.Johns for the Covington Clarke (Venable) novel of an American Flyer at the front (from Renzo).

7th February

The image of a Howitzer in action is sadly all that remains of the jacket of 2nd Lt. Cecil W. Longley’s ‘Battery Flashes’. It takes the form of a diary of an RFA Battery in action from Sept. 1914 - Feb.1916 & a previous owner has stuck the front of the jacket inside the book. I fear we may never see another. ‘Never Go Back’ is an American novel of students at War, Cenotaph is a commemorative collection of War poetry & prose & there is an account of the Australians at Gallipoli.

31st January

The inside flap on PBO’s ‘Hell in the Heavens’ describes the pseudonymous author as being ‘one of the most famous airmen of the Great War’ but his identity remains unknown (not to be confused with Arch Whitehouse’s memoir of the same name published the year previously). George Hill’s ‘Dreaded Hour’ is a follow-up to his previous account of his espionage activities, ‘Go Spy the Land’’ which takes us to the end of the War & the repercussions of the Peace deals that followed. Plus the US edition of ‘The Whistler’s Room’ & a further memorial volume, this time to an officer in the Devonshires & MGC who won the DSO.

24th January

The first 2 of today’s books were already here but in slightly different forms - Fawcett & Hooper’s ‘Fighting at Jutland’ as a b&w image & Ornstien’s novel of the home front ‘Blighty’ as a facsimile, both now replaced with genuine pictures. A further addition to the Memorials page - Bernard Pitt of the Border Regiment- whose letters from the front contain a rare description of a trench mortar battery in action. Plus Lord Beaverbrook’s unique take on the War’s Politicians.

17th January

De la Mare’s short essay in praise of Rupert Brooke was delivered to Rugby School in 1919. Not especially scarce but this one is signed by the poet. The MP Ian Malcolm goes behind the lines to see the work of the Red Cross in France & Italy. Jastrow’s work on the importance of the German built railway from Turkey to Iraq intended to give them access to the Red Sea avoiding the Suez Canal plus a slim volume of War poetry.

10th January 2016

To follow on from Tom Donovan’s new book, I’ve added a couple of volumes to the Memorials page - those of Morris Bickersteth & Harold Baker bought from Tom’s recent list of some 80 volumes. I only wish I could have afforded more. Maybe I’ll revisit it if my fellow collectors have left any unsold. Plus MacPhail’s biography of 3 War leaders - FM Wilson, Col. House & T.E.Lawrence & Feinstein’s novel of the effects a returning soldier has on his family.

31st December

The last post of the year is just to promote Tom Donovan’s new bibliography of Memorial Volumes from the Great War. Published in a limited edition of some 150 copies this exemplary volume is the result of many years work & can’t be recommended too highly. Listing over 360 volumes with a comprehensive index listing Regiments, Colleges, Cemeteries & areas of battle it’s a must have work not only for those like myself who collect in this field but for everyone interested in the first-hand experience of War.

20th December

A chance recent purchase, ‘On the Run’ is an excellent collection of first-hand POW escape accounts published by Rich & Cowan in 1934. It’s a new one to me & a welcome find with its excellent jacket. Sadly I can’t decipher the artists name. Unusual to find a recipe book here but I bought this war-time collection, sans jacket, with my wife in mind. It turns out to be rather scarce but most annoyingly a copy in its jacket passed through Ebay only a few days prior to my purchase of this one! Dixon’s ‘British Navy’ is, I suspect, a US version of his ‘Fleets behind the Fleet’ plus a study of the Dardanelles Campaign from Edmond Delage.

13th December

Halpin’s ‘Blood in the Mists’ is a rare Australian account of imprisonment by the Turks. The author served with the 12th Light Horse Regiment. The Endless Road is a German play, originally written in 1926, which covers similar ground to the later ‘Journey’s End’. Comedy & Tragedy, on offer from J & M Books, is a collection of short stories, one for each year of the War plus a year either side plus an American treatise on Trench Fighting.

6th December (my Birthday!)

Here’s one of my many birthday treats to myself, which probably cost far too much for such a slim volume, but has such a wonderful image of a howitzer in action that it deserves the whole space to itself. George Goodchild, who went on to become a highly successful & prolific novelist, knew of what he spoke. He served with the 328th Siege Battery of the RGA & was wounded, gassed & discharged with shell shock. His more factual account of being a gunner was given in ‘Behind the Barrage’ which I’ve yet to see in its jacket.

29th November

Apologies for showing 2 new images of books already here but these editions of Brig.Gen.Spears histories are of such fine quality I doubt better copies exist (‘Prelude’ was previously shown as a 2nd ed.). Apologies also for showing a copy of the never jacketed History of the 33rd Machine Gun Corps. The reason being that the author, Lt. Col. G. S. Hutchison, has inscribed the book to ‘QUEX’ (Capt. Nichols who wrote ‘Pushed & the Return Push’). He’s also added some drawings including that of a machine-gun team in action which I thought might be of interest.The inscription reads ‘‘QUEX’ the ubiquitous. He knows ‘em all’ & refers to the fact that QUEX wrote a column for the London Evening News called ‘Diary of a Man about Town’. He was said to be one of the highest paid journalists in the world at the time.

22nd November

A chance purchase of several volumes of a War-time boys magazine, The Captain, has led me to put together a little display of them alongside the ‘Great War Adventures’ magazines already shown here. Primarily aimed at public schoolboys with their mix of quality adventure fiction, stamp collecting hints & reports from various schools OTC units, it ran from 1899 - 1924, some 300 issues. The selection shown here covers issues from 1917 - 1918. Images of any earlier issues would be most welcome.

15th November

Just one today, but as I’ve been searching for it for years it gets a whole page to itself. Although a novel, the author served as an officer with the 9th Battalion Prince of Wales Volunteers and so the War scenes have a particularly authentic feel. Much of it is set during the Salonica Campaign. The powerful jacket is signed ‘LIGO’.

8th November

Unusually, 3 of today’s books come from my own collection. The first 2 are replacement images for existing books. Lt. Col. Hutchison’s history of the MGC replaces an old b & w image. It’s an invaluable history beginning from the rather unlikely date of 430 BC. ‘On the Remainder of our Front’ is Robert Sturges account of his time at the front, firstly as a ranker with the 19th Bt., Royal Fusiliers & later as a Lt. with the MGC. Both books can be found occasionally but are distinctly scarce in their jackets. Lt. Freeman, RNVR & occasional correspondent, gives his account of various actions & of his time on American Destroyers. Plus a volume of American War verse.

1st November

The first of today’s new books is particularly appropriate coming so shortly after the anniversary of Edith Cavell’s death. Louise Thuliez (misspelled on the jacket!) was a close associate of Nurse Cavell & was condemned to death alongside her. Her sentence was eventually commuted to life with hard labour. She gives a fine portrait of her fellow convictee. Plus a soldier of the foreign legion and 2 further American accounts. (BT connection only lasted a day before being severed again. So another hour to India & another engineer. He’s put a note on my junction box at the exchange not to disconnect it again. Ah, the wonders of modern technology).

26th October

This post has been delayed by my having no Internet connection for 2 weeks. 4 hours of phone calls to India over several nights failed to fix the problem & an engineer was reluctantly dispatched today along with dire threats of my having to pay £135 for the privilege! So much for BT customer service. Caveat Emptor!!

By far the most important of today’s books is for the Memorials page. ‘The Sufferings of the Kut Garrison during their march into Turkey as Prisoners of War’ by Lt. F. A. Harvey of the 2nd Dorsets. Privately printed in 1923 as a memorial to Lt. Harvey who was killed during the Moplah Rebellion of 1921, it gives in diary form what I believe is the first unvarnished account of the terrible retreat. The Turks don’t come out of this well! I can’t find any other copies of this book elsewhere, the IWM one seems to be a photocopy. It has a sticker in the front which suggests it was once safely housed in a library but has clearly been de-accessioned. Plus 3 others culled from the Babylon Revisited website.

11th October

Firstly an improved image for Lloyd Hirst’s ‘Coronel & After’, his story of command aboard HMS Glasgow, the only ship to survive the battle of Coronel & to be present at the Falkland’s battle. One Crowded Hour is the story of a Polish Count who fought in the War & of his subsequent escape from Bolshevik Russia. Plus Jack Munroe’s tale of a mascot with the Princess Pats & 3 months in the Champagne sector in 1915 by a 2nd Lieutenant.

4th October

As promised, a new page devoted to another of my collecting passions - Rudyard Kipling. Most of the books shown are Doubleday copyright issues, some from my own collection but most shamelessly lifted from a recent bibliography by David Alan Richards. The pamphlet shown below was a recent purchase. It reprints 2 speeches given by Kipling for distribution to American troops. Of the 50,000 copies printed only 4 were known to have survived (the soldiers probably had more important things to carry to the Front!). So here’s a 5th!

27th September

Occasionally one comes across a jacket so stunning it deserves a page all to itself. One such can be seen below. It’s the UK edition of Ernst Carl’s account of his being Germany’s Master Spy in England during the War. One of several claimants to that title, his account of his part in the death of Lord Kitchener has since been called into question. Carl claimed to have been in contact with Irish Nationalists to plant 2 time bombs on HMS Hampshire. He then described seeing the ship explode from the bar of the White Horse Inn in Kirkwall. Apparently no such Inn existed & the ship was too far from land to have been seen anyway. The jacket is by Douglas Moir.

20th September

Today brings more Flying Books, 1 of them from the Little Stour Books collection. 1st & 2nd editions of ‘Heroes of Aviation’ shows a change of personnel for the jacket, only 2 of the 5 making it to the 2nd version. Plus McConnell with the Lafayette Escadrille over Verdun.

A chance finding of a rare Kipling pamphlet has revived my long-standing interest in the author & has reminded me of how extensive his contribution to the literature of the War was. Consequently I shall be putting together a single author page for Kipling over the coming weeks.

13th September

Hugh Standish’ ‘Private War’ is a novel largely set 20 years on in South America but the opening 60 pages concern WW1. I first saw this book some 25 years ago but failed to buy it. When a jacketless copy turned up recently I snapped it up only to find it enclosed in a facsimile jacket from which the image below is taken. I wonder where the original is now? Plus some war-time poems, a collection of essays on attempts to communicate with fallen soldiers & a novel showing the affects of the War on an American family.

6th September

Another replacement, this time for Major Sandes ‘Tales of Turkey’, author of ‘In Kut & Captivity’, a jacketed copy of which still eludes us. It describes his passage through the country with a group of fellow prisoners. He’s none too kind to our fellow Europeans - “Granted”, he says, “the Turk is cruel, callous & corrupt”! Plus some humorous accounts from the Balkan Front, a US edition of Bacon’s account of the Dover Patrol & a History of the 28th US Div. - the Iron Guard of Pennsylvania.

30th August

The 1st issue of ‘Death in the Air’, with its faked pictures of air combat using model planes, is on-site already but this is a much better image. It comes from Little Stour Books in Canterbury who seem to have acquired a large number of rather fine flying memoirs, albeit at rather wildly fluctuating prices. I suspect there’s no need to rush to snap them up! Plus the usual assortment including the UK edition of Hall Caine’s ‘Woman of Knockaloe’ which was filmed as ‘Barbed Wire’ in 1927 starring Pola Negri.

23rd August

Over the years I’ve managed to find a number of books detailing the work of women in the Munitions industry during the War but I’d not been aware that it had been a subject for children’s literature. I’ve now come across 2 such, Bessie Marchant’s ‘A Girl Munition Worker’, shown below & Brenda Girvin’s ‘Munition Mary’. My attempt to buy the latter resulted in a copy in what appears to be a generic ‘Clarion’ series jacket so I’d be grateful if anyone could supply the original. Plus a few minor additions from Teddy Roosevelt Jr., an Irish General & a history of the US Engineering Corps.

16th August

Charlton’s ‘Deeds’ is one of 3 books, with Land & Sea, tracing war-time exploits from the 1st to the beginning of the 2nd World War. About 1/3rd of the book covers the former conflict. Adventures in Service are the memoirs of a Canadian Chaplain from the Klondike Goldrush to being a chaplain to the forces in WW1. Pus 2 rather obscure books of poetry!

10th August

Back from the Baltic so normal service can resume. Yesterday’s Military bookfair in London has provided me with several more entries although I did contrive to leave some of my purchases behind! The Vernede is for the Memorials page & consists of his letters to his wife from the front. The Corbett-Smith is the final & least known volume of his War trilogy, here focusing on the Naval War. Plus a novel about a German spy in England & a long War poem in the style of Hiawatha.

24th July

I’ve recently acquired a number of Memorial volumes. Although only one comes with a jacket I thought it might be worth showing a group of them here. The jacketed one, privately printed in 1916, prints the letters of 2nd Lt. James Addy of the 1st KRRC. ‘Vin’, the letters of Frederick Hall of 210 Squadron, comes bound in leather from his flying jacket. John M’Ervel was a Major in the King’s Liverpool Regiment and the book is effectively his War diary. George Cowpe was in the 6th Cheshires & Arthur Hatfield was a Chaplain with the 10th Div., EEF. To accommodate these I’ve created a new Memorials page.

The holiday season will make updates a little erratic over the next few weeks, normal service will probably be restored around the middle of August.

12th July

Today’s sees the arrival of another long-sought after classic, Walter Bloem’s account of the advance from Mons. Previously here as a poor quality b&w image it enables me to list all 3 of Peter Davies’ ‘Soldiers’ Tales’ on the Series page. Plus another Regimental from Everard Wyrall, whose remarkable ability to produce these highly detailed accounts is shown by the fact that another dozen titles are listed at the front of the book. Also Dawson’s ‘Industrial Germany’. It falls outside of my usual parameters, being published in 1912, but is a useful guide to the build-up of Germany’s might on the eve of War. It’s also a remarkable jacketed survivor.

5th July

Things are looking up today with 2 further additions from my long-time ‘wants list’. Arthur Fetterless’ ‘Battle Days’ is a lightly fictionalised account of a Scottish Battalion’s involvement in the battle of Passchendaele. A follow-up to his elusive ‘Gog’. Harvey’s ‘Battle-Line Narratives’, again lightly fictionalised, relates the author’s time with the 1st University & Public Schools Batt. of the Royal Fusiliers at Festubert & the Somme. Both books are relatively common but, until now, never encountered in their disappointingly plain jackets.

28th June

Today’s pair have just been greatly enhanced by the addition of one of the great German classics of the War, Karl Broger’s ‘Pillbox 17’ in its elusive jacket by Bip Pares. It tells the simple story of an attack on the said Pillbox & the death of its occupants. Broger was known as Germany’s Labour Poet. Plus an account of the German Occupation of Belgium & a history of the New England Battalions in France towards the end of the War.

21st June

Today we have 2 more books I’d assumed were on-site already. Muirhead Bone’s Western Front was published in parts & also as a 2-volume collected edition as shown here. A powerful series of drawings that somehow lack the impact of images by Nash or Nevinson. Grope Carries On is a satire on the inefficiencies of Government departments during the War with a suitably incompetent hero whose romantic entanglements comprise much of the action.

14th June

2 more from my own collection today - both purchased at the recent PBFA Fair in London. The Poems of Brian Brooke is essentially a memorial to Captain Brooke of the 2nd Gordon Highlanders who was killed at Mametz on the first day of the Somme. He seems to have been a big game hunter in Africa & there are several rather unsavoury pictures of him with assorted dead animals. His brother won a posthumous VC. O’Sullivan Malony was an Irishman who was interned by the Germans throughout the War. He was in various camps, including Ruhleben, & encountered several prominent figures along the way, Sir Roger Casement amongst them.

7th June

The shortage of new images forces me to post only 2 new pictures per week for the foreseeable future. The first today, ‘Inside Constantinople’ is already on-site but here in a variant jacket. Both copies are 2nd impressions from the same publisher so I’m at a loss to explain the variance. Arthur Ruhl seems to have been a Harvard educated sport’s journalist & has here followed the army through Belgium to the Dardanelles. A well-illustrated travel journal if nothing else.

31st May

A couple of recent purchases that I could have sworn were on-site already given that both are among the commoner War volumes around. Maybe I’ve just mis-catalogued them and they’re lurking here somewhere! Lt. Gen. Birdwood was in control of the Anzac Corps at Gallipoli & was subsequently promoted to take control of the 5th Army in the spring of 1918. The book comes with a foreword by Churchill.

F. S. Oliver was a highly influential political figure during the War being involved, through his association with the ‘Monday Night Cabal’, in the downfall of the Asquith government. These are his letters to his brother in Canada.

26th May

Just one book today - William Joyce Cowen’s ‘Man with Four Lives’. Cowen served with the Fort Gary Horse of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade. This, his first novel, whilst set at the front has elements of the supernatural. In it the hero thinks he’s killed the same German soldier three times already! The UK & US editions shown here are noteworthy for their jacket artists. The UK is by that perennial Radio Times artist, Eric Fraser, & the US by that great illustrator, Lynd Ward.

17th May

The American War novel, Soul Wounds, tells of the horror & loneliness of War & its effect on the survivors. Thanks to Second Edition books for providing me with this image. Also, Eddie Rickenbacker’s account of fighting the Red Baron, a biography of General Wilson & a thrilling Air-service novel from Guy Thorne. I think I only have some 8 images left to add now so there may be a prolonged absence of weekly updates in the not too distant future.

10th May

Firstly the UK edition of ‘A Captive on a German Raider. By F G Trayes, then the Reverend Talbot’s Thoughts on Religion at the Front, Sir Gerald Ellison questions the attack on the Dardanelles in 1915 & a Memorial volume of a Californian in the Royal Field Artillery who was killed on the Somme.

3rd May

A mixed bag from my reserve stock of not-terribly-interesting volumes. Firstly an American diplomat’s account of day-to-day life in the city during the War, Poems from the RFC, the 4th volume of Arnold Zweig’s ‘The Great War of the White Men’ sextet (US & UK) and an account of the then current state of submarine warfare.

26th April

I would have bet a small fortune on Neville’s ‘War Letters of a Light Infantryman’ being jacketless - such privately printed accounts usually are - but this week here it is. Useful to have the price written on it by the author. Also a couple of volumes recently listed by Peter Harrington’s.; a reasonably priced MacMunn & a rather overpriced Col. Ward. Their valuations continue to be highly erratic - an under priced ‘Winged Victory’ which sold at once & a ludicrously over priced ‘Escape from Donnington Hall’ which will no doubt sit there for the foreseeable future. Dread to think what they’d have priced the Neville at!

19th April

Today brings 3 books from me plus a Battalion History. Haldane’s History of the Fourth Seaforth’s at Loos, Somme & Passchendaele can be described as one of the best Territorial accounts, justly earning a star from Cyril Falls. Thomas Tiplady was Chaplain to the 56th (London) Div. & is a series of suitably uplifting stories. Martial Medley is a collection of Wartime fact & fiction by several authors including Charles Edmonds (Carrington) & John Brophy. Alongside this edition of 925 copies were 75 signed by all the contributors. Valour & Vision is the much expanded 2nd edition of the excellent poetry anthology first published in 1920.

12th April

This week’s books are all from Australia courtesy of the strikingly named ‘Grisly Wife Bookshop’. 2 are books of poetry by fine but long neglected poets, plus 2 books of amusing stories’ They make a rather fine group, I thought. I was tempted to buy the lot had the next Turner Donovan Catalogue not been imminent.

5th April

Having mentioned the Assher on the War Forum one of our contributors turns out to have an intact copy so it’s good to know it isn’t completely lost.To go with it we have a couple from John Etheridge - an account of origin of the various unit signs used during the War & a Canadian journalist returns to the battlefields. Plus another volume picked up at the recent London bookfair in which 2 chaplains recount their experiences at the front.

2nd April

An earlier than usual update to show this ultra-rare jacket for Ben Assher (Colin Borradaile’s) Artillery memoir ‘A Nomad Under Arms’. Unfortunately this image is all that survives having been cut & pasted into a book now on sale on Ebay. This is the first copy of the jacket ever to come my way despite making extensive inquiries in the various National Archives over many years. It’s proved as elusive as that for Malins ‘How I Filmed the War’. If you’re interested the bidding starts at £74.99 for what is otherwise a rather poor copy.

29th March

To start with, a couple more picked up at the recent WW1 bookfair - a later edition of Paul Maze’ account of his time in the Royal Scots Greys with Winston Churchill & the US edition of Col. Ward’s account of War on the Russian Front. A further aspect of the Russian involvement in the War is a diary of the Russian Foreign Office & finally an account of the unscrupulous Greek arms dealer, Zaharoff.

22nd March

Montague Hainsselin, a once popular author, has fallen so far into obscurity that the mighty Internet is silent on his entire career. He wrote 5 books on the War at Sea, all of which bear reading again, if only to sample the atmosphere which must have pertained on the ships of the line. Only Grand Fleet Days is now required to complete the set. Memorial volumes rarely feature here as they are generally sans jackets, so it’s good to have this exceptional volume of letters by Lt. Buxton of the 3rd RFA. Rather than the usual collection of juvenilia & poetry, here we have nearly 250 pages of letters from the front. More widely available than most such volumes, it’s well worth seeking out. Plus an improved copy of Iron Rations & a supposedly humorous novel of African-Americans in the War.

15th March

Firstly an excellent memoir by Lt.Col. Croft who commanded the 11th Royal Scots & later the 27th (Lowland) Brigade. A fine & compassionate officer. W.L.Wyllie is better known these days for his etchings of ships but here we see some of his rather appealing watercolours including those of the Battle of Jutland. Both this volume & its predecessor are relatively common but the jacket is a real rarity - a product of the recent WW1 bookfair - near mint too! And lastly 2 fine US jackets courtesy of David Pritchard.

8th March

I thought today’s first item would be winging its way to me via Ebay, but with today’s WW1 bookfair in mind I held back. Nonetheless it’s a wonderfully naive illustration for this anonymous volume of nursing letters. Also a colour image of the 1st illustrated edition of Thomas Boyd’s American classic, an account of the US medical services & a strange novel in which an elementary school teacher dreams of her days as an ambulance driver during the War. High hopes for the Bloomsbury bookfair today.

1st March

The UK edition of Fallon’s ‘The Big Fight’ was already on-site but this is a slightly improved image which shows the title. Maxwell’s ‘Last Crusade’, a very reasonable Ebay purchase, shows the last few months of the campaign in Palestine. I’d never considered this book before, but Maxwell’s account of his journey makes for an absorbing read & his illustrations are a delight. Capt Jones artistic memoir is only loosely concerned with the War, he’s chiefly known for designing the ‘Quadriga’ on Constitution Hill in London, but he was commissioned to produce several Memorials after the War. And finally, General Ballard’s biography of Kitchener from the latest Turner Donovan catalogue. And don’t forget the WW1 bookfair next Sunday, mentioned below.

23rd February

A few books courtesy of the new Turner Donovan Catalogue including 2 further volumes on the Essex Units in the War. A volume of memoirs by Sir Michael Bruce - the sort of adventurers life that doesn’t occur these days outside of TV land - Rhodesian Police, with the RFA in Gallipoli, shell-shocked in France, Cowboy in South Africa & South America. But best of all another volume in the On Active Service Series - Muhlhauser’s ‘Small Craft’. That’s 20 jackets on-site out of the 28 volumes that comprise the whole series. Getting there slowly!

16th February

Still under the weather but I thought you might like to see this book which arrived today. Joseph Hocking was one of those novelists, along with Jeffrey Farnol & E. Phillips Oppenheim, who were once enormously popular but are today hardly read at all. I remember back in the 60s a request in a secondhand bookshop for one of their novels would likely have met with the response “come back with a wheel-barrow”. Hocking was a Cornish novelist. He did not see action although his son was killed in the War. This is described on the flyleaf as “ a thrilling novel of spies in the Great War, stolen documents & the plotting for their recovery, which brings into conflict many astonishingly cunning intellects of both sexes”. Just the thing for another day in bed.

15th February

This week’s update will be somewhat later than usual as I seem to have developed Bronchitis and am finding it rather difficult to even get out of bed. My most recent purchase is a nearly mint copy of Crutchlow’s ‘Tale of an Old Soldier’ but it’s here already so that’s merely housekeeping. You’ll have to enjoy the Sapper for a little longer! (I see it’s still available - please feel free to send any donations towards the £800 necessary for me to buy it!)’

8th February

I don’t usually give over this space to a single book, but as an occasional collector of Sapper’s works the appearance of this extremely rare volume, the first I’ve seen, deserves a special place. Very many thanks to James Pickard for scanning the jacket for me. At the time of writing the book was still available from him. It’s interesting to compare the image with that used for the cheaper version of the following year.

Also let me draw you attention to the first of this years WW1 bookfairs at the Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury on Sunday 8th March. If it’s half as good as last years it’ll be well worth the trip. Hopefully there won’t be a cycle race going on which disrupted the buses for last year’s event. Further details are given in the box below the picture.

1st February

Judging by the number of copies sold, Sir Oliver Lodge’s attempts to communicate with his dead son through spiritualism, obviously struck a chord with other similarly bereaved relatives. Clearly it still holds its appeal today as I failed to place a large enough bid for it on Ebay recently. We also have some of Teddy Roosevelt Jnr’s. War stories, some Sea tales from the poet Alfred Noyes, & a novel by Gordon Gardiner of Spies & Intrigue in India during the War.

25th January

Today we have one of mine - Felstead’s account of Nurse Cavell’s last days based on the account of the German Secret Police ; a Captain with the Indian Light Cavalry fighting with the Russians against the Turks in Persia, from John Etheridge, & 2 volumes for the Paperbacks page on the Lancashire Territorials in Gallipoli & the work of the YMCA with the New Armies.

18th January

Today I’m shamelessly raiding the Babylon Revisited / Yesterday’s Gallery website for images as they’ve just produced a new catalogue which has several War-themed novels. Of the 4 books, the War only plays a significant part in 1 of them, Chambers ‘The Dark Star’ which is a novel of espionage involving German & Turkish agents searching for some Gallipoli fortification plans. The others involve wounded soldiers /airmen returning to find complications in their love lives.

11th January

My visit to a “well-known book dealer” this week yielded several interesting books. I was particularly pleased to get this copy of the Rev. Durell’s ‘Whizzbangs & Woodbines’. Despite the heavy religious slant it’s an absorbing collection of observations with some unusual photographs. The somewhat naive jacket is by Edgar Holloway (not to be confused with the more famous etcher of the same name). Despite the ubiquity of Donald Hankey’s books they’re remarkably scarce in their jackets, so it was good to get this copy of his letters. I’ve never paid much attention to his output but reading his biography shows that his relatively short life was more crammed with incident than most of us would manage over several lifetimes. Also shown is a scarce play taken from ‘A Student in Arms’ & separately published in 1915. I’ve taken the image from the Great War Forum website.

4th January 2015

And a Happy New Year to you all. I’m hoping a visit to a well known book dealer in the next few days will yield some more interesting jackets, meanwhile I continue to plunder my reserve stock of images. Apologies if I’ve not credited you with supplying them to me but I’ve had some for so long I’ve forgotten their origins. Today we have a lightly novelised account of the Mata Hari story (US & UK editions), a tribute to a YMCA educationalist & the diary of a lady driver with the AEF at the end of the War.

28th December

Rather quiet on the book front at the moment as all the dealers are seemingly hibernating - hopefully not for long! I’m therefore forced to draw on the reserves which are generally held back for the very leanest of days. I often wonder why so many books from the inter war years were published in plain text jackets - were readers more erudite then, not so easily tempted by bright objects? I suppose the appalling treatment of the Armenians warranted a more sober jacket but the other two would have been greatly improved by the kind of image used for ‘Come on Texas’.

21st December

Season’s greetings to all my readers. The first 3 books today are all from my own collection which is unusual given the relative scarcity of decent books around at the moment. The first is rather remarkable, using as it does the design of an Active Service envelope overprinted with the books title & being addressed to the General Public. It’s reminiscent of ‘Green Envelopes’ which uses the same image for part of the jacket front. Also one of Edward Thompson’s several books of poetry to contain a few War poems, an account of Flying Exploits, about a third of which concern the War & another collection of Irving Cobb’s observations from near the front.

14th December

The first of today’s books, ‘Annette of the Argonne’, was spotted on Peter Harrington’s website where it is described as a story of the French Front. ’Wade in Sanitary’ is an account by a US surgeon in the 2nd Division. The author was married to ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt’s daughter. The first volume of Raemaekers’ Cartoon History of the War’ & Flora Sandes autobiography.

7th December

3 more children’s books today including a rather fetching image for Bessie Marchant’s ‘Girl Munition Worker’. Also a pleasing volume of Australian War Poetry from a Gunner with the 4th Battery, Australian Field Artillery, Frank Westbrook’s ‘Anzac & After’. It seems to have only been published in the UK, probably as he was in hospital here suffering from shell shock.

30th November

9 additions to the Children’s novels page, mostly courtesy of B.J.Pryor in Virginia - many thanks. For those of you following the sale of Memorial volumes on Ebay the height of folly seems to have been reached when a jacketless copy of Donald Hankey’s ‘A Student in Arms’ fetched a little over £200. I suspect most of us would be loath to pay more than a fiver for it -there are 171 copies on ABE!

23rd November

Early editions of Edward Thomas are rarely seen in their jackets. ‘Twelve Poets’ was published simultaneously with Thomas’ ‘Last Poems’ in 1918 after his death in France. I can find no reference anywhere to the nature of these early jackets so I’m assuming that the glassine jacket here is the original. To go with it another volume of War poetry, Edward Thompson’s ‘Collected Poems’, more of Alan Bott’s Flying memoirs & a variant jacket on Abraham’s ‘Balkan Log’.

17th November

Only 2 genuinely new additions today. A scarce jacket on General Lettow-Vorbeck’s reminiscences courtesy of Peter Harrington’s. Probably the most successful German General of the War & the only one to invade British Imperial territory. Plus the French General Huguet’s withering assessment of the British High Command in particular that of Lord French.

10th November

For me the ABA’s Chelsea Bookfair is usually a matter of looking but not buying, most of the items on sale tend to be from an earlier era than those displayed here. What a pleasant surprise it therefore was when the first book I set eyes on as I entered was Thekla Bowser’s Story of VAD work in the War. It’s not uncommon but this is the only jacket for it I’ve ever seen. I assume the IWM don’t have one either as they had to use a Joyce Denys picture to grace their facsimile edition of a few years ago. There was even a Jellicoe ‘Grand Fleet’ in jacket to compound my delight. We also have a fine Howard Leigh jacket for Col. Driggs novel & a US edition of Harold Rosher’s letters.

I’ve also heard via the Great War Forum that the IWM library is under threat due to grant cuts. With the Foreign Office, MOD & other government libraries already dispersed folks like us may be the last repositories of this material.

4th November

The RFC/RAF is to the fore today courtesy of Colophon Books. The History of 60th Squadron is already here as a US edition but this is the UK version. Mrs.Rickard’s novel tells of a young man forced by War & personal misfortune to spy for the Kaiser. Plus 2 US editions of existing books - Wee Macgregor Enlists & Beverly Nichols ‘Cry Havoc’.

27th October

Some of you may have noticed a large & impressive collection of privately printed Memorial volumes appearing on Ebay over the last few weeks. I’ve been tempted by several of them but the prices they are fetching have been truly staggering so I’ve had to pass them by. So far what is probably the finest of such works hasn’t appeared & as it is particularly elusive I thought I’d show it here. It’s the memorial to Capt. E.S.Underhill of the Loyal North Lancs. A large quarto, it’s bound in half leather with numerous photo’s & fold out trench maps. His diary & letters, annotated by his father give a graphic description of several campaigns. Goodness knows what it would have cost to produce but there can only have been a very few copies made, this being the only one I’ve ever encountered. It was reprinted by the London Stamp Exchange in the late 80’s but not to this standard. Should it come up during the present sale I’d urge anyone with an interest in these things to hang the expense & snap it up.

21st October

An unusually long hiatus caused by a lack of interesting books coming my way. Also the dwindling number of visitors has made me somewhat reluctant to update as often as I used to. However the first of today’s batch has stirred me into action. I’m always particularly pleased to find War-Time jackets & the appearance of one for F.O.O. (Capt. C.J.C.Street’s) ‘With the Guns’ is an unexpected treat. There’s no information on which unit of Artillery this is so if anyone can identify them please let me know. Also noteworthy is Capt. Mann’s illustrated account of the Salonika campaign, a common enough book but particularly rare in its fine jacket.( Publishers at the time seemed unsure of the correct spelling for this area - whether with a ‘K’ or a ‘C’ ).

29th September

One from Tom Donovan’s latest catalogue & 3 more courtesy of John Etheridge.

8th September

Ah! the vagaries of the book market. I don’t recall ever seeing a copy of the poetry anthology ‘The Muse in Arms’ in a jacket until a few days ago when the copy below appeared. Within 3 days of the books arrival another copy appeared on Ebay. Must be like London buses - they come along in pairs. Plus several minor additions.

26th August

Wouldn’t you know it - the best early book to have appeared on Ebay in a long time & I miss it by seconds. The only copy of Scout Joe Cassells ‘With the Black Watch’ I’ve ever seen in a jacket & what a super jacket it is. Fortunately it’s been bought by one of my regular contributors so here it is.

20th August

A very mixed bag today, only 1 of which is in a jacket. The first work by ‘Royal Field Leech’ surely came with a jacket but I despair of ever seeing it so here it is unwrapped. Long sought for it proves to be rather a disappointment being less concerned with the day-to-day functioning of a Clearing Station in the early days of the War than with the logistics of moving it around during the ensuing retreat. The Millet reads rather like a propaganda piece in continually saying how jolly wonderful our troops are. ‘Out There’ is the usual journalist at the front piece but with rather striking pictorial boards & ‘Serbia to Kut’ gives the Canon of St. George’s, Jerusalem’s overview of the Mesopotamian Campaign taken from a slide lecture!

11th August

An excellent Military bookfair at the Royal National on Sunday has yielded the following books new to the site. Ethel Richardson relates her experience of having a husband & 3 sons at the front one of whom was in the RWF & was mentioned in the books of Sassoon, Graves & others. Military Musings is a series of anecdotes covering both War & Peace. General de Lisle recounts his career from the Boer War through to Ypres & Gallipoli & ‘Suspect’ is a rare memoir of a young artist who was falsely imprisoned during the War accused of being a spy. Also there are a couple of additions to the ‘Soldier Books’ series.

4th August

To mark the Centenary of the start of the War here is a near perfect copy of Snook’s ‘Gun Fodder’ to replace the rather tatty copy I was using before. & let me recommend the new 1914 Catalogue from Turner Donovan. Packed full of irresistible items it’s sure to sell out quickly.

21st July

Various additions - see below.

11th June

Just 1 new book today - T.A.Lamb’s ‘T.N.T. Tales’. It’s a first-hand account of life in the Barnbow Shell Filling Factory near Leeds interspersed with a few humorous tales. What may be of more interest here is the cover by Jacob Kramer. He was a Jewish artist, one of the Whitechapel Boys who was loosely associated with the Vorticists. He’s perhaps best known today for his rather Nevinson-like painting ‘Day of Atonement’ in Leeds Art Gallery.

2nd June

Firstly thanks to B J Pryor in Virginia for supplying several of today’s images including 2 improved ones for Geo Rochester’s books. David Lindsay’s ‘Flying Crusader’ is a novel set amongst the British forces in Palestine. As usual it comes with a Stanley Orton Bradshaw jacket - a more prolific designer it would be hard to imagine. Scouting Thrills is an account of Capt. McKean V.C’s adventures as part of Oxford’s Books for Boys & Burton’s ‘Silent Division’ tells of the New Zealanders at the Front - both courtesy of David Pritchard.

24th May

2 particularly fine books today. The excellent new catalogue from Morton/Harper has yielded Brig. Croft’s ‘Twenty-Two Months under Fire’ which records his time with the 1st Hertfordshires up to the battle of Loos & subsequent command of 68th Brigade. A highly readable account, this copy from the IWM library. One wonders why they let these books go, I doubt they have another in it’s jacket. Plus from the big PBFA London Fair, Lt. Bown’s ‘Was it Yesterday?’, a lightly fictionalised account of his time with the 7th London Brigade, RFA. I had an old B&W image here already but this is the full colour one - same copy in fact - maybe the only one there is?

18th May

Yesterday’s Lewes Bookfair has thrown up a jacketed copy of George Clarke’s ‘A Treasury of War Poetry’. Strangely scarce in it’s jacket this is one of the best of the early anthologies, serving to remind us of the many poets who no longer get anthologised! It’s relatively early date, 1919, means no Owen, Rosenberg or Thomas & precious little Sassoon or Graves but it’s nonetheless a worthwhile collection. Plus an excellent Siege Battery account, printed in what must have been tiny quantities at the Arsenal Press at Woolwich. A day-by-day narrative giving full details of all those who served with the Battery. This one from Tom Donovan’s excellent new catalogue.

13th May

Being in the throw’s of one of the worst colds known to man I don’t feel up to listing more than one book today. Fortunately it’s a highly important & exceedingly rare one - Arthur Russell’s ‘With the Machine Gun Corps’. Published by a minor publisher, Dranes, in 1923 it tells of his time with the 98th & 13th Machine Gun Company’s through most of the War’s major battles including the Italian Campaign. A classic of its kind.

7th May

An influx of important additions has stirred me back into action. Firstly to correct an error is the true UK 1st of Frank Richards classic other ranks memoir ‘Old Soldiers Never Die’, followed by 3 extremely rare books from David Pritchard. Naylor’s memoir of a sapper in the Ypres salient, Kingham’s account of an HAC Battery in action & the work of a Baptist Chaplain in the Near East during the War.

25th April

Sorry for the long gap between updates but with nothing really interesting to add I didn’t want to dilute the quality with too many minor works. These are, I fear, of that minor calibre but it’s necessary to check in once in a while. The only one of these I know anything about is F W Harveys ‘Ducks’ which came my way recently. The War only gets the briefest of mentions but I’m particularly fond of the poet & this is a scarce jacket so here it is.

9th April

Firstly that classic escaping memoir ‘The Road to En-Dor’. First published in 1919 & reprinted many times it’s proved particularly elusive in any form of dust jacket. This is the 15th edition from 1926, but the earliest I’ve seen. Thanks go to Nick Fletcher. ‘Conscript Tich’ was here already but with large chunks missing - here it is in all its glory. I’ve had the Voigt for years but not thought it worth including owing to it’s being part of a series & tatty. However I despair of ever seeing it on the 1920 original so here is the 1929 version.

29th March

In case you haven’t looked to the bottom of this page, there is a new set of jacket spines (the spine always seems to suffer most, probably because we tend to grab the book there when pulling it off the shelf).

‘More Tish’ is part of a series by Mary Roberts Rinehart concerning Letitia Carberry who is here seen doing her bit. ‘Trekking On’ in 2 later editions & an early paperback issue of Ira Jones’ biography of Mick Mannock.

24th March

Today we have an American chaplains letters from the Front in 1918, a guide to the Australian & other War Cemeteries throughout the world, a War play broadcast on Armistice night in 1925 & a Churchill pamphlet on the production of Munitions. And let me draw your attention to an excellent new volume from Tom Donovan editions - The Memoirs of Sir James Edmonds. Published for the first time in a limited edition of 300 copies this really is an outstanding production. Edmonds forthright & outspoken views on the War & his fellow Generals is an essential read wether you have only a general interest in the War or a more specific one with the author of the Official Histories.

17th March

Peter Harrington’s acquisition of Charles MacArthur’s ‘War Bugs’ enables me to improve the existing image & to add that of the US edition.

A thanks to George Simmers for identifying ‘The Making of an Officer’ as a very early work by ‘Sapper’ & the addition of F. W. Harvey’s ‘In Pillowell Woods’ is down to my fondness for the poet. I can justify its inclusion as the slim volume contains a couple of poems on the Armistice & is also rather rare.

10th March

My copy of Hornsey’s ‘Hell on Earth’ arrived today, a fine copy. It shares its jacket with that used for Patrick Mahon’s ‘Cold Feet’ which I thought might indicate a series. A potential entry for that is listed on the rear of the jacket, H.E.L. Mellersh’s ‘Ill Wind’. Unfortunately I can’t locate a copy, so if anyone knows what the jacket was like then please let me know. Mellersh later wrote his own account of the War ‘Schoolboy into War’. Today we have a ship’s surgeons account of Gallipoli, a children’s novel of War off Zeebrugge, some minor War poetry & an Aviation Book Club edition of Kingsford’s ‘Night Raiders’.

6th March

A single volume again today but such a rare jacket it deserves the place to itself. ‘Black Tab’s’ account of the Mesopotamian campaign is a richly illustrated volume, very good on local colour & the day-to-day workings of the army. Being a war-time publication the author doesn’t disclose too much as concerns exact formations so if anyone knows his real identity, please let me know. I assume him to be a junior officer.

2nd March

Today’s image is of just 1 book but an important one that I’ve looked long and hard for over the years. The copy on its way to me won’t look as good as the one showing here which I’ve lifted from an on-line version. It’s a rare first-hand account of the last year of the War written by a conscript. Hornsey served with the 11th Suffolks in the 34th Division at the battle of the Lys. It shares its jacket with that of Mahon’s ‘Cold Feet’ albeit in a different colour way. I’m wondering if this was intended to be a series of memoirs using the same image but I’ve not seen any others & the jacket doesn’t list any more War related titles.

24th February

Another long delay caused by the ever penetrating damp. Moving a bookcase to find the wall behind wringing with water & black mould beginning to penetrate the woodwork was rather a shock. Also having taken up BT’s kind offer of free McAfee virus protection I found I could no longer send any data anywhere which nearly caused the end of this enterprise! So today we have the US & UK editions of Liddell Hart’s reflections on the War at the dawn of another one, A Fighting Padre & a rare Sapper 1st.

12th February

Rather a scratch bunch today as I’m surrounded by builders who are installing a kitchen & dealing with the spreading damp! The Wings is here already but this is a much better copy & we’re able to identify the author at last. A Soldier’s War is somewhat of a rarity, I believe, & although rather late is a necessary addition. The author served in the 1st Batt., Somerset Light Infantry where he won a DCM & MM. Plus a pamphlet by Buchan on Jutland & a volume of rather indifferent War poetry.

6th February

Much as I might poke fun at Peter Harrington’s prices, they do find some excellent books, and having directed one of my contributors to them, which resulted in a purchase, I don’t feel too guilty. 3 of today's additions come from them, most pleasing of which is for Ford’s ‘When Blood is their Argument’. I’d doubted that this book ever had a jacket but the discovery of this one clearly indicates that it’s companion volume ‘Between St. Denis & St. George’ was likely issued with one as well. The privately printed slim volume that I just bought from Ebay is a most interesting account by an Englishwoman who found herself in Germany at the outbreak of War. It has some useful observations of the early preparations for War & is quoted in Richard van Emden’s book ‘Meeting the Enemy’.

1st February

Very tempted by Harrington’s copy of Wings’ ‘Over the German Lines’, signed by the author with his full name, but £350 is a tad too rich for me so I’ll leave it for the rest of you. Meanwhile there’s Admiral Fishers memoirs, Frank Chambers’s history of other aspects of the War, the strikingly jacketed Royal Mail War Book & a seafaring novel by Raoul Whitfield.

25th January

This weeks Radio Times announces 2,500 hours of WW1 programmes on the BBC. In a topic I’ve started on the Great War Forum I’ve considered if this is looking like a case of overkill. I suspect that a great part of the population, for whom the War is just another piece of history, will soon tire of the whole thing long before the first Centenary arrives. It’s a fact of modern life that we all have short attention spans & a constant craving for new material. It’s still 6 months to go and already the shelves in the bookshops are groaning under the weight of War books. I’m only glad that this site is largely limited to pre-2nd War material.

Of today’s books, Tale of a Territorial is a jacketless private production but is worthy of inclusion for it’s authors (Capt. Richard Dudley Pendered of the 1/4th Northants) description of fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula. The British Soldier is a collection of snippets of soldier’s letters to the press, gathered by a clergyman in 1915, which is, unsurprisingly, relentlessly upbeat.

20th January

If you thought the Yeates below was rather dear then check out ABE for a copy of that other classic flying memoir, Sagittarius Rising. A scarce but not rare book, there was a copy on Ebay recently for some £130, this one will set you back £3500! I apologise for the slightly blurred nature of today’s pictures - Photoshop can only do so much - but they’re scarce enough to merit inclusion. And let me draw your attention to the early announcement of a special WW1 Centenary Bookfair to be held in August of this year - click here to read more details of the event - It should be a classic.

13th January

The US edition of the classic flying memoir, Winged Victory, is here to mark the fact that the 1st UK edition appears to have sold on ABE for £2,300. It was a fine copy in a fine jacket but .....! The Centenary effect has obviously kicked in early. Maybe I should re house my collection in a bank vault! Also a splendid W. E. Johns jacket for Covington Clarke (Venables) ‘For Valour’. On a different front I’ve just acquired a rather fine Tank memoir, sadly sans jacket, which seems to be rather rare but about which I can find no information. It’s by Arthur Jenkin called ‘A Tank Driver’s Experiences’, published by Elliot Stock in 1922. Other than being listed as one of the earliest soldier’s memoirs it seems to have passed into oblivion, no further issues are available even as a POD or e-book. If anyone else has come across a copy or has any info on the author I’d like to hear from you (even TD doesn’t know of it!).

7th January 2014

I’m stirred back into action by the arrival of Clutha Mackenzie’s ‘Tale of a Trooper’, courtesy of Mackenzie’s grand-daughter. Blinded at Gallipoli Mackenzie was later knighted for his services to the blind. As a collector of the ‘On Active Service Series’ this was a particularly pleasing discovery which leaves me just 3 volumes short of the set.

I see the Great War between the Revisionists & the Futilists is hoting up. Unfortunately it seems to be turning into a spat between Left & Right. Anyone not seeing the War as a Great Patriotic Triumph over the evil German Empire is being labelled a ‘Looney Leftie’. The thought of going over the top with the likes of Michael Gove & Boris Johnson would certainly have me running to the rear.

29th December

George Aston’s book on the British Secret Service in the War looked vaguely familiar when I pasted its image below. So it should, I realised, as I looked up and saw it on the shelf. I only bought it a few months ago but such was the turmoil of the house move I’d completely forgotten it. Thank goodness I didn’t order another copy - a not entirely unknown occurrence! Also an account of the War in Africa, a Rifleman’s memoir & the US edition of Lawrence’s Seven Pillars.

24th December

Last post before Christmas as it were. My main concern at the moment is whether to replace the felt on my flat roof torn off by last nights gale knowing that the next one on Friday will tear it off again! Today we have a couple of variants of existing titles, a wide ranging military autobiography touching briefly on the War & a rather tatty account of Dover’s part in it. The latter can be had from a Surrey bookseller for only £195!

20th December

Hopefully back in the usual routine of updates every 4 days. Herbert Strang’s ‘Tom Willoughby’s Scouts’ is a fairly routine boy’s book noteworthy for the fact of its being set in German East Africa. The Captain Armstrong is a very slim paperback telling of his single week in Flanders with the 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers prior to his being struck in the back by a shell fragment. It gives a very immediate impression of front line life. Despite carrying the imprint of Smith, Elder, I suspect it was a private printing judging by its current scarcity. He went on to become 2nd Baron Armstrong of Cragside. Plus the US edition of Carossa’s War Diary & a rare novel of the Indian involvement in the War.

16th December

Apologies for the much longer delay than expected between updates - the sheer volume of paperwork necessitated by house moving used up all my spare time. Actually I notice that the number of hits on the site has risen during that time so there may be a lesson there! Today’s books are all courtesy, once again, of Fons in Holland, so many thanks to him. We have a couple from 2 long series of children’s books, a portrait of the Belgian King & a series of views of the effects of the War on some European capitals. It’s funny, but I’ve found that moving vast quantities of books has, perhaps not surprisingly, made me reluctant to buy any more. Well, until I saw Hody’s ‘With the Mad 17th to Italy’ in Tom’s latest catalogue - I couldn’t resist that!

30th November

Still largely dysfunctional here so an easy update courtesy of Fons in Holland. Below are 4 works from Scribner’s 5 volume set of Great War re-issues from 1918. They can be seen on the ‘On Active Service’ & other series page. I hope to be surrounded by real books again by next Thursday - that is if I can find the strength to move what I estimate to be nearly 2 tons of books!!

26th November

Still a week away from unearthing any books so only the briefest of updates. Fuller’s contentious views on the Army, a future film director with the Escadrille, the last days of the Romanovs & a nursing diary from Serbia. (I’d rather like the latter but at £380 I’ll have to pass).

22nd November

Back on Active Service again although it will be some weeks before the books re-emerge. That makes updates rather difficult for a while as my reference books lie buried under the box mountain that now fills my garage! So today there are just 2 flying books, courtesy of Renzo, to get things underway. The Samuel Moore is thought not to have had a jacket.

16th November

The increasing chaos of my impending house move means there will be no further updates to the site until at least 24th November (BT willing). Rest assured I will be back with plenty more images that are ready and waiting.

8th November

Breaking my own rule governing the site parameters by including P G Ackrell’s ‘My Life in the Machine Gun Corps’. Published in 1966 it’s a product of that tiny publisher Stockwell which accounts for its scarcity. It’s an important account as the author was at Cambrai, was part of the army of Occupation and served in India post-war. I found the rare image of MacGill’s ‘Doughboys’ on the net without any details given but I believe it to be the Doran edition of 1918. Also a couple of later additions of existing titles - I thought the ‘Yellow Jacket’ Buchan particularly pleasing. I’m in the middle of a house move so there may be some long delays between updates depending on my levels of exhaustion in packing all the books & the efficiency of BT in transferring my account.

4th November

An excellent Military bookfair at the Royal Logistics Museum at Deepcut Barracks on Saturday, although I did make all my purchases at Tony & Gill Tiffin’s stand. I think the fact that they don’t put their books on the Internet helps considerably and greatly increases the chances of finding something special. I only wished I bumped into them more often but being based in Darlington means they tend to exhibit at fairs some way away from me. Always worth the wait though - I could have bought a lot more. A couple of my purchases make up today’s additions. The Campbell is somewhat damaged so I’ve filled the gaps with an old image I had but it’s a rare book jacket & this copy has a nice author’s inscription. The Doughty letters are new to me but give a less than interesting account of his service as a Lieutenant with the Horse Transport of the RASC. Plus a couple of later editions of existing titles.

31st October

Taking a break from repairing my storm-damaged fences I find today’s first entry popping up on ABE. Marguerite Fedden’s account of her work for the YMCA in the rear areas is hopefully on its way to me. It’s a minor classic & particularly scarce in its jacket. The Sapper isn’t Great War but the page devoted to him has images from his other books & this I’ve never seen before. Plus another of Railton Holden’s splendid flying tales & General Lettow-Vorbeck’s East African reminiscences (1957 English edition - rather late but the General’s account of his East African Campaign should be here).

27th October

Today’s first book is at present the subject of a fierce struggle on Ebay - the 2 bidders have already pushed the price up to £222 & there’s still a week to go. If one of them had waited till the last minute they’d probably have got it at half the price! The Bombay Sappers volume is only in wrappers but is I believe rather scarce so I was pleased to pick it up reasonably cheaply in a local shop. It tells of their time at Neuve Chapelle, Egypt & Kut and comes with some rather fine fold-out maps. I bought the wrappered WAAC memoir recently, which comes with a nice inscription from the author & the Newbolt is in an Italian bookshop but the description being in Italian prevents me from knowing if it is a first or not. I may have to buy it to find out.

23rd October

Shamelessly, I’m taking all of today’s images from the latest Turner Donovan Catalogue no.127 & the first one, with a still from the film of The Spanish Farm trilogy, is on-site already - this is just a much better copy. The most spectacular is that by Eric Fraser for Frank Morison’s ‘War on Great Cities’. Fraser is best known these days as one of the Radio Times finest illustrators but at £225 it won’t be joining my library. The pricing seems a little odd given that the same catalogue has a jacketed 1st of ‘All Quiet’, a book which often retails at over £1000, for only £120 (there’s one on ABE at £4600 but that’s just silly). Plus a biography of Allenby & some American War reporting.

19th October

A shortage of new images allows me to indulge myself a little. Foley’s ‘Three Years on Active Service’, privately printed in 1920, was almost certainly never issued with a jacket but it’s such a fine memoir & so far seems to have escaped the attentions of the POD & E-book boys that it deserves to be recorded here. Subsequent to his capture in 1918 Foley was present at many of the major actions of the War & his description of defending the 1918 retreat is worth the price (substantial!) alone. Alongside, somewhat off the wall, is a memoir published in Japan of a Japanese fisherman, Moro-Oka, who fought with the Canadians at Vimy.

15th October

All of today’s offerings will be going on the Children’s Novels page. I don’t usually collect such things but when the first 2 titles below appeared on ABE I couldn’t resist. I’ve not seen many such early juvenilia retaining their jackets as I suspect they were more vulnerable to damage than more adult titles. It’s always difficult to date these books as the publishers rarely provide such information but I think they are 1917-18, a year after their original appearance, judging by the other titles listed on the jackets.

11th October

Firstly let me draw your attention to an excellent article on that prolific jacket designer, Helen McKie, by Laurence Worms of Ash Rare Books on his Bookhunter on Safari blog for October 3rd. Unlike many designers of the period she signed her jackets & the additional information on her given here is most enlightening (there are also some generous comments on this site which are much appreciated).

Some War-time verse & a novel which has a picture of a rather threatening looking New Zealander on the cover are amongst today’s offerings. Also a history of the US Wartime Shipping Board & the postwar campaign in Northern Russia.

7th October

Back from the Loire. What could be more agreeable, as the late Kenneth Clark would say, than to spend a week visiting the various Chateau & Vineyards. We found some superb wines that never get anywhere near a Supermarket shelf including one of the finest reds I’ve ever tasted at only 10 Euro a bottle. A nice memorial volume to Charles Lister was on the doormat with the usual Salford Library sticker inside, this time plonked right on top of Thomas Hope Floyd’s signature. It’s bad enough that they flog off his collection but clearly these philistines didn’t even care for the books when they had them. As most of Lister’s letters are from the Dardanelles there won’t be any of Floyd’s usual marginal notes as I don’t think he was there. Have also managed to find Ludendorff’s memoirs in jackets!

27th September

Strange how a little publicity brings forgotten books back to the market. After the Wipers Times broadcast on BBC, Ebay seems to be awash with copies (the anthologies that is). The first one I saw - a 1918 Wipers Times, no jacket or spine! went for over £200 & there are now several copies of the 1930 collection on at the same or higher prices. Strangely this new audience hasn’t realized that The Somme Times is even scarcer & can be had, with jacket, for only £45. It reminds me of the short lived frenzy for Olympic Torches which briefly fetched stratospheric prices. A few odds & ends today & there won’t be another update for a week or so.

23rd September

Until now there has been a total absence of books on the War in the Welsh language, but that oversight can now be remedied thanks to a new contributor, Clive Hughes, who has kindly supplied our first example. Land of My Fathers was a gift book published in 1915 by Hodder to raise funds for Welsh troops & unusually was published in Welsh & English. The jacket painting by A. C. Williams shows the Welsh Hero, Owen Glendower. Also a history of the Welsh War effort & a bound volume of Edgar Wallace’s 6 volumes on the Territorial forces.

18th September

I’m reading a book of letters supposedly written by a French private, ‘Letters of a Soldier 1914-1915’ published by Constable in 1917. The letters were written to his mother & if genuine give a very graphic picture of life in the trenches. My doubt arises when I read of bloated corpses rotting in the ditches & similar stark images - would any soldier write such things to his mother? If anyone has any information on the book I’d like to hear it. Today we have another of the many Boy Allies books, a variant jacket for Clarke Venables ‘Aw Hell’, Richards’ novel of love in the Welsh valleys with episodes at the front & the story of the 7th Squadron of the Polish Air Service.

13th September

It’s rare these days that I come across a book I’ve not heard of before, but when it describes a campaign I knew nothing of as well, well!! Such is the case with today’s first book ‘Parergon’ which tells of the defence of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan against the Turkana and Abyssinian raiders from Ethiopia. Largely a campaign of small skirmishes involving mostly native troops the book is a most entertaining account. One would have thought such an obscure volume, never reprinted, would be hard to find but such is not the case. There are 18 copies on ABE & a couple on Ebay at this moment. Only 1 has retained it’s jacket however & that’ll set you back £150. A rather fine jacket image for Gen. Maurice’s account of the final days of the War & Ashley Gibson’s account of his time with the Royal Fusiliers on the Somme & in Nyasaland. Plus an American view of the strategy of the War Leaders.

9th September

Back from a long weekend in Somerset to find this charming piece of Boys Fiction on the doormat. The book is undated & I’d have guessed 1950s from the appearance of the jacket, but it’s 1929 & carries an inscription from the Primitive Methodist Sunday School to that effect. All I can tell you is it’s a War story of the Western Front. Plus a biography of the assassinated ArchDuke & a book on the 1919 Russian campaign, both from the latest Turner Donovan Catalogue & a popular edition of Adm. Campbell’s book on Q ships. Plus I’ve got a stinking cold!!

3rd September

I mentioned the site on the Great War Forum the other day & got more hits than I’ve had for years, so welcome to any new visitors - keep coming back - I try to add 4 new books every 4 days. Today we have a youthful look at the Dardanelles, an extremely rare volume of the New Zealand troops at Gallipoli, some Naval Tales from a Lieutenant in the RNVR & a fine jacket for the US issue of ‘Marching on Tanga’.

30th August

Sometimes I think I’ll buy anything in a jacket! Today’s opener proves it. The Field of Honour is a collection of 4 War-themed stories bracketed by a couple of truly awful poems. It’s a 1915 jacket & therefore scarce but I should be drawing the line well before this. The Lawrence David has come via Babylon Revisited & is a novel of Naval adventure set during the War. It seems to be the only copy out there but as it’s new to me I won’t be spending the £90 odd pounds to get it. ‘Snow Trenches’ is a novel set on the Eastern Front & was described at the time as the ‘All Quiet’ of that campaign. It’s a pictorial cloth binding which can be seen through its Glassine wrapper.

26th August

Rather a brief entry today but I was so taken with these 2 flying novels that Renzo has sent in I thought they deserved the space all to themselves. Besides more Memorial volumes have arrived for me & they rarely come jacketed. The Geo Rochester is a semi-autobiographical novel, the hero being a member of the author’s 97th Squadron & the ‘Vigilant’ is the 3rd in his ‘Lynx’ series sporting what must be one of Stanley Orton Bradshaw’s finest jacket designs. Plus it’s a bank holiday so I don’t have to do much work!

22nd August

This is my 3rd attempt at an update. Put the cursor in the wrong place, press the wrong button & the whole enterprise threatens to disappear down the electronic plughole. Anyway once again we have the UK edition of Death of a Fleet on the build up to the scuttling at Scapa Flow, the US edition of Frenssen’s novel of a German soldier at the front, Clinker Knocker’s tales of his time as a Stoker & Woollcott’s tales of being a hospital orderly.

17th August

2 really dramatic covers to start with today which have been supplied by David & Helen Pritchard. I’d never come across these volumes before each of which tells the story of a dozen Territorial Battalions in the early days of the War up to the battle of Loos. I’ve failed to find any for sale but a search reveals a copy of Vol. 2 which can be read online here. The Sholokhov is the first part of the trilogy, which deals most directly with the War. It’s pristine nature is due to a Mark Terry restoration. Ben Tillett was a labour politician & Union activist whose views on the aerial bombing of German cities & advocation of harsh treatment for Pacifists made him rather a curate’s egg of a person. This is his autobiography.

13th August

Most of my recent purchases have been Memorial volumes but I thought I’d slip in a couple of Privately Printed first-hand accounts. Q.6.A. I’m showing because a couple of copies have come to the market recently & it’s generally regarded as a forgotten classic. Buckley was an officer in the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers & gives a good account of trench life from 1916 onwards. Privately printed in 1920 in a probable edition of 300 copies it’s usually described as an unvarnished account but to this reader a splash of varnish added to the authors plain style would not have gone amiss. Sergeant Gale’s account of the 2/4th Wilts time in India is a rare narrative by an NCO of that campaign & a lucky find on Ebay. Maj. Gen. Brooke was one of Gen. Gough’s staff officers & was witness to some of the War’s early events. There are some pleasant illustrations provided by Captain Needham. & finally a history of the 11th Royal Warwicks.

8th August

An early & unusual update today to showcase the remarkable transformations performed by Mark Terry of Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC on some of my books. The latest additions to his catalogue include around 20 of my collection that Mark scanned last year. Whatever your feelings about facsimiles, I think the fact that these are being preserved & restored to their original glory is highly laudable. Mark was a graphic designer so has the necessary skills but even with today’s advanced software the restoration he has performed on these 2, particularly ‘Haunting Years’, deserves to be seen. These images will not be replacing the ones on-site & a normal update will follow in a few days time.(I’ve trimmed the images here down to fit this page but anyone ordering copies from Mark will get the whole jacket).

5th August

Firstly let me recommend an excellent book I’ve been reading, ‘Twenty-Nine Years Hard Labour’ by F.E.Baily. He led an MT Column in the East African Campaign & writes well & wittily about the whole chaotic undertaking. Sadly jacketless so I won’t be showing it but highly recommended - there are several copies on ABE. A couple of exceedingly rare jackets today - the anonymous ‘On the Road from Mons’ written by the Commander of the 19th Infantry Brigade Train. Amongst his recollections is one of an encounter with General Smith-Dorrien in which the General seemed unaware that his headquarters had moved in his absence! Also Priestman’s account of the ‘Belton Bulldogs’ in Gallipoli, a YMCA Giftbook & a later edition of Martha McKenna’s spying memoir.

28th July

Having recently acquired the first 2 of today’s books I now have all 6 of Collins ‘Books of the Great War’ series & so have added the whole set to the ‘On Active Service Series’ page. This set, issued in April 1930, was clearly Collins’ attempt to capitalise on the War Books boom but unlike the other 3 series listed this set contained no new material, all the titles having been issued nearly a decade earlier. The lucky buyer of ‘Three Chevrons’ from the Marrin catalogue has kindly sent in the requested image which goes on the same page. This means the site now shows 17 of the 28 in jackets - a collection which I suspect exists nowhere else (the original publisher only has 3 of the originals!). If the Harvey ever had a jacket it was probably transparent so I’m putting the cloth binding on until I’m proved wrong.

24th July

Sitting here waiting for the promised storm which seems to have passed us by, so before I start on an hour of watering the garden here are a few more books to be going on with. Firstly, Philip Child’s decidedly elusive novel ‘God’s Sparrows’ which tells the story of some Canadian soldiers from 2 families & their involvement in the last great German advance. Canon Scott’s ‘Great War as I saw it’ is the story of the 1st Canadian Division from recruitment & training to the Front. Lady Paget’s book relates her setting up & running of a Red Cross unit in Serbia in 1915 & the Lloyd George is a collection of his speeches from the early days of the War.

20th July

Far too hot to be sitting in front of a computer so just a few simple additions today. Renzo has sent in the full jacket image for W. E. Johns only WW1 non-Biggles novel, The Spyflyers. Early Biggles is rather a gap in my collection but current prices mean that gap will probably be permanent. Also the US edition of Mottram’s ‘Crime at Vanderlyndens’ & a 2nd imp. of Paul Bewsher’s ‘Dawn Patrol’ to go with the recently added ‘Bombing of Bruges’.

16th July

3 Flying books to kick off with today & an un-jacketed work on NZ Trench Mortars. The Rochester is one of many juvenile works from this author all of which carry evidence of his real experiences at the Front. 2 books have been provided by B.J.Pryor : Dick Grace was a pilot in France with a SPAD squadron but this book concerns his exploits as a movie flyer however I rather like the simulated Western Front on its jacket & ‘Down in Flames’ is a series of short stories concerning Sopwith Dolphin pilots with the RFC. Capt. Napier gives an account of a NZ Trench Mortar Battery - it is undoubtedly scarce but the near £2000 being asked for it on ABE may restrict its potential readership to zero!

12th July

The ingestion of a piece of underdone barbequed chicken whilst in France has meant a longer than usual absence of updates. On the plus side my wife says that the resulting loss of weight is a great improvement. Whilst the thought of solid food is not yet an appealing prospect I did finally make it home to find some substantial books waiting for me. Most pleasing is the first of RAF pilot Paul Bewsher’s books that I’ve yet seen in a jacket. Having already got a nice signed copy of the book sans jacket the question arose of whether to take the jacket from the former & place it on the later. Questions of retaining the historic continuity of the book exercised me for several seconds and then I switched them. I bought it from Colophon Books who also sent in the image of Edmond Genet’s letters, the first US flyer to be killed flying the Stars & Stripes. Also a fine jacket on a fairly routine Chaplain’s memoir & a biography of the Chaplain by his wife.

4th July

A remarkable new catalogue from John Marrin has just arrived by e-mail. I have to admit I thought John had retired not having seen him at book fairs for some years or received any new catalogues but he seems to have put together a list of very desirable books. Several privately printed front line diaries & some rare jacketed copies including Dearden’s ‘Medicine & Duty’ & Andrew’s ‘Haunting Years’. If you didn’t receive it I can forward you a copy. If any of you buys the jacketed ‘Three Chevrons’ by Orex please let me have a picture. I’d buy it myself but I recently spent rather too much on a bare copy! Today just a selection of jacketless books to fill the gap until I get back from holiday & Briscoe Moore’s account of the mounted NZ troops..

30th June

A 1 page addition from me today to celebrate a superb exhibition which has recently opened at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Called ‘A Crisis of Brilliance’ after a recent book of the same name, it focuses on a group of 6 artists who studied at the Slade in London just prior to the War. 5 of the 6, Spencer, Nash, Nevinson, Bomberg & Gertler went on to produce some of the finest art to come out of the War much of which is represented here. Remarkably the poet, Isaac Rosenberg, was also studying there at the same time but sadly does not feature in the exhibition. The British Artists at the Front series shown below contains some of the most powerful art produced by 2 of the group, Nash & Nevinson. If you haven’t been yet it’s well worth the short journey by train from Victoria to see it - it’s on until September.

26th June

It looks as if the spat between the military and the literary historians is beginning to heat up. A recent letter in the press from a group of the later pleading for the forthcoming centenaries to be a remembrance of the fallen rather than a celebration of the victory was met with a predictable response from Professor Sheffield. Without wishing to come down too strongly on the literary side I must say Sheffield’s contention that the justification for the 1st War was equal to that for the 2nd is rather rich. To equate the inevitable clash of Empires that was the Great War with the lunatics of the 3rd Reich is hardly tenable. As you can see from the less than essential nature of today’s offerings the well is most definitely running dry. I see I only had 2 visitors yesterday. It hardly seems to be worth the effort but as it costs very little I shall certainly keep it online until the Centenary of the Armistice.

22nd June

A motley crew today selected from my dwindling band of reserves. The UK edition of Robert Service’s Poems from that source of bargain books, Peter Harrington; A novel of the Lafayette Escadrille; the account of a German spy in the British censors office & a battered copy of the history of the West Riding Territorials in the Great War. (I’ve thought of giving this website a sub-heading - “The home of the misplaced Apostrophe” - I really haven’t a clue as to where they should go).

18th June

As expected the June Fairs yielded very little for me. The 1st collected edition of Rupert Brooke’s poems from 1918 was the only book to catch my eye & wallet!. Elsewhere, I’d not seen a jacketed copy of Wilfred Owen’s poems in many a long year but there were 2 within yards of each other at the ABA - a rather foxed one at £7500 & a fine edition at $15000 - made me wish I’d bought the copy that Rota’s had some 20 years ago at £200. Other than those you’d have thought the only books to come out of the War were ‘A Farewell to Arms’ & ‘Goodbye to all That’. I decided to pass on the £150,000 Gatsby even though the War does get a brief mention. If however you do wish to pay £1250 for the Hugh Walpole below then York Modern Books is where you should go.

12th June

Somewhat later than usual which rather reflects the paucity of new material. Ever hopeful of this weeks bookfairs, although why I bother with the ABA I don’t know. It’s a bit like going to Bond Street in search of a cheap watch! I think I’ve bought 3 books there in the last 30 years. A lengthy trawl of the Internet has turned up 3 of today’s offerings plus a later issue of Coningsby Dawson’s ‘Love of an Unknown Soldier’ from the latest Turner Donovan Catalogue 124. Unfortunately I got up too late to secure a long sought after item, Arthur Osburn’s ‘Unwilling Passenger’. Now I know one of you has bought it but do you REALLY need it!!

6th June

Nick Fletcher has sent in what we both agree must qualify as one of the most boring of jackets. One can imagine the conversation the publishers may have had with the author over this - “ We’re so pleased you bought the book to us, Mr. Bridgman, & we’re going to pull out all the stops for it. Just wait till you see the jacket design!” Also we have another flying book, a later issue of ‘Peter Jackson’ & the middle volume of William Carr’s Naval trilogy. There seems to be a tragic dearth of books around at the moment - I haven’t found anything to buy for a month - fingers crossed for next weeks bookfairs in London.

2nd June

Thanks to Renzo for providing today’s opener, G. H. Cunningham’s account of the career of Squadron Leader McGregor who flew with the 54th & 85th Squadrons during the War. Published in NZ, as far as I can tell there has been no UK publication to date. A later issue of Keble Chatterton’s ‘Konigsberg Adventure’ but with a different jacket - there must have been work for a whole host of artists producing variant jackets for Chatterton’s books! Altsheler’s ‘Guns of Europe’ is a later issue of the first of his series of 3 WW1 novels mostly aimed at the juvenile market. He was a journalist & story writer who was in Germany at the start of the War. His difficult journey home had a bad effect on his health & he died aged 57 in 1919. Plus another image for the Children’s page.

29th May

A 1st of Heath Robinson’s amusing pictures of the War, an interesting anti-war anthology from some of the participants in this one, including as you might expect Guy Chapman & Vera Brittain & a 2nd impression of Keble Chatterton’s history of those heavily armoured vessels disguised as Merchant ships.

24th May

Back from a slightly soggy Italy to find Reginald Farrer’s ‘Void of War’ waiting for me. This horticultural writer visited the battlefields in Flanders & Italy as well as reporting from Paris. Cyril Falls quite liked his descriptions of the front but thought his views from Paris were mostly those seen from the Ritz hotel.Also a biography of Jellicoe, a Russian novel of the War written by a former soldier & a biography of a white Russian Cossack who worked with the British during the Russian Revolution.

13th May

Today’s first 2 books are currently on E-Bay. They are both indicative of some of the bizarre pricing which dealers go in for. The Rawlinson tells of his time as a private car driver at the front & is a book I once gave away as being of little interest. The price for this appalling copy is an eye-watering £249. But that looks an absolute bargain when compared to ABE’s only copy, jacketless & £950!! The Wilkins, a minor collection of war-time anecdotes, has a low opening price on E-Bay but ABE can offer you a jacketless copy for only £358. Talking of crazy pricing I’m trying to buy a normal sized book from the US where the dealer wants $60 postage to the UK - maybe he’s going to fly over with it!

8th May

I’m glad to see book sales are not declining as quickly as predicted in the face of the rampant e-readers. However I suspect that any decline will lead to more caution from publishers with regard to commissioning books on less popular subjects. The only way is down I fear. Today’s mixed batch may be the last before I swan off to the continent for a while but as I’m running rather low on images that may be no bad thing. Things must be slipping if I’m reduced to showing the biography of a pigeon! & what kind of name is ‘Twells Brex’.

4th May

The 4 POW memoirs shown below are all wrappered pamphlets, but as they are rare & have since disappeared from the Turner Donovan website I thought I’d better record them here as they may never be seen again. I’ve also added 3 other volumes from the same catalogue. These are now all at the foot of the paperbacks page & won’t appear in the main index.

30th April

Another offering from the latest Turner Donovan catalogue is Major Sandes account of his time as a Turkish POW - he was the author of ‘In Kut & Captivity’ (copy still needed for the site). Also a collection of army anecdotes mostly notable for having yet another design by Helen McKie on its cover. A volume of poetry by a Canadian soldier of the Princess Pat Contingent killed at St. Eloi & a record of the flyers who won the VC in the War.

26th April

Rather pushed for time so apologies for this brief intro. Today’s books are : a biography of Foch, Haig by his wife, a short history by Liddell Hart & an autobiography of the author of the ‘Sky Pilot’ books.

22nd April

Today I’ve unashamedly taken all the books from the new Turner Donovan catalogue no. 123. This one has a section of POW memoirs which must be one of the best to be offered for sale for many years. Without, I hope, sounding too sycophantic, I’m in constant awe of Tom’s ability to source new material. I know this bi-monthly turnover takes a great deal of time & effort which, I hope, is amply rewarded.

Financial constraints mean that only 1 of these books is coming my way, but Long’s ‘Other Ranks of Kut’ is, I think, the most important. Nearly all of the Kut memoirs were written by officers whose fate was little different to their fellows elsewhere. The other ranks story, which is told here, was far more terrible & led to the deaths of 70% of their number. It’s also the only copy I’ve seen in it’s jacket.

17th April

I last saw Acland’s ‘All Else is Folly’ in John Marrin’s Catalogue no.48 where it was priced at £85. I failed to buy it then as I did so many of the wonderful books he managed to find all those years ago. Now of course I’ve had to pay much more but when a book becomes an obsession economic considerations fly out of the window. ‘Soldier’s Luck’ was published by the vanity publisher Stockwell in 1965, but JRF has pointed out to me that Croney’s account of his time with the 12th Essex has become somewhat of a classic so I’m including this old image of what is now a rare book. And thanks to Brian Busby for these improved images of Lord Beaverbrooke’s account of the Canadian forces on the Western Front.

13th April

Today’s opener is the UK edition of Dennis’ ‘Moods of Ginger Mick’. The best I can say about it is the jacket by Hal Gye is quite appealing. It’s front-line verse written in the vernacular & hearing it in your head in a cod Aussie accent is rather wearing and makes it all but impossible to get past the first page. Flight Errant is a novel of the RFC described by Noffsinger as ‘two young people in the years of transition’?? Nice jacket though. Pilot’s Luck is also concerned with the Air War being excerpts from works by Springs, Hall, Gibbons & others.And finally some recollections by Wilfred Saint-Mande.

9th April

Sorry this is late arriving but I’ve been on an extended break in France testing out my new boy’s toy - an HD 3D projector - I shall never go to the cinema again! So many books waiting for me at the Post Office that they almost lost some of them. Most interesting was the ‘Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire during the Great War’. An immense volume crammed full of data from Casualty figures & Bravery Awards (of the 115,577 MM’s awarded only 1 man won it 4 times) down to the exact quantities of all materials used from munitions to woollen underwear - 40,097,483 pairs! Today’s additions start with one of those often seen books that never seem to have a jacket - ‘50,000 miles on a Hospital Ship’ & also a copy of Brooke’s ‘Lithuania’ - here for completeness rather than it’s War content. A copy appeared on ABE for £500 described as ‘rare in the jacket’ - a quick search revealed this one at £15 so I bought that instead - don’t these dealers check before they price their books?

2nd April

A mildly interesting batch before the Easter break, including a humorous American novel of a doughboys love affairs behind the lines, an English novel of a Naval officers affairs in the years between Victoria’s death & the Armistice & a rather nicely illustrated volume of verse from the Dardanelles. When I return I should have received what appears to be an interesting new bibliography of the Official Histories of the War & an original 1922 copy of the Principal Events volume from that series found on ABE for £12 !!

29th March

A big thank you to one of my contributors for agreeing to sell me his copy of one of the restricted volumes of the Official History. Worryingly this book, in near mint condition, has come from the withdrawn stock of the Imperial War Museum. Although they still hold 2 other copies one wonders why such a rare & valuable item was allowed to go, especially as it eventually ended up on Ebay for £10!! Another reason why those of us with important collections should think again about leaving them to any Institution - they’ll likely flog them off at the earliest opportunity! Only the Scouting Thrills book today comes from my own collection. Although primarily aimed at a juvenile readership it gives a clear account of the role of the Battalion Scouts of the Canadian Army during the War.

25th March

A further erosion to the number of real books on ABE seems to be happening. I was searching today for a copy of Clutha Mackenzie’s elusive ‘Tale of a Trooper’ and ABE initially returned 92 copies. Hitting the ‘Not Print-on-Demand’ button reduced this list to a single volume from Zubal Books - an e-book. For your $10 (plus $16 postage, refundable later) they send you a link to the on-line copy. Many books of this age have been scanned & can be downloaded for free - here’s the link to this one. Another scam to trap the gullible & one which will only increase - a ‘no e-books’ button please ABE. And feel free to send me as many $10 bills as you like. The best of today’s books is the History of the 15th Highland Light Infantry (the Glasgow Tramways Battalion) that Nick Fletcher has sent in & a well-illustrated account of Light Cruiser actions during the War.

21st March

Last Saturday’s Lewes bookfair has thrown up today’s opener in the form of a French memoir of Secret Service activity during the War. The striking jacket is only identified as being by ‘BW’. Martel’s ‘Wake of the Tank’ was here already but this is the enlarged edition from 1935 which details 3 further years of development. Plus 2 further volumes from David Pritchard’s collection ( I must apologise for the state of the Manchester’s volume - my attempt to sharpen the image has led to this rather poor quality image).

17th March

Continuing with the War poetry theme today. Firstly this superb jacket image on Gilbert Frankau’s ‘City of Fear’ brought to my attention by Timothy D’Arch Smith, Gilbert’s grandson. This is an edition published a year after the first but still carrying the same image. I’ve pulled another volume of Frankau’s War poems out of my collection to go with it. Reilly is silent on Capt. Blackall but the volume is more than noteworthy for its cover image by the ubiquitous Helen McKie. Plus a POW memoir from Lt. Col. Bond of the KOYLI.

13th March

More poems & Dane’s book on the Campaigns in the Near East, but the outstanding book today has been supplied by the Pritchards - Wing Adjutant’s (Major W. T. Blake) ‘Plane Tales from the Skies’ - a collection of real life tales of pilots and their observers. What a splendid image - flying memoirs seem to get all the best artists. Another one to add to my wants list.

9th March

I shall be at a friends wedding when I should be writing this so I’ve confined myself to a single volume today, a product of Tom Donovan’s latest catalogue. ‘War & its Glories’ by Ex Private J. G. McLean is without doubt the bitterest, most disillusioned memoir of the War I’ve ever come across. Hardly anyone escapes his wrath. I can find little about the book on the net other than to say that he was a Regimental Stretcher Bearer with the 15th Australian Infantry Brigade. Being published in 1920 it rather casts doubt on the presumption held by today’s historians that this attitude to the War didn’t set in until the late 20s. A full text of the book can be read here.

5th March

I thought I’d draw all of today’s images from Tom Donovan’s latest catalogue (122) which has a large selection of War poetry. My own collection originally focused on the major War poets but with only a few gaps remaining (any spare jacketed Brooke or Owen gratefully received!) I’m now tempted to add a few of the minor ones, four of which are displayed below. The De Stein is a common book but the jacket is rarely seen & the Asquith is more commonly encountered as a wrappered 1st but this 2nd edition is much enlarged, Plus the 2nd of ‘Woodbine Willies’ volumes of poetry (I’ve added a few more volumes alongside it) & some poems from a Captain in the RAMC.

1st March

Let me firstly recommend a book I’ve just read - David Jones in the Great War by Thomas Dilworth. Jones served throughout the War & was present at some of the most hard fought encounters including the attack on Mametz Wood during the Somme Offensive. Including many of Jones’ fine drawings this is the first book to deal in depth with the War experiences of the author of ‘In Parenthesis’ - probably the finest piece of writing to come out of the War. Today’s books show the results of my Cambridge trip , some Canadian War poetry & a US War correspondents view of the Meuse - Argonne battle.

25th February

I braved the piercing cold on Friday to visit the Cambridge Book Fair. What a first-rate fair it is with over 80 dealers & in such a splendid city. What could be more agreeable, as the late Kenneth Clarke would say, than a book fair, yielding a couple of books, a meal in Browns & a visit to that finest of provincial museums, the Fitzwilliam. I’d move there if I hadn’t spent all my money on books. More from the Pritchards today with a colour jacket to Swinton’s account of the Tank Corps & a narrative on Irish Gun Running. Plus a recent purchase of mine on Canadian V.C.’s.

21st February

It’s always pleasing to bring a writer onto the site who should have been here long ago. As a lifelong collector of War Poetry I’d despaired of finding a jacket for one of Francis Ledwidge’s few volumes of verse but now I. D. Edrich has found me one for his ‘Last Songs’. Ledwidge is what you might call a major minor poet but his lyrical bucolic poems rise well above the average. A welcome batch of new images from David Pritchard will be filtered in over the following weeks - today’s jacket for ‘Pushing Water’ from Bodley Head’s ‘On Active Service Series’ is the US edition. Unfortunately I have no examples of books from this series where I can compare the US & UK editions but I suspect they may be the same.

17th February

A few days ago I made my first foray into online auction bidding. If you haven’t done this before then beware - things move very quickly. Having decided beforehand that my upper limit would be around £400 I ended up with a final bill of around £1000!! It’s just too easy to click away with the mouse before engaging the brain! And also having written some weeks ago that there was no need to go after the original ‘Blockade of the Central Empires’ because the 1961 issue was the same as the restricted 1937 one but with the restriction notice covered up & a new binding, I do just that. More money than sense clearly. Now of course I’ll have to go after the Persia & Rhineland volumes as well. Of today’s books there are 2 volumes from John Lane’s ‘Escapers Library’ from Nick Fletcher, A. P. Herbert’s War poetry & L. H. Grondys eyewitness account of the atrocities committed by the advancing German troops in Belgium.

13th February

Today’s opening pair serves to demonstrate one of this sites many failings - there is no indication of the relative size of the books shown. The Charteris is more than twice as large as the Laughton. My excuse is that I assume people visit the site to see what the jacket looks like for the unclothed copy they already have. The Charteris is an overly respectful view of Haig by one of his Generals which is doubtless popular amongst today’s Revisionists. The Laughton, rarely seen in its jacket, is an excellent view of the early days of the Naval War, packed full as it is of useful statistics. Plus a later issue of Gilbert Frankau’s fine novel & a romance from Ethel M. Dell of a married woman who goes to the front as a nurse & falls in love with a wounded soldier.

9th February

Just back from the continent so only time for a quick comment on today's offerings. I’ve had the Doroshevitch for some time, more for its Stephen Graham introduction than for any great interest in the German invasion of Russia. For a 1916 book this is surprisingly more often encountered in its jacket than without. The fact that said jacket has the weight of thin cardboard probably accounts for it. A shame they didn’t all use the same paper. An account of the work of the American Red Cross & of the Irish Regiments in the early part of the War. And another of Keble Chatterton’s many naval volumes.

1st February

Today’s first offering is a privately printed nursing memoir by Frances Bulstrode called ‘Some...Helps’. It deals somewhat briefly with her time at an English convalescence hospital and then at a similar place for badly wounded German prisoners in Switzerland. I can only find 2 other copies, one in Dublin & one in the Bodlean. A rather disappointing jacket for the UK edition of Bennett’s ‘Lord Raingo’ but a splendid Art Deco image, sent in by Fons Oltheten, for Helen Long’s novel ‘The Girl He Left Behind’. Unfortunately I can find no information on the novel’s content which is also the case for Ross Kay’s ‘Fighting in France’ other than that it is part of ‘The Big War’ series.

28th January

I’m taking the easy option today in that all the new entries are going on the same page - Children’s Novels. A Naval Venture by Surgeon Rear-Admiral Jeans tells the story of the Gallipoli landings. Jeans seems to have found time to write several other lengthy volumes. Despite the fact that this was intended for young boys it is an excellent atmospheric read. The Air Service Boys was yet another of the seemingly inexhaustible series of novels that America produced around this time (1919). The publisher doesn’t seem to have commissioned more than a single design for the series. & Munition Mary is one of the few juvenile books to deal with workers in this industry.

24th January

A suitably snowy start to today’s offerings in the shape of ‘Resurrection Rock’ by Edwin Balmer, which tells of a WW1 soldiers trek to the snowy woods of Michigan after hearing the mysterious voice of a dead soldier (that’s the soldier’s daughter on the jacket). Plus the US edition of Carrillo’s ‘Among the Ruins’, the Spanish War Correspondent’s view of the War after the Marne & 2 more books for the Anthologies page - some US army verse & a Kitchener Memorial volume. I’ve managed to find a jacketed ‘Cameliers’ by Oliver Hogue but it was on-site already.

20th January

Having just bought John Still’s ‘A Prisoner in Turkey’ I’m now only 4 volumes short of acquiring the whole of the ‘On Active Service Series’ that Bodley Head published between 1919 & 1922, so if anyone can help with these remaining 4 I’d be most grateful. They are Ellen Davies ‘Ward Tales’, Daryl Klein ‘With the Chinks’, Clutha Mackenzie ‘Tale of a Trooper’ & Beatrice Thompson ‘Four Months in Italy in War-time’. Jackets aren’t essential. Today’s offerings include the 1st US edition of Carstairs classic, Rickenbacker’s autobiography, a stirring flying novel & a book that you’d think was a Western to look at the jacket but is in fact a War story.

16th January

I’ve just been reading a new book ‘Dust-Jackets : Their History, Forms, and Use’ by G. Thomas Tanselle. BSUVA 2011. Whilst concerning itself principally with the 19th Century it’s the first genuine history of the subject that I’ve seen. I would recommend it anyway but it is of Outstanding Interest in that it mentions Yours Truly twice in the footnotes. This enables me to finally consider myself as a ‘Footnote in History’!! Today’s first book is a particularly rare one ‘Come to the Cook-House Door, by Juliet Whitsed. It’s an excellent memoir of a VAD in Salonika, but I can find no other copies for sale & barely a mention of it anywhere. ‘In the Northern Mists; A Grand Fleet Chaplain’s Notebook’ is by that serial writer of Naval stories, Montague Hainsselin. Well received at the time it seems to have survived in quite large numbers although rarely with this jacket showing a Battleship in a turbulent sea. Plus 2 later editions of Hemingway’s masterpiece.

12th January

The most important book to come my way in the past few days won’t really make it to the site. It’s a proof copy of Wilfred Ewart’s ‘Way of Revelation’ inscribed to the once popular American poet Vachel Lindsay & with an introductory letter from Ewart mentioning their joint acquaintance with fellow Guardsman Stephen Graham. This is the only 1st of this title I’ve seen in years & it was especially nice to find it signed bringing one, as it does, that much closer to the author. Ewart met his tragic end only weeks after sending Lindsay this book. The only other book of real interest I’ve acquired is today’s first entry, May Bradford’s ‘Hospital Letter Writer in France’. This is the only record of this charitable occupation I’ve ever encountered which probably brought as much comfort to the wounded as the treatment they received. I’d also like to bring to your attention Trafford Books, listing on ABE, who seem to have acquired a large selection of Women’s War memoirs which they are slowly filtering onto the site.

8th January

I fear I will have to start updating the site less often as the number of images coming my way has almost dried up. The first of today’s batch is the last for the moment from MarkTerry. I’ve had the novel, ‘Blighty’, for many years but have not seen the jacket before. Not in Hager & Taylor, it is set mostly on the home front while our hero is in the trenches fighting the friends he made in Germany before the War. Hospital Sketches probably never had a jacket but is here as an important nursing memoir. The author Frances ‘Dot’ Lyndall was the niece of Olive Schreiner (Story of an African Farm). Some War-time stories by the author of ‘Company K’ & a history of fishermen in Wartime.

4th January 2013

Firstly let me draw your attention to a new source of books on the Web. The actor Neil Pearson has taken up a secondary occupation as an antiquarian bookseller & has launched his new website - Neil Pearson Rare Books He has a section of First World War books with as yet only a few entries but I hope to persuade him to expand that area. It’s a nicely designed site which is a pleasure to view & includes some welcome features not least of which is a list of books you’ve just missed!

Of today’s books the Biard is only slightly concerned with the War but of interest nonetheless & Strange Intelligence deals with the Naval Secret Service before & during the War. Over Here is described as a Super-Patriotic love story set on the Home Front.

28th December

Having bought the first item on today’s list I thought I’d see how many winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature had written about the War (10 of them I think) before belatedly realising that Berta Ruck wasn’t Pearl Buck. Such confusion means I need a break so I’m off to France for a few days, as much to escape the rigours of probate as anything else. And also another rarity in Erichsen’s ‘Forced to Fight’ from Heinemann’s ‘Soldier’s Tales’ series supplied again by Mark Terry. Many thanks to him for his sterling restorations.

24th December

A Happy Christmas to anyone still reading this. A nice snowy offering for the Festive Season by way of a mega rare jacket on E. W. Hornung’s ‘Notes of a Camp Follower on the Western Front’, courtesy of Mark Terry & a lovely later jacket for Ira Jones biography of Mick Mannock. Russell’s ‘Machine Gun Corps’ is only the cloth binding but I thought I’d put it on to show what the 1st edition binding should look like. There is a copy available on ABE at the moment in black lettered red cloth but that is a later cheap issue binding.

20th December

Firstly I’d like to say a heartfelt Thank You to all those of you who wrote to me regarding my mother’s death. It was very sad but she was nearly 95 & had been ill for some time. Still walking some 5 miles a day until 2 years ago I just hope her fitness gene is lurking somewhere in me (it hasn’t expressed itself yet). Amongst today’s offerings is the first of a rare batch of jackets, Schauwecker’s ‘The Furnace’, unearthed for us by Mark Terry & from me a disappointingly bland covering for the survey of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals.

16th December

Sadly my mother Winifred Hewer died a few days ago so I’m limiting today’s entry to 2 wraparound jackets.

12th December

I see that if you search for ‘Great War’ in Google then this site comes up on p.2 which isn’t bad out of some 12 million hits. Sadly we do fall behind a couple of re-enactment societies & an on-line War game & who makes it to page 2 anyway, but I’m quite happy with that. Today’s books show a couple of US editions of books already here & a nice example of Art Deco graphics on a book of before & after pictures.

8th December

A recent chance finding of a rather delightful book ‘Across France in War-Time’ by Kuklos. The pseudonym, Greek for cycle, is for Fitzwater Wray, a country journalist & passionate exponent of recreational cycling. He’s perhaps best known to us as the translator of ‘Under Fire’ by Barbusse. Here he decides to bicycle from St.Malo to the Battlefields observing the changes he sees in the French way of life that the War has wrought. Worth seeking out for his engaging little drawings & amusing asides. He flies the Union Jack from his handlebars but most of the locals take it for the Russian flag! The Holmes was here already but this is the genuine first, in which Holmes uncovers a German Spy. Yours from Lucius Books for a mere £47,500 - don’t all rush at once!

4th December

A rather virulent attack of the Norovirus has had me sitting elsewhere than at my computer so apologies for the lateness & briefness of this entry. I’ll just mention what may be my last find in my quest for books on Women War Workers - this collection by Gilbert Stone of all aspects of the Women’s roll in the War from Munitions to Nursing to Bus Conductresses.

29th November

Continuing my quest for books concerning Women on War Work I’ve managed to unearth a couple more rarities. A. K. Foxwell’s ‘Munition Lasses’ gives a slightly sanitised but none-the-less important view of the workings of a Munition factory. Apparently it was the policy to employ women from academia to be factory overseers. F.Tennyson Jesse, better know as a criminologist, was commissioned by the Ministry of Information to write her book on the Women’s Army in France. The title is a quote from Henry VI Part 1. And a big thank you to Bob Liska of Colophon Books who has found the rare 1st & the latter reprint of Maurice Baring’s view of RFC Headquarters.

25th November

Today’s opener shows an interesting aspect of book marketing in WW2 ; how do you sell a book about flying bi-planes in the Great War to a 1940 audience? Answer - you put a picture of a spitfire on the cover! Hopefully the readers didn’t think that’s what Col. Hartney actually flew during the War; there wouldn’t have been many surviving Fokkers if he had! A Woman’s Diary of the War tells of the author’s time with an Ambulance unit in Belgium in 1914-15 and a History of Palestinian conflict including WW1. I also include ‘War Experiences of a Territorial Medical Officer’ by Major Gen. Sir Richard Luce which relates his time with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force as Divisional Medical Officer. He was replaced as DDMS of XX corps by Col. Dowsett to whom this copy is inscribed. Printed in 1937 I can only locate 1 other copy in existence in the National Library of Israel! So a bit of a rarity! Thanks ABE.

21st November

Having just acquired the 1961 issue of ‘The Blockade of Germany’, I’ve made a few minor alterations to the Official History page. I see now that there’s no point in trying to find the 1937 issue as this one comprises the same sheets newly bound and with a small sticker placed over the restriction notice. ‘The Bagging of Baghdad’ was here already but only as a monochrome image - a very lucky find in a local shop. And the new Turner Donovan catalogue has just come out with a section on ‘Women in War’ a few of which will be coming this way. Also the jacket of ‘The Sword Falls’, originally shown here some weeks ago, made its first public appearance in a lecture given at the V & A’s Ravilious day on Saturday.

17th November

Having at last managed to find a copy of Hall Caine’s ‘Our Girls’ (already on-site) with its image of Munition ladies filling shells, I was trying to think of other images of women on War work when I recalled this jacket last seen many years ago on Monica Cosens ‘Lloyd George’s Munition Girls’. As luck would have it someone had put an image of it on Amazon. And for continuity, 3 other War-themed novels with ladies on the cover ; ‘Jeanne’ tells of a young girl whose family is killed by the Germans & is rescued by an American doctor, ‘Shackled Souls’ is a War-time romance & the Abdullah is a complicated romantic adventure of an American in revolutionary Russia, southern Germany & the battlefield.

13th November

Some additions to the ‘On Active Service’ & other series page. I find that the Hodder & Stoughton series called ‘The Soldier Books’ also includes an element called ‘The Sailor Books’ I can only find 2 members of the series which I’ve added to the page. Both are scarce but neither could be called essential to one’s Great War library consisting of some minor short stories & some mediocre poetry. Lewis Hind’s Soldier Boy shows how uplifting War is to ones moral fibre! & the US edition of Blake’s ‘Valiant Heart’

9th November

A beautifully restored jacket from Mark Terry for a rare novel I’ve previously sung the praises of ‘No Names, No Pack-Drill’ by F. H. Snow. It mostly concerns pre-War training but also takes in the early part of the War. If you can find it, buy it! The partial monochrome image of Geoffrey Malins ‘How I Filmed the War’ was sent to me some time ago but as I think it increasingly unlikely I’ll ever see the original I’m putting it on so you can get an idea of what is was like. The Ruth Fielding is part of an American series of novels for girls that’s gone on the Children's page. The publishers seem to have commissioned only 3 or 4 variant designs that were used on all the titles regardless of whether Ruth was at the Front or back home on the range!

5th November

Another milestone passed - 30,000 hits many of which are probably me checking the upload has worked! 2 bookfairs this week - the ABA at Chelsea where very few WW1 books were on offer & those that were could be had far cheaper elsewhere - & the Military Fair at Deepcut - less dealers than usual but with plenty of interest. I just wish it would return to Tunbridge Wells - only 25 miles from me as opposed to 85! Of today’s batch probably the most interesting would be Admiral Harpers revisiting of the Battle of Jutland, each subsequent version of which seems to have upset the writers of every previous account.

1st November

Why is Mr. Chips on the site? Hardly a ‘War’ book I know but having just read it I find that the strain of melancholy that pervades the novel is somehow connected with the loss of a generation and a way of life brought about by the War. The latter section of the book does cover the War years & shrapnel falls on the school quad as a result of anti-aircraft fire! (The price seems to vary more than almost any book I know - this cost £19 on E-Bay but ABE lists copies up to £950!). Thanks to Nick Fletcher for purchasing the US edition of George Blake’s Gallipoli novel & I’ve added 2 books to the Pictorial bindings page - a rare pamphlet on the fate of conscientious objectors & a Scottish padre’s account of his time with the troops in France.

28th October

Another jacket that I’ve long coveted has been unearthed by Mark Terry - Hugh Kimber’s ‘San Fairy Ann’. It’s a shame that such a super image should be wrapped around what is a fairly prosaic War-time love story although its military scenes are said to be quite realistic. I’ve had the Gwatkin-Williams for some time but forgot to include it. It tells of the capture & subsequent escape of the men of HMS Tara through the Libyan desert after their ship was torpedoed. And finally, from Fons, 2 copies of Terhune’s Bruce, the tale of a Collie & her part in the War

24th October

Probably the most important jacket to appear on the site is the first of today’s entries, Anthony Bertram’s ‘The Sword Falls’, unearthed for us by Mark Terry of the Facsimile Dust Jackets site. The novel itself, telling the story of an elderly cockney clerk & the effects of the War on his family, is secondary in importance to its jacket. Designed by Eric Ravilious, it has long been sought by Ravilious’ scholars as up until now there has been no record of its appearance and doubts were raised as to whether it was ever produced. Forward with the Fifth gives the only private soldiers view of service with that Battalion of the A.I.F.. War Phases is one of those amusing Home front books of stories of a society lady & the how the War affects her socialising & there are 2 jacket variants for Bruno Brehm’s novel of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand.

20th October

I’m spoilt for choice at the moment. First off is Talbot Mundy’s novelised account of the first Indian troops on the Western Front, their capture & escape followed by the long trek back to India. Very much in the Kipling manner. Fanny Went to War is Pat Beauchamp’s 1940 revision of her 1919 account of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry ‘Fanny Goes to War’. Interestingly this copy is signed by 22 surviving F.A.N.Ys. The Frederick Palmer is a US journalists account of the Somme battle & at last the UK edition of George Godwin’s ‘Why Stay We Here’ , a novel giving a Canadian view of the War.

16th October

A deluge of books from Fons Oltheten in Holland has allowed me to take the easy option today in that all the books are on the same page. I don’t know how many Tom Slade voluimes there are but we now have 5 on-site. The Ford is a G & D reprint which looks as if they’ve used the same image for the whole series. By coincidence I happen to be reading this volume at the moment. I used to find Ford to be a rather laboured read but I changed my mind after reading ‘Some Do Not’ recently which really zipped along. Unfortunately by the second volume ‘No More Parades’ things had slowed up & now in the middle of this one I feel as though I’m wading through treacle. However as a little light? relief I bought the Enid Bagnold mentioned below from Tom Donovan & found it to be an excellent read & highly recommended if you can find a copy (it was reprinted by Virago some years ago). It seems she’s the Great Grandmother of our current PM’s wife!

12th October

It was good to hear our PM announcing great plans for the forthcoming Centenaries, hopefully to include some recognition of the role of War literature in keeping the memories alive. Even he however made the usual mistake in relation to the number killed on the first day of the Somme, inflating it in this case ten fold. Today’s batch includes a book I’d despaired of ever seeing - Ivor Gurney’s ‘War’s Embers’. It probably sold less than 500 copies & handling the paper-thin jacket shows me why that has generally failed to survive. The jacketed ‘Despatch Rider’ is a 1917 edition, but the only one I’ve seen. It’s described as a ‘Popular Edition’ but given that there are the remains of 3 diminishing price labels on the cover, ‘popular’ would appear to be rather a misnomer. Thanks as well to Fons & Nick Fletcher for continuing to provide me with new material.

8th October

Sorry for the long gap, I was in Brittany in the rain. I return to find it’s been raining books as well. Firstly from Tom Donovan’s latest catalogue a scarce copy of Enid Bagnold’s ‘Diary Without Dates’ in which she incurred the displeasure of her colleagues by recounting her time as a VAD in an English Hospital in the early years of the War. An Airman’s Outings is already on site but this appears to be a proof copy in boards evidenced by the blank price label on the front. Captain Lockhart’s is a rare view of the campaigns in the Holy Land & David Fallon tells of his varied career with both British & Australian Battalions at Gallipoli & on the Somme. There have also been some additions to the ANZAC bindings page.

27th September

Just 2 books today but I’ve re-jigged the ‘On Active Service Series’ page to include the other two sets mentioned below. This was prompted by the arrival of ‘With My Regiment’ from the Heinemann series. I was hoping to add a further volume to this set but the bookseller won’t answer my queries regarding its condition so I may be leaving that one alone. Today’s most important addition however comes from James Doig in Canberra who has been lucky enough to unearth a mega rarity in the form of a jacketed copy of Patrick MacGill’s exposition on what it was really like at the front ‘Fear’. It’s surprising that of all MacGill’s books the only one to have regularly retained its jacket is his poetry collection ‘Soldier Songs’ which as far as I can see sold fewer copies than all of his others. Now I just need someone to find a jacketed UK ‘Red Horizon’ for my cup to floweth over! There will be a longer than usual gap now.

23rd September

Well the last moment came & a whole slew of new books arrived. Having acquired further series additions I’ve decided to add to the “On Active Service Series” page with two of the other multiple narrative sets issued by other publishers during the War - Heinemann’s 13-volume ‘Soldier’s Tales of the Great War’ & Hodder’s 9-volume ‘Soldier Books’. I shall make the amendments over the next few days. Meanwhile a scarce little narrative of the life of an RAMC sergeant ‘Fields & Battlefields’ by no. 31540 under which pseudonym lurks Hope Bagenal who would later become an expert on Building Acoustics! It’s a rare book but there’s a jacketless copy of the UK edition on E-Bay.

19th September

Mark has only just left & already another superb jacket has turned up. ‘War in the Underseas’ by Harold Wheeler is a popular history of submarine activity during the War. I shall be sending him a scan so it will eventually be available. It’s a super image although I’m doubtful that such a manoeuvre would be too popular with the crew! I keep wondering if I can keep up this 1 new image a day rate but something always seems to turn up at the last moment.

14th September

To the horror of some but hopefully to the delight of many I’ve let Mark Terry of Facsimile Dust Jackets L.L.C. scan the contents of my library. This should mean that approximately half the jackets on this site will be available in facsimile for those of you that despair of finding the real thing to cover your books. Mark restores the jackets to be as close to their original condition as possible, but they are clearly marked on the inside front flap as being facsimiles. I know that some dealers have expressed reservations about this enterprise in that these jackets may be passed of by the more unscrupulous as the real thing. Frankly I think that only a fool would be so deceived - if it looks too good to be true then it probably is. As to the dealers fear that it will reduce the demand for original jackets then all I can say is stop charging such ridiculous sums for them! I welcome any enterprise which seeks to preserve such things. And in passing I’m not gaining financially from this. Mark is touring Europe until the middle of October so won’t be able to fulfil any requests until then.

9th September

It’s too nice a day to be stuck on the computer so just a couple of additions to the Pictorial’s page, a compilation of War songs from St. John Adcock & a Canadian Subaltern’s letters to his mother.

4th September

Now that my Kipling collection has come together again (after the rearrangement) I thought it time to include another of his many works. Sea Warfare brings together 3 slim war-time volumes ; ‘The Fringes of the Fleet’, ‘Tales of the Trade’ & ‘Destroyers at Jutland’ which includes the first appearance of his very personal poem ‘Have You News of My Boy Jack’. They were originally published in strictly limited editions in the US by Doubleday for copyright reasons. I show the 3rd imp. of ‘The Enormous Room’ just as an example of how quickly the jacket changed after the pictorial 1st impression. Plus the play made from ‘Paths of Glory’ & some anonymous Subaltern’s letters.

1st September

One of the great benefits of a book having retained its jacket is the amount of useful information it often carries. This was proved the other day. Rearranging the books means you see them anew & my eye fell on A H Davis’ ‘Extracts from the Diaries of a Tommy’. On the rear of the jacket was a list of books including ‘No Names - No Pack-Drill’ by F. H. Snow which sounded interesting - a novelised narrative of life in the army & at the Front. It seems to be a rare book - Copac only shows 3 copies - but ABE had a sole edition (sadly no jacket) & only £4.95 (it even turned out, unbeknownst to the dealer, to be inscribed). And it really is a remarkable book - running to over 560 pages, the first half describes pre-War training and the rest covers front-line service. Although classified as a novel this is clearly a personal memoir & one of considerable quality. The fact that it is now utterly forgotten is rather sad. It was published in 1932 & so may have just missed the memoirs boom. I can find almost nothing about the author, Francis Heffkine Snow, other than that he wrote 3 other books - one on Russian Landscape painting & 2 novels ‘Red Flowers’, published only in the US & ‘The Moving Finger’ He also seems to have been a translator - a book by Vincente Ibanez and a version of the American National Anthem. If anyone has any further information then please get in touch. Meanwhile there are copies in the BL, IWM & Scottish National Libraries.

30th August

A change of study has given me the opportunity to re-arrange the library by bringing all the WW1 titles together & to alphabetise them. Is this wise? - it’s impossible to know how much free space to leave to accommodate future purchases and as it’s 185 ft from the first book to the last that’s an awful lot to move everytime a new volume arrives! Still it was probably worthwhile as it threw up 3 books I didn’t know I had & another 3 I’ve bought twice! One of the found volumes was the play The Enemy by Channing Pollock, rather a drab French’s Acting edition, so I’ve pulled up this US novelisation for more dramatic effect. I also unearthed a play by Cicely Hamilton called ‘A Child in Flanders’ which ABE gives a sole listing of at £195 so that’s all good then.

26th August

Parade’s End - utterly brilliant & Cumberbatch perfect as Tietjens. For those of us familiar with the original jacket for ‘Some Do Not’ it was nice to see the pivotal drive through the fog, used so tellingly on that jacket, so well realised. Back to earth with this delightful story of the Captain of the Formidable’s dog, Bruce ,who went down with his ship after it was torpedoed. He’s apparently buried at Abbotsbury Gardens in Dorset after his body was washed ashore. The re-issue of Winged Victory from 1961 is outside my normal parameters but having just picked up this perfect copy from Ebay I have to record it here.

20th August

A longer than expected absence due to the longer than expected construction time required to build a summerhouse! The latest Turner Donovan catalogue has provided 2 of the images below - the first of Marthe McKenna’s many spy books & a later impression of Buchan’s ‘Mr. Standfast’. The highlight of the week however promises to be the BBC adaptation of Ford’s ‘Parade’s End’, which I’ve been keenly anticipating since it’s announcement last year. Whether Benedict Cumberbatch can convey the complexities of Tietjens character remains to be seen - I recall his making rather a hash of reciting a Sassoon poem at the Cenotaph a few years ago when the last veterans made their final appearance. (This will probably dash my chances of ever finding a jacket for ‘Some Do Not’ as prices will likely rise now).

13th August

Sheer laziness on returning from France, & the fact that the numbers visiting this site have fallen to an all-time low (Summer Holidays?) makes me pick all of today’s additions from recent Babylon Revisited catalogues.

6th August

Off to France to escape from the Olympics for a few days. All of today’s additions are from on-line resources as my recent attempts to add to the collection via E-Bay have been thwarted by collectors with deeper pockets than me.

1st August

Taking a break from the rigours of Olympic Beach Volleyball to bring you some new pictures courtesy of two of my regular contributors. The Commandant of the British War Dogs school tells of the valuable & moral boosting part played by the dogs of War ; a Regimental history of the 2nd Birminghams, the US edition of Swinton’s Tank history & the letters of the social reformer Frederick Keeling who was awarded the MM after his death at Delville Wood in 1916.

28th July

By far the most stunning image amongst today’s batch has to be that for the US edition of Redvers Dent’s ‘Show Me Death’. Found during a routine trawl of the ‘net it’s a vast improvement on the plain typographical jacket used on the UK edition from Constable. The only discernable signature seems to be ‘Gene’ but this must surely take its place alongsidet the very best of the era. The Ronald Gurner is a wrappered volume of War poetry, some of which has a certain power. I show it because it has a striking resemblance to the image used on the jacket of his more famous novel ‘Pass Guard at Ypres’.

24th July

I recently paid a visit to Charleston Farmhouse near Lewes - one of the many homes to members of the Bloomsbury group down here in Sussex. In one of the rooms, we were told, Maynard Keynes wrote his first important book ‘The Economic Consequences of the Peace’ in which he argued against punitive sanctions against the Germans (in a nearby room Eliot first declaimed ‘The Waste Land’). It seemed appropriate to put a copy in here to go with my purchase of Enock’s ‘The Problem of Armaments’ the thrust of whose argument can be gleaned from its lurid cover showing the God of War exchanging the wealth of the people for military hardware.

17th July

To make up for the last rather drab additions here are 4 very colourful jackets courtesy of David & Helen Pritchard. The first tells of the authors time with the Black Watch at Mons & the Marne. Field Ambulance Sketches is from the elusive ‘On Active Service Series’ (I’ve managed to find 2 more of these today - only another 10 to find!). Marcel Dupont was an Officer in the Light Cavalry & tells movingly of the Winter Truce in 1914 & the memoirs of a balloon pilot in the RAF. I’ve also acquired a superb proof copy of Carstairs’ brilliant memoir ‘A Generation Missing’ which belonged to Sir William Orpen, who provided the jacket illustration & with hand corrections by the author. A happy afternoon was passed in reading it.

13th July

The only 2 books to come my way in the last 4 days are Noakes’ Distant Drum’ which is on-sight already & Priestman’s ‘With a B.P. Scout in Gallipoli’ which is jacketless & also unknown to me previously. Therefore I’m showing 3 scarce wrappered volumes that I’ve been saving up & a prospectus for the Blackburn Aeroplane Company advertising their War planes & giving details of their War-time output..

9th July

My apologies to those of you who may have sent in todays images - I’ve had them for so long I’ve forgotten where they came from. The Booth seems to be a series of anecdotes from wartime London by a former journalist. Admiral Bacon’s book was written as a defence of Admiral Jellicoe whose handling of the Gallipoli Campaign had recently been criticised in the press. Harold Peat fulminates against the glorification of violence in War & the head of the German Military mission in Turkey tells his story.

5th July

Back from France to find another Stephen Graham waiting for me. This one tells of his trip to Russia in 1916 & reports how the War has affected various aspects of Russian life. I bought ‘Two Sticks’ from Ebay on the strength of its listing in Enser. It barely qualifies as a War book though. Slade was in the Royal Naval Reserve and whilst there is a little detail of his time with them in barracks in England his subsequent reliance on 2 walking sticks was as a result of osteoarthritis rather than enemy action.

28th June

I thought I had all of Scots Guardsman Stephen Graham’s War books but I was wrong. Several of his travel books in Russia deal directly with the consequences of the War there & the novel ‘St Vitus Day’ tells the story of the assassination at Sarajevo that started the whole thing off. I should have been aware of it before as it forms the opening section of Bernard Newman’s ‘Anthology of Armageddon’. Thanks to Nick Fletcher for the account of the mutiny aboard the German High Fleet which goes nicely with the Plivier volumes featured recently. And the final volume of the fictitious memoirs of ‘WAAC’ for which I have unfortunately mislayed the publishing details.

24th June

I see 4 of the choicest jacketed items from the last Turner Donovan catalogue have found their way to the Peter Harrington catalogue. Too bad if you missed out as they’ll now cost you 2 - 3 times more. I shouldn’t be too churlish though as I’ve taken the image of the UK edition of ‘The Kaiser’s Coolies’ from them. ‘A London Lot’ is a fairly typical War-time romance partially set at the front. I suspect I’m the only person buying these things. A special mention to Ariel Books in Auckland, NZ who managed to get it to me in an incredible two & a half days! & also thanks to David Ainsworth for the Geo Rochester apparently found at a bootfair.

20th June

Another day, another Gift Book. This time from Dame Nelly Melba presenting the best of Australian Art & Literature for the Belgian Relief Fund. I still fail to see how these things made any money - at 3/- it was half the price of a novel & with all the colour pictures less than a quarter what a similar art volume would cost. My efforts to interest the Imperial War Museum in doing an exhibition on War memoirists for the upcoming centenaries has met with rejection. Major renovations & a full exhibition schedule are given as the reasons but the failure to give any space over the years to the writers celebrated here always make me suspect they’re being too much in thrall to the ‘Revisionist’ agenda which doesn’t look to kindly on the thoughts of winging combatants.

18th June

A further episode in the dispersal of the Thomas Hope Floyd (‘At Ypres with Best-Dunkley’) collection by Salford University Library. I’ve just acquired another volume from the bequest - this a particularly rare one - Capt. Raymond Smith’s ‘A Soldier’s Diary’, privately printed in 1940, it tells of his time throughout the War with the Rifle Brigade & the 1st Worcesters. It’s inscribed by the author to Floyd who has written marginal notes throughout the book indicating where he was at the time of the various actions described. The library tell me that Floyd left them over 12,000! books & the ones that haven’t been consulted recently are sold off. This seems to be little short of a tragedy - Floyd had an outstanding collection of WW1 books, many inscribed, which would surely have been a valuable resource for future students of the conflict. It’s a sad reflection on the parlous state of our libraries that such collections are being lost for ever.

16th June

Some pictures from the latest Turner Donovan catalogue & an Australian flying memoir from me. The Briggs & Harris concerns flying & instructing with the RFC. The other 3 art books have pictures from Sir William Orpen, Martin Swayne (Maurice Nicoll) in Mesopotamia & a fine collection of War art compiled by Sir John Rothenstein.

12th June

Coming back a little early here but when a book turns up after 25 years of searching then it’s worth the interruption. Harold Spender has long passed into the shadows as a novelist but he remains an important figure historically as the father of the poet Stephen Spender. I first saw this novel in the late 80’s in Peter Jolliffe’s long defunct ‘Ulysses Bookshop’ near the BM. It was part of a batch of WW1 rarities he’d acquired but at £55 & only being able to afford one of them I settled instead for Hope’s ‘Winding Road Unfolds’, certainly the more important book. The Spender is a charming story of a young village lad who joins up in 1914 & sees the war through to the end. It’s a mix of training, France & the home front. Spender himself was too old to fight so there isn’t much realism here so I’m hard pushed to say why I’ve coveted it for so long. Maybe it’s the evocative jacket design or just the fact that it got away so long ago. I’ve also added some books by the poet Herbert Read to page 24

10th June

Probably the most interesting of today’s books is Freiwald’s account of Bolshevism below decks in the German Fleet leading to its failure on the High seas, a factual account to complement Plivier’s novel ‘The Kaiser’s Coolies’. The Battles of the Marne gives the views of both sides in the 2 major battles, a biography of the French Air Ace Guynemer & finally an analysis of the War’s origins by a former Directeur of the Musee de Grande Guerre.

6th June

A dramatic jacket for Kellermann’s ‘9th of November’ which describes the life in Berlin & at the front in the last few days of the War. More from Admiral Keyes on Gallipoli, a memorial volume for an American pilot killed towards the end of the War & a novel describing life in London during the German advance in early 1918.

2nd June

Back from Berlin to find a super copy of Yeates ‘Winged Victory’ waiting for me. This was soon eclipsed by finally unearthing a jacketed ‘Way of Revelation’. A 1928 impression but still only the second copy of any early printing of this book that I’ve seen. The superb jacket image shows a cloud formation of soldiers over an evening landscape rather reminiscent of that for Tell England. The escaping memoir ‘Within Four Walls’ was onsight already but only in b & w. The other 2 come from John Etheridges’ fine collection.

20th May

The last post for a while as I’m off to visit the capital of the former enemy. Tim Harrington’s memoir is only partially concerned with the War where he was on the staff with Plumer in the 2nd army. The Cutchins also concerns a staff officer, this time with the AEF at the Meusse-Argonne. Col.Evans history of the Mesopotamian Campaign is one of the commoner books of the period & the Bible & the War paperback just looked intriguing to see what thrilling address Mr. Wynn could have delivered on the subject.

16th May

A very brief stop between European trips means I don’t have the time for a full update, so I thought I’d rather belatedly celebrate the 5th anniversary of the site by showing some of the books I’d most like to see in their jackets but of which no hide nor hair has been seen. Geoffrey Malins flawed but fascinating account of filming on the Western Front must turn up one day - hopefully with the picture of him filming from a trench which was used as the frontispiece. Patrick Butler’s ‘Galloper at Ypres’, his account of his time with the Royal Irish, might have had a jacket by his mother, Lady Butler, who produced some sterling images of Victorian cavalry charges & MacGill’s ‘Red Horizon’ would almost certainly have had a striking battle scene similar to those used on Soldier Songs & The Great Push. The Bucher had a typographical jacket on the only copy I saw some 20 years ago - the other 3 are just impossible to find. ( I’d also add Hugh Kimber’s ‘San Fairy Ann’ which had an image of raised bayonets on the front, but I don’t even have a jacketless copy of that). Somebody out there must have these so please get in touch.

10th May

Today’s opener is one of those important volumes that I’m sure was never graced with a jacket - generally books bound in gilt-lettered parchment were meant to be seen. Letters from Flanders was written by 2nd Lt. Gillespie of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders & whilst clearly sanitised for parental digestion gives a good description of life at the Front. Hankey’s ‘Student in Arms’ is amongst the most common of all War books but has so far failed to appear on site - even now it is only represented by this pocket edition. Great Event is in a later but more striking jacket than the version here already and Crewe House tells the story of British overseas propaganda during the War.

6th May

There’ll be some gaps in the next few weeks as I swan off around Europe. Today’s batch shows the memoirs of Herbert Buckmaster, Capt. in the RHG, Gladys Cooper’s husband & originator of the club where the Buck’s Fizz was created. 2 Generals memoirs, those of J.F.C.Fuller of the Tank Corps & rather more controversially those of the C.-in-C. Marshall Foch and a rare Hogarth edition of Alice Ritchie’s book on the lives of Officers & their wives in occupied Germany.

1st May

If you’ve ever searched for rare WW1 books on Amazon, chances are you’ll find the book listed by a dealer called ‘southend-books-and-dvd’s’ at an odd but ludicrously high price like £357.24. Their ‘shop’ lists well over a million titles so I suspect they may be advertising other dealers stock, translated into Sterling & marked up which may account for the odd pricing. I would advice some degree of caution - I ordered a book from them listed as a 1917 original at a not too extravagant price but when the acknowledgement came through the book had acquired an ISBN no., so was clearly later than 1970. When I pointed this out they said it was their mistake - so caveat emptor. The Lancashire Field Ambulance volume shown below is on E-Bay at the moment, a fine copy of a scarce book, but the start price of £150 seems a trifle high. Major Gordon’s diary is that of a staff officer & attache to the Belgian King so his War seems to have consisted mostly of escorting various dignitaries around the rear areas. He was quite chummy with Churchill. A rare nursing memoir, my only purchase from Tom’s Catalogue (you have to be quick off the mark these days) & the Talbot Bruce tells of a felled RFC Flyer who spends 3 months being sheltered by a Belgian family.

27th April

So many new books to add that I’m coming in a day early. Prompted by the latest Turner Donovan catalogue all of today’s books concern the Russian Revolution but have their feet firmly grounded in the Great War. Pravdin’s ‘Double Eagle’ is set in Petrograd before & during the War, ‘Youth Uncharted’ starts with the War & moves on to the Revolution & beyond, ‘Red Flag Runs Up’ describes the horrors of Moscow during the Red Terror & Krassnoff’s ‘White Coat’ is a novel of a counter-revolutionary under the Soviets.

24th April

Yesterday brought an excellent new Catalogue No. 116 from Turner Donovan with lots of temptations - 1 on display below - including a fine copy of Grieve’s ‘Tunnelers’ over which I hesitated for too long. The Fedden volume is still available as I write. The other 3 volumes are from John Etheridge’s fine collection.

20th April

I bought ‘In the Whirlpool of War’ on a whim. The author chronicles her journey from the Ardennes to Paris in the early days of the War & describes the destruction wrought by the Germans on the French countryside & of the bombing of Rheims. A little further research however shows that she was the sister of the drug-addled French poet Rimbaud which gives the book far greater significance. ‘Behind the Scenes at the Front’ is a typical War Correspondents view from behind the lines (am I the only person hoovering these up?) & ‘One-Arm Sutton’ is a wide-ranging account by this soldier-of-fortune whose hand was blown off at Gallipoli. ‘Tale of an Old Soldier’ follows the author from the Delhi Durbar of 1911 with the Connaught Rangers to the Western Front & on to service with T. E. Lawrence - a rare book.

16th April

Firstly a thank you to John Etheridge for providing me with a nice batch of new images foremost of which is a complete jacket for Cuddeford’s ‘And All for What’ to replace the damaged one already on site & ‘Recollections of an Airman’ in a later issue jacket from Hutchinson but with a fine image. Downes ‘With the Nigerians’ is a not uncommon book of a little covered campaign but the only example I’ve seen in its jacket. The letters of Captain Neville is here as part of my inclusion of books that were probably always jacketless but shouldn’t be omitted. It tells of his time with the 43rd & 52nd Ox & Bucks Light Infantry from 1917 to the Russian Campaign of 1919. Privately printed in 1930 it should be popular with todays Revisionist historians as he seems to have thoroughly enjoyed his time at the front even when taking a bullet in the arm! It’s an excellent read and strangely has been overlooked by the Print-on-Demanders - Naval & Military Press take note!

13th April

Back from a long Easter break in France to find a superb bibliography waiting for me - A. W. Pollard’s ‘Subject Index of the Books relating to the European War, 1914-1918, Acquired by the British Museum, 1914-1920’. Published in 1922 & clearly missing the boom of the late 20s this is easily the best bibliography of its type. Broken up into numerous sections for ease of use the number of books listed is simply staggering for so soon after the War. The 20 pages of personal memoirs & diaries had me scouring ABE for hours; many of the titles were unfamiliar and sadly most now seem to be unobtainable. There are a couple of copies cheaply available on ABE & I would heartily recommend it if only to prove just how many WW1 books you still have to find!

5th April

There are some aspects of the War that have not been previously written about, writes Henri Barbusse, in his introduction to H.J.Proumen’s ‘In a Strange Land’. In this case that aspect is the lives of Belgian refugees living in England during the War. Originally published in France as ‘Les Transplantes en Albion’ this is a scarce book, the only other copy I can find is a jacketless one on Amazon. The Cross of Carl is an allegorical, opium-fuelled novel on the horrors of the War with supernatural overtones, and the charming jacket on ‘The Secret Hand’ covers a novel on the German Secret Service. There will be a longer than usual gap now for the Easter break.

1st April

No sooner do I hope for a copy of the original ‘Wind in the Wires’ than Bob Liska of the Colophon Bookshop provides. Many thanks to him. The C S Forester is strictly outside the limits of this site being from 1951 but it completes the quartet of WW1 books written by him so I thought it best to include it. The Highland Regiments volume is here chiefly for its jacket as the Great War is only tagged on as a final chapter, the book being originally published in 1915. And a Pathologists letters from the Salonika front.

28th March

Nick Fletcher has sent me another copy of Grinnell-Milne’s ‘Wind in the Wires’ which like the previous copy is published by John Hamilton. Strangely the copies held by the British Library & the IWM are given as published by Hurst & Blackett so I can only assume it was subsequently picked up by Hamiltons. Unfortunately I can find no copies of the H & B edition for sale. As with many of their other War books it probably had a small print run. Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia, a vital part of the War effort in that area, probably had a fairly limited readership in 1921 hence its scarcity today. This copy was recently on E-Bay but left me behind at £128.

24th March

Today’s first offering is rather unusual in being only the title page of a rebound paperback. I unearthed it a few days ago from my garage & an internet search reveals it to be rather rare. A lightly fictionalised account of the authors time with the Royal Fusiliers throughout the War it is the rarest publication of Jack Kahane’s Obelisk Press in Paris from 1933 (better known as a publisher of Erotica). A recent bibliography of the press only lists a single known copy. Well, now there are two! There was a limited re-issue in 2010 from the Handsack Press which I would recommend looking out for as this is a fine if slightly mannered piece of writing which doesn’t gloss over the horrors of the front. The Hall Caine is a rare example of a jacket showing lady munition workers; With the Gordons is a chaplain’s account of holding services at the front & Major Bodley relates his time in the line & his role in the Paris Peace Conference where he met T. E. Lawrence who advised him to ‘go & live with the Arabs’ which he then did for the next seven years!

20th March

Sheer lazyness makes me pick all of today’s images from the ever excellent Babylon Revisited website ( & also the failure to find anything worth buying lately!). Only McClure’s ‘Some Found Adventure’ finds mention in Hager & Taylor so I’ve had to rely on Babylon’s descriptions as to the other books contents. For those of you eagerly awaiting Tom Donovan’s new bibliography of Memorial volumes he tells me it is nearing completion so hopefully not too long to wait now.

16th March

Along with the 20th Divisional History are a couple of those important memoirs issued only in soft covers but worthy of inclusion in the main body of the site - F. Gaunt’s recollections of his time with the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers up until his wounding in November 1914 at 1st Ypres. A first-rate & now rather scarce account.Also Jack Russell’s time with the Gordon Highlanders until his death on the Somme in 1916 which I foolishly failed to buy on E-Bay.

12th March

Today’s post bought the UK edition of Von Rintelen’s memoirs of his time as a German saboteur of American shipping. Clearly a popular memoir, this being the 7th large printing. Also a fine history of the 23rd Division & a touch of Scottish humour with Wee MacGreegor which I’ve just ordered even though the Glaswegian vernacular may prove hard to follow.

8th March 2012

Back from France to find some fine books on the mat. Most notably a copy of Capt. Dunn’s chronicle of the 2nd Batt. RWF ‘The War the Infantry Knew’. I saw this in a shop in Honiton 25 years ago but thought the £12 being asked was too much!! Also an escaping memoir by Captain Caunter ‘13 Days’. It bears the signature of Thomas Hope Floyd who wrote ‘At Ypres with Best Dunkley’ He died in 1973 and left his books to the Lancashire Record Office who passed them on to Salford University Library. Given that they only came into existence in 1992 they don’t seem to have hung on to them for too long. I had thought of leaving my collection to a library - I may need to rethink that. Of today’s books ‘Dug-Out Digressions’ is only a paperback but goes with one of the Reverend Butterworth’s other books on-site & the Hindenburg Line book is here already but only as a paperback edition. Thanks to Renzo for Flying Thrills & to Nick Fletcher for the super copy of Gen. Gough’s Fifth Army.

29th February

A couple of Divisional histories from Tom Donovan. I thought of doing a dedicated page for them but so far I only have images for 12 of the 45 or so Divisional Histories that were published within our time-scale so I’ll wait a while. I was particularly pleased to find a jacket for Tilsley’s collection of War stories ‘Cheerio’ even though our cheery Tommy appears to have a flying saucer on his head! And a jacket for The Blocking of Zeebrugge which I thought would have been quite common but isn’t. I’ve foolishly bought a copy of Katherine Mansfield’s journal covering the War years published in 1927. She moved fairly freely between France & England during the War where her younger brother was killed fighting in 1915 & yet apart from noting some Troops on a train she makes no mention of the War whatsoever. Maybe I’ll put it on later as an example of blinkered self-obsession!

25th February

There are some books that clearly never had a dust jacket but are far too important to be left off the site or buried in some obscure corner. I shall be introducing a few such titles over the coming months but thought I’d start here with one of the rarest - Walter Gardner’s tunnelling memoir ‘One Mole Rampant’. Privately printed in an edition of probably less than 80 copies It likely served as an influence on Sebastian Faulks ‘Birdsong’. Also shown is what I think is the only pictorial jacket used on a volume of the Official History.

22nd February

A mixed selection today - a couple of Naval books, an American General’s thoughts and a rather charming children’s book, uncovered by Fons, about a family of rabbits who take in a lost child and return him to his family whilst braving shell fire! In the next batch I hope to be able to show the only volume of the Official History to have a pictorial jacket.

17th February

Today’s batch all come from the Yesterday’s Gallery/Babylon Revisited catalogue.

And just a brief note to say that the new Turner Donovan website is up and running efficiently after a few teething problems - smoothly was how Tom put it. There are now more pictures of books in stock with a new catalogue due shortly so I’d recommend a visit. There really is no where else to compare with it - almost as good as going into a shop.

13th February

Renzo has sent me some improved images for the W E Johns page so I think it’s worth showing here the superb wraparound jacket by Howard Leigh for ‘Biggles of the Camel Squadron’. The modern jackets used on recent limited reprints are fine in their way but are no substitute for the originals of Leigh, Bradshaw & Johns himself.

9th February

With the passing of Florence Green our last direct link with the War has gone. However there are still many people alive who had an indirect experience of the conflict. Those who were children at the time may remember their fathers coming home on leave, troops marching through the streets, maybe hearing the guns & probably some French & Belgians who were involved in the evacuation of war-torn areas. Hopefully someone is recording these memories before they too are lost & maybe we can hear their recollections when the Centenary arrives. Today’s selection comes from Renzo’s W E Johns collection - many thanks.

5th February

Surrounded by this winters first snow fall I’m trying to warm up after filling the bird feeders. It’s almost impossible to imagine how trench life must have been in weather like this! Today’s books all come from David Pritchards fine collection. Each of the books can be had on the net but only the Bairnsfather anthology seems to be obtainable in a jacket. (the UK edition of the Tank Corps is available jacketed from Peter Harringtons).

1st February

Back from a long weekend in Bath. Such an elegant city but now deprived of most of its second-hand bookshops - I could find only 2 remaining of the dozen or so that I found some 30 years ago. A fine batch of jackets from David & Helen Pritchard awaited me on my return which I shall filter in gradually. That for Hody’s ‘With the Mad 17th to Italy’ leaves me most envious - it’s a rare enough book without said jacket. ‘A Kiss from France’ is one of those morale boosting collections of short stories published during the War here sporting a typically naive jacket from Helen McKie. There’s an archive of her material at the V & A - it seems she produced a lot of pictures throughout the 2nd War as well including a number of drawings of the Nazi hierarchy. John Marrin has a copy if you’re interested.

28th January

A Scottish Nurse from Bodley Head’s ‘On Active Service Series’ was on-site before but with an image overstamped with a dealers logo so I’ve purchased it to improve its appearance! A most unusual pictorial jacket from Faber for Plivier’s follow up to ‘The Kaiser’s Coolies’ detailing the collapse of Germany towards the end of the War, Lionel Dawson shows how we take time out in war-time to shoot a few animals as well as ourselves & the US edition of Velona Pilchers play.

25th January

Downton Abbey, War Horse & now Birdsong - The Great War is moving inexorably back to centre stage as the first Centenary approaches. Apparently in the US there is now an ever increasing appetite for books set during the period so by 2014 even those of us already steeped in the War may start to become a little jaded. No evidence yet that today’s revisionist historians have had any effect on the public perception of the War. I suspect it’s going to be mud, blood & futility all the way.

The first 2 books today have been shamelessly lifted from the excellent new Turner Donovan website so apologies to those of you who may now own these volumes. The Arch Whitehouse is a collection of short flying stories some of which are War based & Sir Alfred Ewing ran the Naval decryption operations which deciphered the Zimmerman telegram that helped bring America into the War .

21st January

At last Tom Donovan is launching his new website - Turner Donovan Military Books. If you wish to type in the new address then it’s -http://www.tdbooks.co.uk/index.The new site has plenty of images of Books for Sale & a greatly enhanced search facility. It should go live late this Sunday evening or Monday morning.A preliminary look shows a much improved facility.

The most welcome image today is that by Fred Leist for the Boyd Cable re-issue which goes to complete a trio of similar works. Thanks to Andrew Harrison for spotting this on a New Zealand book site.

17th January

Not the most interesting of selections but I’m running low on images as a few books are still mid-atlantic (hopefully). The US 1st of the Boyd Cable (culled from E-Bay) is only of interest in that the front & rear of the jacket are identical - not Duttons finest moment. The upper 2 are from Babylon Revisited - Contraband is a novel about Blockade running & the Barbusse is a series of short stories, some set in the War & others in the Balkans & Russia (published in the UK as ‘Thus & Thus’ & in France as ‘Faits Divers’) .

13th January

I usually find that personal reminiscences by the clergy can be rather unenlightening but not so Rev. Creighton’s account of the Gallipoli landings with the 29th Division. Always in the thick of the action & with a wealth of fine images this is well worth seeking out & quite easy to find sans jacket (I have a spare if anyone wants it). The Ward Price is a War Correspondents view but useful nonetheless & with good pics..

9th January

I thought I’d update my Buchan listings replacing my later 39 Steps (price 2/- on front) with the first below & also with what I think is a first of the rarer Greenmantle (it comes from the site of some firm who make money selling images, hence the overstamping, so apologies to them). It prompted me to re-read The 39 Steps & frankly it’s a pretty awful book - anti-semitic & extremely right-wing, it lacks all the things that have made the films so exiting - no Mr. Memory, villain with missing finger top, girls, wether hand-cuffed too or otherwise & the steps merely a route to the sea from a holiday villa (why would you count them anyway?). I remember reading Greenmantle many years ago and finding that fairly dire as well! The Burrage is merely to show that the US edition is the same as that from the UK.

5th January 2012

Back from France & a Happy New Year to both my readers! A big thank you is due to Bob Liska of the Colophon Bookshop for this excellent quartet of Flying books which he sent in late last year. This is definitely the first place to look for WW1 Flying memoirs. James McCudden’s memoir of the RFC is particularly welcome as this may be the only remaining copy in its original rather flimsy jacket. Also Col. Tennants memoir of his time whilst CO of the RFC in Mesopotamia, although fairly easy to find is almost unknown in its jacket. An Airman’s Wife is a true story composed of a series of poignant letters between the wife & her husband in the RFC.

28th December

3 US editions to finish off the year. Pliver’s ‘Kaiser’s Coolies’ tells of the growing unrest below decks on one of the German High Seas Fleet ships which would eventually lead to revolution (His other War novel, ‘The Kaiser Goes, the Generals Remain’ is making its slow way to me from Canada). A very Deco sleeve for the US edition of Fokkers biography & a War play from 1915 which would be made into a film the following year starring Nazimova & Richard Barthelmess.

24th December

Just one image today as we wind down to Christmas. A booklet of cartoons from 1915 to accompany a list of pre-war German promises which they proceeded to break. The artist is uncredited unfortunately other than by the monogram ‘GRH’ which is a pity as they are quite good. Strangely the publisher listed on the cover, Dawson, differs from that given inside, Dobson.

Merry Christmas to anyone still reading this.

20th December

I was so pleased to unearth this rare survivor that it deserves to be today’s sole entry. It’s one of a series of 7 books published by Heinemann in 1915-1916 called ‘Soldiers Tales of the Great War’. It’s a well-written account by Capt. Arnold Gyde (‘Casualty’) of the advance to Mons & the susequent crossing of the Marne & the Aisne. The only other example from the series on the site is Subins’ ‘Uncensored Letters from the Dardanelles’ on p.28. Any pictures of the other 5 volumes would be much appreciated. They are ‘With My Regiment’ by Platoon Commander, ‘Dixmude’ by Le Goffic, ‘In the Field’, ‘Prisoner of War’ by Warnod & ‘On the Anzac Trail’ by Anzac.

16th December

As the winter winds have whipped the seas around here into a frenzy I thought it might be appropriate to show some new Naval books. ‘Blue Peter’ is described as a romance of the Great War but I can find no further information on it. Count Luckner was a larger-than-life character who converted his schooner into a raider to sink Allied shipping. Klaxon’s War Poetry can be had for quite a price from First Place Books & a later imp of Charles Edmonds memoir completes the quartette.

12th December

It’s always nice of a morning to get those little e-mails from ABE saying ‘We’ve found the book you’re looking for’ usually followed by the inevitable disappointment caused by the dealer having ticked the d.w. box when the book doesn’t have one. More often these days it’s because the book is wildly overpriced. 3 popped up yesterday which make me think we’re not living in a recession after all or maybe those fat-cat bankers have found something else to spend their bonuses on - Broger’s ‘Pillbox 17’ at £895, Hay’s ‘First 100,000’ at £950 & most alarmingly Lushington’s ‘Gambardier’ at £1750 !! The nice little volume on Human Courage below cost me just £8 but I’m prepared to accept offers in excess of £1,000 for it.

8th December

Sorry if today’s batch looks a little too sentimental but it’s remarkable how many books on animals in War have been published, at least in America. Given that an estimated 8 million horses & mules were killed let alone countless dogs, pigeons etc. then I think they deserve their place amongst the rest of the casualties.

Yesterday I was in Cecil Court, that long established street of antiquarian bookshops in London. Sadly it seems to be going the way of all high streets these days. 2 more of the shops have gone to be replaced with non-book outlets. The adjacent Charing Cross Road was heaving with tourists but hardly any had turned into the Court. Maybe a little local advertising would save it from what looks like a terminal decline.

4th December

Today’s first book is another Escapee memoir. I would think that of all War memoirs these must have been amongst the most popular. Checking the shelves here at Dust Jacket HQ I find that most Trench memoirs were lucky to see a second printing whereas many of the P.O.W. Memoirs often went into 7 or 8 impressions. I suppose they were just more uplifting ; the reason why ‘The Great Escape’ is still our most popular film. Maybe I should gather them all together in a page of their own.

30th November

Inspired by Fons sending in ‘The Box with Broken Seals’ I’ve gathered together a few other novels by E. Phillips Oppenheim. An English Writer who produced over 100 novels he was credited with inventing the Spy thriller. During the War he worked for the Ministry of Information & produced many novels with a wartime theme. These are the only ones I can find in their jackets.

26th November

A big thank you to Fons Oltheten for providing a timely & seasonal batch of images to take us towards Christmas (yes I know it’s far too early but we’ve already had over a month of Christmas ads on TV). Riggs ‘With Three Armies’ mentioned last time has arrived & is worth searching out for the series of fine photographs that illustrate it. Also a copy of Mother-Country Fatherland which increases my stock of German memoirs - maybe I should group them together on a page of their own.

22nd November 2011

The first of today’s offerings isn’t with me yet being somewhere over the Atlantic. It’s a standard journalists account of the War but I couldn’t resist the jacket image with the dog. The next 2 are somewhat peripheral to the War but are worth inclusion. The first relates the attempted expansion of French & Spanish empires into Morocco during the War & the second the fate of Austro-Hungarian prisoners in Revolutionary Russia. The last is the US edition of C. E. Montague’s posthumous short stories.

18th November

A nice group today headed by a seemingly unrecorded novel of life in an air station on the Cornish coast during the War. The author had a distinguished War record with the RNAS where he chased Zeppelins & bombed submarines. Yet another of the seemingly endless but obviously highly popular series of Naval stories produced in the War years, these ones by Taffrail (Henry Dorling). Plus an appeal to the mothers of America from Mary Rinehart and a history of the Special London Constabulary during the War. The books from Peter Harrington mentioned below form part of a Great War catalogue they’ve produced - see here.

14th November

I thought it might be appropriate to follow Armistice Day with a selection of charitable Gift books. Several of these were published during the War to raise funds for various good causes & were clearly very successful judging by the numbers surviving today. They were extremely good value retailing at 2/6 or 3/- (a new Novel would have been 6/-), lavishly produced & with mostly original material by the leading Authors & Artists of the day. The Tenedos Times, a reprint of a Naval magazine, published for the Soldiers & Sailors Families Fund is the exact opposite however being a completely amateur undertaking & retailing at an alarming 21/-. For those of you with deep pockets, Peter Harrington’s have just listed some very desirable jacketed WW1 titles - Liaison 1914, Liveing’s ‘Attack’, Mahon’s ‘Cold Feet’, Dearden’s ‘Medicine & Duty’, Ratcliffe’s ‘Idle Warriors’ & Swinton’s ‘Eyewitness’ amongst others.

11/11/11

Remembering.

9th November

A little group of Pictorial bindings today. The delightful Dorothy VAD & the Doctor is a fairly run-of-the-mill front line romance from 1918 but is of interest for its superb cover drawing by Joyce Dennys. Whilst I managed to buy it quite cheaply from Ebay, the Edgar Wallace, which I briefly considered, flew away at £255. I didn’t know he was still collected. The 2 children’s books were just chanced upon whilst browsing. I’ve had a response to my Books Wanted page for only the second time since putting it up - Hugh Kingsmill’s fine POW memoir ‘Behind Both Lines’ should be winging its way across the pond - it has one of my favourite jackets.

5th November

I was hoping that yesterdays visit to the Chelsea Bookfair would have provided some fireworks for today’s batch of books but, as usual, I was to be disappointed. Somehow the fair has lost its edge over the last few years - the opening day scrum was certainly much thinner this time. Not so many modern first dealers to brighten things up & John Marrin has held his wares back until Deepcut next weekend but with only 12 dealers listed for that I don’t have much expectation for there either. I’m trying to gather together a collection of fund-raising Gift Books for next time.

31st October

A motley collection of oddities today. The main picture comes from a recent ABE purchase & is just a collection of relief maps of the fighting areas published by the Daily Mail in 1916. It’s remarkable how much better these maps are at conveying the topography of the battlefields than the usual 2-D counterparts. It’s in remarkably good condition & will go on the Pictorial Bindings page. Maybe I’ll scan all 20 in one day and give them a page of their own. Also a rare Canadian memoir & one from New Zealand which I can’t find in any libraries, all I know is it was privately printed at some time..

27th October

2 rather fine volumes awaiting me on my return from France. One on site already, Hutchison’s ‘Warrior’, & the one illustrated below, Henry Bordeaux’ biography of the French Air Ace, Georges-Marie-Ludovic-Jules Guynemer, who disappeared in September 1917. This UK edition has a preface by Kipling - the US edition has Teddy Roosevelt instead. I don’t usually include Modern Library editions but I have a special affection for cumming’s ‘Enormous Room’ as the prison depicted was only a few miles from my French house in La Ferte Masse (I suspect it may have given way to one of the many Supermarche that now occupy large parts of the town).

18th October

It’s always satisfying to unearth what seems to be a previously unrecorded War memoir. Percy Brown records a life of more than usual interest - in San Francisco after the earthquake followed by several years as a professional roller skater. But the bulk of the book concerns his time as one of the first War photographers, becoming close friends with Philip Gibbs, subsequent capture & internment at Ruhleben & finally passage on a German ship to witness the scuttling of the fleet at Scapa Flow. He also seems to have been on friendly terms with the aristocracy judging by the letter enclosed in this copy. The doggy book comes, as you may have guessed, from Fons Oltheten.

13th October

Ebay comes good at last for one of our contributors by way of Admiral von Reuter’s view of the scuttling of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow. Hurst & Blackett seem to have specialised in publishing late masterpieces on the War, mostly coming at the end of the 30s & so guaranteeing their scarcity for collectors. I’d previously overlooked the Tomlinson, which I’ve now ordered, but Fons has pointed out to me that it contains some descriptions of the authors War service. And finally a couple more Unit histories.

9th October 2011

All of today’s pictures come from our diligent collector in the Netherlands, Fons Oltheten. Many Thanks. For myself only jacketless books have come my way - Oliver Hogue’s ‘Cameliers’, Sueter’s ‘Evolution of the Tank’ & that scarcest of Official History sets ‘Transportation on the Western Front’. Only 12 volumes to go but past experience tells me it’s probably best not to complete a set. Many years ago, before book-buying on the Net, I was determined to collect all 83 volumes of the ‘Notable British Trials’ series - it became a towering obsession. Having got them all I rarely give them a second glance now, or only to notice how much shelf space they take up!

5th October

For some time I’ve considered setting up some new pages devoted to Unit histories - Regiments, Divisions etc. I’ve held a few images back with that aim in mind but I don’t seem to be accumulating them fast enough - particularly as they are not things I personally collect. Given that there are probably at least 70 Divisional histories I doubt that I’ve found more than half-a-dozen so a separate page is looking unlikely, hence today’s less than colourful selection. I’ll filter a few more in over the coming weeks. They may all get pulled together at a later date.

1st October

The major purchase for me this week is already on site - Hanbury-Sparrow’s ‘Land-Locked Lake’ - the only copy I’ve seen to buy since I passed up a Charlotte Robinson copy for £100 some 25 years ago - it really is a masterpiece. Speaking of which I see that Peter Harrington has another copy of Junger’s ‘Storm of Steel’ on site at the same price as their last one - this perhaps in even finer condition. I often moan about their high prices but this is undoubtedly scarce & one of the War’s great classics. It certainly represents better value than some of the mediocre detective stories from the thirties which command similar prices around the world. A surprisingly interesting view of life near the Front is given in George Henderson’s ‘Experiences of a Hut leader’. A book previously unknown to me it tells of the work of the YMCA but with good descriptions of Casualty Clearing Stations & various training exercises.

27th September

Back at the coal-face after a couple of weeks exploring the Chateau of the Loire. The upper 2 books were awaiting me on my return - both typical examples of what people at home were reading in vast quantities during the War. The first is purportedly the dairy of a Belgian Nun telling of her experiences under the Germans, the second tells of a lady doctor who joins the RAMC disguised as a man. The other 2 are pictorial bindings and will be placed on their respective pages.

13th September

All today’s additions are taken from Babylon Revisited Rare Books in East Woodstock, CT, USA. I can’t recommend this seller too highly as their catalogues invariably display the best selection of vintage dust jackets on the web. There are usually several WW1 titles scattered around although generally they tend to be the US editions. There’s a nice copy of the UK edition of Rhodes ‘Mademoiselle from Armentieres’ there at the moment.Today I got a copy of Captain Browne’s excellent book ‘The Tank in Action’ Blackwood 1920 - does anyone have a jacketed copy? A picture would be much appreciated.

9th September

Today’s lead book is only of interest for it’s rather engaging cover showing a nurse emoting over a crashed plane. Its slight story of a young girl whose previous suitors have all come to grief finding love at the front can only have been published to cash in on the War book boom. It seems to have vanished without trace. The Graves is on-site already in wrappers but this is the 1920 issue in hardback in its jacket. And Colonel Jelf’s stories recall his time in the Boer & Great Wars.

5th September

Another excellent catalogue today from Turner Donovan although even getting up at 7.15 failed to secure me the book I wanted! Some particularly rare Tank memoirs in there. I see the new series of Downton Abbey will feature the Great War which will doubtless cause a brief flurry of interest in the conflict - I can see ‘Birdsong’ returning to the bestseller lists. It’s a reasonable pastiche but hardly a patch on the book below - the US edition of Frederick Manning’s novel ‘Her Privates We’ - probably the greatest Great War book. It’s good to finally see Fabian Ware on the site, courtesy of Andrew Harrison. Ware’s role in the formation of the War cemeteries can’t be over stated. The memoirs of the US Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, are on their way to me so I can’t comment on it as yet.

1st September

A most unlikely addition in the form of this early copy of Erskine Childers ‘Riddle of the Sands’ from Adrian Harrington Rare Books. Although first published some 11 years before the War, its plot, concerning the discovery of German invasion plans, so closely prefigures coming events that it can be seen as the precursor of much of the War literature to follow. It is said that the naval base at Scapa Flow was built as a result of fears engendered by this novel. The original was published in 1903 but this is the earliest (1916) copy I’ve seen in a jacket. I’ve also added another line of spine-on books to the front page to cover some of my more recent additions.

28th August

Nothing too exciting today. A couple of US editions & a Captain’s memoir. Ian Hay’s guide to the Scottish National War Memorial came from what is probably the only full time second-hand bookshop dealing solely in Military books that we have left - The Military Parade Bookshop in Marlborough. This little shop is always worth dropping into if you’re passing that way, the problem being the owners erratic time-keeping. A faded sign on the door suggests 10.30 - 1.00 & 2 - 5. Many years experience tells me that calling in before 12 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon is futile. The friendly owner specialises in WW2 but there are enough WW1 scattered around to make it worth the detour.

23rd August

Further to the last entry I see that the same dealer below has Junger’s ‘Copse 125’ in a jacket for £500. That makes no sense to me as it’s an equally important book but far scarcer than its predecessor. Ah the vagaries of book pricing. Today's books come courtesy of Andrew Harrison in New Zealand who has braved some truly horrendous weather to find them. I thought snow like that was the preserve of we in the northern latitudes.

19th August

I see that only three short months after fetching just over £1000 at the Bloomsbury auction, Junger’s ‘Storm of Steel’ has been sold on by the London dealer who bought it for £2250. Does this mean that it & similar War memoirs are going to become ‘Trophy’ books sought out by rich collectors of 20th century highlights. Whilst being a fine memoir there are several other German accounts on a par with it - Bloem’s ‘Advance from Mons’, Bucher’s ‘In the Line’, Renn’s ‘War’, Binding’s ‘A Fatalist at War’ etc. & it’s certainly not as scarce as that price suggests. Book prices at that level won’t do any of us any favours. Also let me recommend a fine new biography of Edward Thomas, ‘Now All Roads Lead To France’ by Matthew Hollis. He’s still my favourite War poet but, God, he must have been a hard man to live with!

14th August 2011

I’ve just put up another 15 ft. of shelving to accommodate my Naval & Air War books. The simultaneous purchase of the Bartimeus from Ebay, shown below, made me reflect on the very different way in which the War in these two services has been recorded. The Air War, like the ground based campaigns, has largely been recorded by individual combatants of all ranks, whereas the Naval War, apart from the odd Commanders account, is largely recorded by serial writers of Sea stories such as Keble Chatterton, Taffrail, Bartimeus, Klaxon etc. Are there any first-hand accounts written by ordinary sailors? I’d be interested to hear of any you might know of. The alternative jacket to Eric Roberts memoir, supplied by Tom Donovan, may the original as it’s priced at 3/6 as opposed to mine which is 2/-. Internally they are both the 1930 edition.

9th August

A 2nd & final edition of ‘For Remembrance’ detailing the lives of Soldier Poets who have fallen in the War is a generally more substantial publication than the 1st issue & with a more dramatic jacket. Blood & Iron, the title taken from Bismark’s famous speech on German Unification, is a War Correspondent’s view of the devastation in the War zones. & finally some verses written in Hesepe prison camp & the memoirs of Brigadier Cumming dealing with his time in charge of the 91st & 110th Brigades.

2nd August

Last entry for a week & a few more gems from this previously unseen source. Floyd’s book on Best-Dunkley is rare at the best of times particularly in this slightly tatty jacket. Disappointingly it has the plain text jacket which so many of the other ‘On Active Service Series’ have. The jacket of Capt. Pluschow’s escape memoir shows him still interned & looking particularly sullen. Bertram Ratcliffe’s novelised memoir of his time as a POW at Ingolstadt was apparently a best seller in 1935 but has now vanished. His sardine tin in which a map of Bavaria was secreted is in Leeds University Library. And finally Captain Mousley’s time in Kut.

29th July

An earlier than expected update to accommodate some truly spectacular copies that have come my way. The Gurner is on site already but this copy is as good as it gets - seemingly fresh off the press. The Fiery Way was on-site in its identical US edition but this UK one is also in pristine condition. The Greenwell was only present as a b&w version so you can now see the dabs of green text. And the Redvers Dent is simply one of the best Canadian Novels of the War. If anyone can identify the jacket artists for the first 2 books then I’d be most grateful.

27th July

The story of the German surface raider, the Emden, seems to have been narrated more often than that of almost any other ship of the War. Although she operated for only 3 months, she managed to sink some 30 ships before being herself sunk by the Australian Cruiser, Sydney, at the Battle of Cocos on 9th November 1914. The story is told by her 2nd Torpedo officer, Franz Joseph, a seemingly rather lowly rank for a Hohenzollern Prince! Thanks to Nick Fletcher for the later edition of Pollard’s ‘Fire Eater’. Despite the scarcity of the 1st edition it seems to have gone through several printings up until the 2nd War probably helped by Pollard’s burgeoning reputation as a thriller writer.

22nd July

2 books from JRF today including a very welcome copy of the US edition of Anthony Bertram’s ‘The Sword Falls’, a novel about an elderly cockney clerk & the devastating effect War has on him & his family. Bertram was the biographer of Paul Nash & the special interest in the book lies in the rarity of the UK edition which reputedly sported a jacket by Eric Ravilious but of which no record exists. My own copy looks as if it only lost said jacket a short time ago. The title page below is of a rare copy of an RAMC memoir of a Casualty Clearing Station in 1917 - 18 by Capt. Ramsay. It seems to have been privately printed in 1919 & the only other copy I can find is in the Imperial War Museum, there being no copy in the BL. Google has no information to offer. A lucky ebay find!

17th July

I’ve always been rather intrigued by Wilfrid Ewart, probably because of his bizarre death, when, having survived the War, he was shot through the eye by a stray bullet during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Mexico in 1922. Most of his books were published posthumously but he did achieve major success with ‘Way of Revelation’ in 1921 - a book now surprisingly scarce. His biography by fellow Scots Guard, Stephen Graham, gives a good account of his War service although Ewart doesn’t appear as a particularly endearing character.

Agnes Weston was known as the ‘Mother of the Navy’ for founding the Royal Sailor’s Rest in Portsmouth. First published in 1909, this 1915 edition was updated to take in the current war. And finally, Private Pinkerton, in its superb jacket was rescued from a rain-soaked bootfair only yesterday by one of our contributors. How fortunate was that!

13th July

Having just bought the Air adventure story below, I thought I’d add a few books to the children’s novel page which I’ve been holding onto for some time. My attention was drawn, in George Simmers excellent Great War Fiction blog, to a series of nursery stories by Chloe Preston called the Peek-a-Boos. Popular in the early part of the last century, with some 23 different titles in the series, they seem to have embraced the War wholeheartedly. I’m particularly intrigued by the cover image on ‘Peek-a-Boos in Wartime’ of a child pulling a shell on a small trolley. I wonder if such an image would be permissible today in relation to current conflicts, perhaps being shown astride a Cruise missile!

N.B. A word of caution to those wishing to investigate the Peek-a-Boos further using Google - it has a rather different meaning today than during that long ago Edwardian summer.

9th July

Today’s mixed bag includes one of those books which will probably never grace a collectors shelves - ‘Somewhere in France’ a volume of short stories by Louise Heilgers. Now totally forgotten it is only of interest because of its delightful jacket. Whilst undoubtedly quite scarce one wouldn’t expect to pay more than £30 - 40 for this later edition. The dealer, J & M Books of Liverpool, would like £280 for it! The tilted image of ‘Way of Revelation’ has been pulled from an old Ebay auction. It’s the US edition from the same year as its 1st appearance but I suspect it may be a 2nd imp. However as I despair of ever seeing the UK 1st this will have to suffice. It’s too important a War novel not to be represented here.

5th July

Having despaired of ever finding anything worthwhile on Ebay again, a real gem turns up in the shape of Major Crum’s ‘With Riflemen, Scouts & Snipers’. Privately printed in 1921 it tells of his time with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps & the setting up of a sniping school. This fine memoir seems to have eluded the print-on-demanders but it surely needs to be brought back into the spotlight. Books on Sniping are few & far between - I can only find 2 others on my shelves - Hesketh Prichard’s ‘Sniping in France’ & Forbes ‘Student & Sniper-Sergeant’. Although only in wrappers I’m placing it in the main index rather than lose it elsewhere.

A fine catalogue from Tom Donovan today found me only a hairsbreadth away from ordering Fryer’s ‘Reminiscences of a Grenadier’ being certain I didn’t have it. Fortunately I had a small doubt & indeed there it was on the shelf. If only I had a USB port in my head I could carry my catalogue around with me! It’s definitely a sign of having too many books.

30th June

Yesterday to the Tate to see the excellent ‘Vorticism’ exhibition. Rather sniffily received by the critics - “ provincial minor movement dwarfed by what was going on elsewhere, etc” but a real pleasure, maybe heightened by the emphasis on Lewis’ Blast magazine, which is given 2 rooms in the show & which I was fortunate enough to pick up rather cheaply some years ago. Most pleasing however was to see the number of War paintings by Nevinson on display both in the exhibition and as part of a new hang elsewhere in the gallery. Which moves me to show the jacket on his first volume of War pictures which I’ve had for many years but never put online before. Also some tales of the French Red Cross and 1 more from the Pritchard collection.

24th June

Although I don’t usually bother with Unit Histories this one of the 1st Birmingham Battalion has such a superb jacket that it has to be included. It comes courtesy of Tom Donovan who’ll probably be including it in his next catalogue but its rarity, coming as it does from a small local publisher, may mean it’ll be rather expensive! David Pritchard has provided the US edition of Patrick Macgill’s fine memoir of the battle of Loos. Now if only someone had the UK editions of his other elusive titles, The Red Horizon & Fear, in their jackets, I’d be most pleased. + 2 variant jackets on one of Homer Randall’s ‘Army Boys’ series.

20th June

Probably the most outstanding of all anthologies of personal memoirs today in the shape of Bernard Newman’s ‘Anthology of Armageddon’. Coming from a minor publisher in 1935 it’s become remarkably scarce in its jacket being the only copy I’ve ever come across. Its late publication meant it caught almost all the major memoirs. From David Pritchard is another addition to the ‘On Active Service Series’ & most importantly a colour copy of Gristwood’s ‘The Somme’ which I used to see quite often when I didn’t want it & now never come across when I do!

16th June

I’ve been reading Henry Day’s memoir ‘Macedonian Memories’ and came across this in the preface by Field Marshall Sir George Milne. It would doubtless be welcomed by today’s Revisionist historians - “After the flood of somewhat unpleasant war literature, ...the general public will no doubt turn with relief to a book such as this, which looks upon war in the healthy British way. It often appears that the authors of many of our war books were either temperamentally unfit for active service from the beginning, or else returned in a state which rendered them unfit to write about it” Probably pinko, sandle-wearing conchies as well! It takes a FM to know what it was really like in the trenches.

A couple today for the paperbacks page & a couple for the ‘On Active Service Series’ page.

11th June

After grumbling about the book fairs I find I did rather well in the end. The ABA at Olympia gets more & more irrelevant - it’s mostly an investment opportunity for the wealthy these days. The PBFA at the Novotel however was a real pleasure, mostly due to Tony & Gill Tiffin’s stand where I found a long sought copy of Jacomb’s ‘Torment’ in a fine if dull jacket, Day’s ‘Macedonian Memories’ (both on site already) & the rare history of the WAAC shown below. That unfortunately left me too short of money to take advantage of John Marrin’s stand which among many fine things had a UK 1st in superb jacket of Edlef Koppen’s ‘Higher Command’, only the US edition of which is here. He even had a splendid copy of Lushington’s ‘Gambardier’ at less than a quarter the price fetched at Bloomsbury recently.

5th June

The week of the London June Bookfairs arrives with the usual degree of hope invariably turned to disappointment after a few hours. As you enter Olympia you’re confronted by the glitzy stands of the Modern First dealers fronted by besuited businessmen standing guard over the vitrines of priceless artefacts like Bond Street jewellers. A few hours later, head splitting & eyes glazing, you near the end of the stalls at the Novotel & wonder, having failed to buy anything, whether its worth spending £5 on a bottle of lager at the bar before having a final desperate search or just giving up and trekking all the way back to Kensington Olympia station for the long wait for a train to anywhere. Who knows, by Saturday they may be a clutch of mega rarities displayed below!

31st May

Later the same day I’ve added some new books. Herbert Ward’s sketches of French soldiers, Trevor Allen revisiting the battlefields in the Middle East, the US ed of Von Unruh’s ‘Way of Sacrifice’ and the long awaited F W Harvey (the jacket in rather a state - the front & back covers stuck together to hide the missing spine panel!). He now sits alongside his lifelong friend and fellow poet, Ivor Gurney.

31st May

Before adding more books to this page I thought I’d add yet another new page. Looking around my collection I see numerous personal memoirs, many of outstanding quality, that have been waiting for many years to find their jackets but probably never will. It seems that personal memoirs, particularly those published soon after the War, are among the scarcest of all the books on this site. So rather than let them languish in obscurity for ever I’ve scanned their title pages & put them on the page below called ‘Jacketless Memoirs’. I may add some more later on.

28th May

An intermediate update today for just 1 book, John Cropton’s ‘The Road to Nowhere’. Published by Hurst & Blackett in 1936 , this book seems to have fallen completely off the radar. Illustrated by the author, the first half of the book deals with his childhood in Kent but it’s the second part detailing the start of the War, his enlistment & service at Gallipoli with the Royal Naval Division that merits our interest. Whilst never involved in any heroic actions (only alluding briefly to his involvement at Passchendaele) this is a very fine, sensitive & balanced memoir ending with the now unemployed author despairing for his future. Why it has passed all the biographers & bibliographers by escapes me - it deserves to be up there with the best of the War memoirs. It must have sold reasonably well at the time, this being a second impression, although this publisher was often rather cautious with their print runs - Hitchcock’s ‘Stand To’ is notoriously hard to find as a 1st impression. There are 2 jacketless copies on ABE at £66 & £135.

25th May

Back from France to find that several books from the recent Bloomsbury sale have already found their way on to the market. A particularly interesting proof copy of Carstairs’ ‘Generation Missing’ from Tom Donovan with the author’s corrections. Most of today’s batch come from JRF who’s supplied me with some fine covers recently. The US edition of the Archibald owes its faded appearance to the fact that it’s printed on silver foil! A book of poems by F W Harvey is on its way to me from ebay which will allow me to bring this fine but neglected poet to the site.

17th May

Back to earth after the heady delights of the London auction scene. R. E. Vernede could be thought of as a major minor poet, much anthologised without being instantly recognisable. Frederic Villiers was a War artist who worked almost exclusively for the Illustrated London News. His remarkable globe trotting career saw him present at nearly every major battle from the 1870s to WW1 - from Plevna, Tel-el-Kebir & Omdurman up to the Marne. The strangely titled ‘Bees Wings’ seems to be a personal memoir by a Methodist minister about which I can find no information but seems to be remarkably scarce. And finally a few ballads from Australia. No more for a week now.

13th May

Yesterday’s sale at Bloomsbury Book Auctions saw some spectacular prices which I can only put down to the unseasonably hot weather. Owen’s Poems for just over £1800 (with buyers premium) is not perhaps unusual although with the tissue guard to the photo missing & a copy on ABE for half that price maybe it is. John McCrae’s ‘In Flanders Fields’ at a tad over £1500 seems madness to me. Described as ‘very rare in its jacket’ the copy on this site was bought for around £25 & as I recall was one of a pair on offer at the time. As to Lushington’s ‘Gambardier’ & Junger’s ‘Storm of Steel’ , whilst it’s nice to see them fetching over £1000 each, if that level was achieved by other equally important books then the additions to this site would rapidly dry up. Remarque’s ‘All Quiet’ once again failed to sell - dealer’s seem to be wildly overestimating its rarity. The 1st had quite a large print run & the jacket remained completely unchanged through several reprints so it’s quite easy to marry 1sts with a later jacket. A few of my purchases can be seen below.

8th May

A little volume of poetry from the 17th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry. Mostly written in barracks for the battalion magazine ‘The Outpost’ it manages to achieve a quality usually lacking in similar publications. The copy of Harding’s ‘Escape Fever’ is the 2nd imp. as is the existing on-site copy so I can’t be sure which image was used on the 1st issue.

Although the last veteran has now gone, we shouldn’t forget that there are still many alive who lived through the War and will have memories of relatives returning from the front and soldiers parading through the streets. I wonder if anyone has bothered to gather together their memories. Claude Choules was born in 1901, the same year in which the last veteran of the Alamo died & a year before the last Napoleonic veteran passed away. I see from Wikipaedia that there are still some 52 people alive who were born in the 19th Century!!

5th May

Today we mark the passing of Claude Choules, the last surviving combatant of the War. The following is taken from the BBC website as is the photo below :

Born in Pershore, Worcestershire, in March 1901, Mr Choules tried to enlist in the Army at the outbreak of WWI to join his elder brothers who were fighting, but was told he was too young.

He lied about his age to become a Royal Navy rating, joining the battleship HMS Revenge on which he saw action in the North Sea aged 17.

He witnessed the surrender of the German fleet in the Firth of Forth in November 1918, then the scuttling of the fleet at Scapa Flow.

Mr Choules remembered WWI as a "tough" life, marked by occasional moments of extreme danger.

2nd May

Back from holiday brings a very welcome catalogue courtesy of Bloomsbury Book Auctions of their sale for 12th May which contains a very substantial collection of WW1 books, many of which will be familiar from this site. It’s the first substantial sale of this type at a major Auction House that I can recall in a long time with lots of colour pictures of titles such as Junger’s ‘Storm of Steel’ & Lushington’s ‘Gambardier’. The Gurney below is taken from the catalogue in a rather shredded but rare jacket, but it at last brings the poet to the site. My recent purchase of the Blunden edition of Owen’s Poems prompts me to add the first collection of his poems in Edith Sitwell’s ‘Wheels 1919’ The cover is by William Roberts and I’m unable to ascertain wether or not this series ever came in jackets (I suspect only the last volume did).

21st April

The plain cream jacket below is not a mistake but the covering for one of the finest but most neglected of War memoirs. ‘The First Three Months’ by Capt. E. J. Needham tells of the 3rd. Batt., Northamptonshire Regiment during the early months of the War. Few writers have captured so well the dispiriting nature of the retreat from Mons culminating in the Battle of the Aisne (worth searching for but the only copy on ABE at the moment is very overpriced). The Farmer’s Boy is a privately printed souvenir of the 5th Service Batt., Dorsetshire Regiment. It contains a useful, short account of the Battalion’s War record. As far as I can ascertain there is no record of this publication anywhere!

17th April

Has anyone else noticed how the price of these books has been creeping up lately. Personal memoirs with any degree of scarcity now seem to start at £100 whilst £2-300 is not unusual. If I didn’t need to buy any more I’d be happy but there are numerous titles still to find.

Although this site has never aspired to being a definitive guide to War literature, I like to think that most of the major works are here. But I fear I still have a long way to go. Just glancing at my shelves of jacketless books I can see several classics as yet unrepresented here : - L of C, Galloper at Ypres, How I Filmed the War, Sniping in France, Way of Revelation, Confessions of a Private, Reminiscences of a Grenadier (currently on Ebay) etc, etc, etc. Maybe I should have collected the novels of Harper Lee instead!

13th April 2011

Today’s batch includes an unrecorded front line narrative by Reginald Larking ‘Active Service 1918’ rendered, somewhat unusually, in dialogue. He served in the London Rifle Brigade. The final volume of Pepys Junior’s ‘Great Warr Diary’ was advertised on ABE as in a damaged dustjacket - an odd use of the word as all that remains is what you see below. No response from the seller!! Company K is the US edition & I thought it was time we had an example of that most ubiquitous of all War Memoirs by our wartime leader.

8th April

Suddenly I’m overwhelmed with new images. Pride of place must go to the UK first of Capt. Nobbs ‘Englishman Kamerad’ perhaps better known under its earlier US title ‘To the Right of the British Line’. He served with the London Rifle Brigade & was blinded on the Somme. I’ve spent all day reading it and it’s a truly remarkable record of stoical suffering. His description of the action at Leuze Wood is certainly vivid. A real rarity. The UK ed of ‘Cruise of the Raider Wolf’ is a very drab affair compared to its’ overseas editions. And the UK & US versions of Viereck’s take on Allied Propaganda.

4th April

This morning brings a really first-rate catalogue from Turner Donovan with numerous rarities, one of which will be gracing these pages. Some scarce volumes of the Official History and a full set of the War in the Air for a meagre £500 (if anyone buys it but already has Maps. Vol.5 then I’m your man!) Waiting for various volumes to arrive so more from the reserve stock. I must apologise for ‘The Open Prison’ by Aimee Scott - I can find no information on it whatsoever but I must have kept the image knowing it to be War related. Any information would be useful.

I see that Bloomsbury Book Auctions are selling the entire stock of the late Nigel Williams, the modern firsts dealer, in 2 weeks time. His stock was always interesting if rather pricey and here it is, mostly in multiple lots with quite low estimates. It just goes to show the huge gap between Auction values and Dealers expectations!

31st March

Returning from France finds me rather bereft of new titles so I’m forced into using images from my reserve stock about which I have little information. A guide to Submarine Warfare, the experiences of Officers of the Trench Artillery, A French Chaplain at War & a novel concerning a scientists’ attempts to bring the War to an early end.

23rd March

Today's batch includes a lovely early jacket on the first volume of Michael MacDonagh’s account of the Irish Regiments in the War and a previously unrecorded novel of an Airman struggling to cope after the Armistice. The striking deco jacket is by B. Wallace.

18th March

Shortage of time limits me to only 3 new inclusions today. I don’t normally collect Unit Histories (the Inniskilling Fusiliers is from JRF) but I so liked the jacket on this history of the 2/20th London Battalion by Captain Elliot that I couldn’t resist. Described by Cyril Falls as ‘faithful and interesting but not aspiring to literary distinction’ it’s like most similar accounts, packed with information but devoid of emotion. The jacket & internal illustrations are by one Sidney A. Court.

14th March

Yesterday to the London Bookfairs and what a dismal experience it was. The one at the Royal National was as good as usual although often difficult to find a dealer at his stall to take one’s money! But whatever’s happened to the PBFA fair? Since its move from the Russell to the Holiday Inn it seems to have lost most of its dealers - I doubt there were a quarter the number there used to be and it detained me for less than 20 mins. Perhaps book collecting really has become a thing of the past. Today’s post brings a better copy of ‘Death in the Air’ than that on-site already & a seemingly unrecorded War novel set largely at the Front (not in Hager but a copy formed part of the Barry Maurer collection)

10th March

Just as I’d given up on it the postman arrived with the Grabenhorst - how they managed to lose it for nearly 4 weeks I’ll never know. It was worth the wait as it’s a superb period jacket and a book much liked by Cyril Falls. It’s author served in Flanders & this semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a young officer candidate, a Fahnenjunker, during the battle of 3rd Ypres. It contains some excellent writing particularly in its description of the effect of shell shock on its hero, Volkenborn.

7th March

It’s been 25 years since I last saw a copy but I’ve finally tracked down the UK edition of Patrick Miller’s ‘The Natural Man’ A prize winning novel set almost entirely in the front-line trenches it follows the fortunes of a group of artillery officers. The author’s real name was George Gordon Macfarlane. Information on him is scarce but there was a 2nd Lt. in the RFA who is likely to be the same man. He wrote 4 other novels all of which were only published in limited editions by the Golden Cockerel Press. The Frenssen tells the story of life in a German village during the War. I’m only putting 2 new books up as I think Frank Buckles deserves to have his face here for a little longer.

4th March

I was going to show the rare jacket for Georg Grabenhorst’s ‘Zero Hour’ but Royal Mail have contrived to lose it in the 30 mile journey from the bookseller to my house, so if it turns up on Ebay it’s mine! Strange how things arrive in pairs (like buses) - 2 copies of Sydney Rogerson’s ‘Last of the Ebb’, previously almost impossible in jacket, have turned up on ABE in the last couple of weeks. The 2 books below are still available on Ebay but having treated myself to a UK 1st of Patrick Miller’s ‘Natural Man’ I’ll let them go by.

2nd March

Sad to note the passing, shortly after his 110th birthday, of Frank Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of the War. Born a few months before the assassination of President McKinley, Frank acted as a general driver in Winchester before being shipped to France where he drove wounded soldiers to hospital. During the Second War he was captured whilst on business in Manilla & served three and a half years as a civilian internee in various Japanese prison camps, finally emerging weighing less than 7 stone! He was awarded the Legion d’honneur in 1999 by Jacques Chirac.

28th February

My sympathies go out to any readers in New Zealand after the terrible earthquake. The tragic loss of life will have caused much sadness. One of my main contributors, Andrew Harrison, lives in Christchurch but has fortunately been spared from too much damage. Seeing the ruined church I’m reminded of the Cloth Hall in Ypres during the War & the thought that what took months of German shelling could be achieved by nature in minutes.

24th February

Back from France. I noticed that whilst viewing this site on different computers, the fonts displayed vary, possibly with the screen size or resolution. The title of the site is in Invite Engraved SF (a rather 30s style font), but seems to default to Ariel on other screens (including Ipads). So if it all looks rather bland I can assure you it wasn’t meant to look that way. Amongst today’s batch is a superb memoir of the work of the 51st Highland Division Field Ambulance by Col. Rorie, DSO.(a lucky find on Ebay!) There is a modern reprint from Naval & Military press which uses the image from this jacket.

14th February

4 rather striking jackets today amongst them a superb jacket for Lesley Smith’s nursing memoir ‘Four Years out of Life’. Unfortunately this particular contributor rarely leaves me any information on his books origins so it’s often a matter of guesswork. The Library of Congress doesn’t list an American issue whereas the BL lists 2 issues in the same year so I assume this is the other one but which takes precedence I don’t know. So PLEASE, publisher & date if you could!

10th February

Further additions to the new Official History page courtesy of John Marrin including a photograph of the entire series. Also a rare early jacket on Klaxon’s (J G Bower) ‘HMS’ to add to the 1930’s reprint already on-site. And Happy Birthday to Frank Buckles on his 110th & to Florence Green who’ll be 110 in 9 days time.

7th February 2011

Notable in today’s batch are the letters of Mabel Dearmer from a field hospital in Serbia. She was a children’s book author & illustrator & mother of the last of the War poets, Geoffrey Dearmer (Poems. Heinemann 1918). She served as a nurse with an ambulance unit for 4 months before succumbing to Enteric Fever. Her eldest son, Christopher, was killed only a month later at Gallipoli. Geoffrey died in 1996 aged 103. There are also a few additions to the German Editions page.

4th February

Amongst today's offerings is a particularly rare collection of stories of the Mesopotamian Campaign. Written by the biographer of Shaw & Conan Doyle ,Hesketh Pearson served with the ASC in the Middle East. Although presented here as short stories he admitted in his autobiography that they were entirely true in every detail. A fuller commentary on the book can be found in George Simmers’ always excellent ‘Great War Fiction’ blog. Click here to see one of his 2 articles on Pearson. The War Wounds collection although published at the beginning of the 2nd War is almost entirely drawn from experiences of the 1st.

1st February

A mixed batch including a courageous Russian carrier pigeon, an American evacuation hospital and the disrupted lives of a family living by Lake Geneva during the War.

27th January

A quick reload to shift some of the backlog including the autobiography of General Maude’s successor in Mesopotamia & the memoirs of an Austrian escaper.

26th January

Masses of new books to put on site but for today I’ve finally put up a ‘Collecting the Official History’ page. There’s a link below or you can click here to go to it. Please let me know of any mistakes or additional information.

22nd January

One of those compilation albums that were so popular during the War - this one showing the humour of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. I would imagine that the sight of the 2 ‘Byng Boys’ pictured on the front would have had the Germans high-tailing it back to Berlin in no time. Some further views of the European conflict provided by Geoff Miller. I seem to have acquired over 80 vols.of the Official History now so I must get on with the page on collecting the series.

17th January

Today brings 2 books by writers who were rather favourably compared to more famous contemporaries - Charles Warr was called ‘The Kipling of the Trenches’ by the Aberdeen Journal & the poet Bernard Trotter was known as the Canadian Rupert Brooke. Also 2 views of the Gallipoli campaign by a journalist & a diplomat. The jacket for the Warr is by Helen McKie who provided the images for several other books on the site.

12th January

A group of War novels today from Fons and 1 from me of a French woman & her adopted child in occupied northern France. I was watching Polanski’s ‘The Ninth Gate’ the other day. It’s the perfect film for the bibliophile - the only film I know wholly devoted to the search for rare books, albeit rather more exotic than the ones displayed here. Maybe it’s the uncanny resemblance between myself & Johnny Depp that makes me so fond of it!

9th January

The Official History page is not yet ready as I’m waiting for yet more examples to arrive - Veterinary Services, Italy & one of the Order of Battle volumes - and I thought I’d put on images of the cloth bindings as many of the series are distinctive. Does anyone have a picture of a Munitions volume or one of the suppressed ones just for completeness.

5th January 2011

A batch of images from a new contributor, Geoffrey Miller, will soon be appearing. The arrival of yet another Official History volume prompts me into creating a new page on the series which should be a definitive listing with a guide to their relative availability. Looking at the site again on an I-Pad shows many of the captions disappearing beneath the images. I hope this doesn’t happen on all small screens - maybe I shouldn’t assume that the view I get on my 20 inch model is typical. Let me know if you notice any problems.

29th December

Spent the Christmas period reading Juliet Nicholson’s ‘The Great Silence’ which deals with the period immediately following the War. A good read full of amusing anecdotes but largely concerned with the doings of the Aristocracy & heavily reliant on stories from her native Sussex.

23rd December

Probably the last posting of the year unless the endless diet of TV repeats forces me back to the computer. Amongst the offerings is this scarce play from 1924 set in an RFC mess & a front-line trench in September 1918. It was briefly revived as part of an ITV 4-part Play of the Week series on the Great War in 1963. You can read the details here. And a Happy Christmas to all (both of) my readers.

18th December

Snowed in again so not much mail getting through. Fortunately I have a reserve supply of images including this excellent volume on road building in Salonica that I picked up recently. Glanced into one of the Surgery volumes of the Official History and rather wish I hadn’t. The colour images of gangrenous wounds and head injuries remind you of just how terrible it could be in the trenches under fire.

15th December

As it’s time to spread some Christmas cheer I thought this batch of Animals in War volumes supplied by Fons Oltheten might be appropriate. The first batch of the Official Histories has finally made its way to me from the frozen north. When you see the sheer wealth of detail contained in these books you can’t help but be overwhelmed by the effort involved. No wonder it took some 28 years to complete!

10th December

The snow is finally melting so hopefully some books are on their way to me from the frozen north. I think my pursuit of the Official History series is getting out of hand - 14 volumes are now on their way! Spent a very pleasant few hours with Tom Donovan on Wednesday (thanks for the Turkish Delight) which has yielded enough new images to keep the site supplied for some time. Also some more from several contributors & from me. Tom seemed to be disappearing under mountains of new stock so I think we can look forward to some interesting Catalogues next year. He’s also published the first part of a fascinating new book on the medals & decorations of Indian Regiments from the beginning of the 19th Century onwards. A truly massive undertaking & essential if that’s your area of interest. Also nice to see a jacket for Aubrey Smith’s (Rifleman’s) account of life in the ranks. One of the great classics.

5th December

The peculiar squiggle defacing the home page is a facebook tag put on at my wife's suggestion - she’s on it but I’m not. I may remove it shortly! A batch of recent additions from my contributors below. My own recent purchases have once again been of the Official History variety - several rare volumes coming my way via ABE - The final volume of France & Flanders and 8 of the Medical Services set sold off by a reference library in Hendon. I’m also reading an excellent book on the War Poets by Harry Ricketts - Strange Meetings - which details various encounters between many of the leading poets.

29th November

Just 1 new book today but for me it encapsulates the whole raison d’etre of the site. Published in 1917, its author hiding behind the name of the Greek god of medicine, it’s a series of vignettes of the life of a surgeon at sea during the first years of the War. It typifies the type of book that would have been lapped up both by those at home & by returning sailors. It’s authors’ true identity has been long forgotten as has the book itself, but its superb jacket by G. F. Williams raises it above the mass of similar works. A rare survivor which now takes its humble place amongst its more lofty fellows.

26th November 2010

I see that at last ABE have taken note of collectors concerns and inserted a ‘Not print-on-demand’ button. These apologies for books have been multiplying with alarming frequency lately & have threatened to bring down the whole enterprise. The rot probably began when they were taken over by Amazon. Maybe they’ll now reduce the ludicrously high number of books they claim to have on site. Only really 1 book to add to the site today - the UK & US editions of Churchill’s History of the Great War - shamelessly lifted from the Churchill Book Specialist website.

22nd November

On the day Book & Magazine Collector publish my letter on dust jackets they go out of business! It may not have occupied the intellectual uplands of say The Private Library but it always carried some useful bibliographies & had improved greatly in recent years. After the demise of Rare Book Review not so long ago it was the only antiquarian book magazine available at the local newsagents. In their final editorial they say this hobby of ours is in decline. Judging by the number of second-hand books for sale on-line it seems the opposite is true.

I must get up earlier in the mornings as by the time I read the new Turner Donovan catalogue the only copy seen in a long while of that rare tunneling memoir, One Mole Rampant, had gone. I suspect that John Marrin’s copy of Broger’s ‘Pillbox 17’ at £750 may not have flown the nest quite so quickly! Whilst it’s nice to see ones books rising in value if this level was sustained we might as well all give up!

13th November

Back from the excellent Military Bookfair at Deepcut barracks. It enabled me to complete my Military Operations Mesopotamia set & more importantly produced a fine copy of Gee & Shaw’s ‘A Record of D 245 Battery’ It was on-site already but I’ve put the whole double-sided image by Norman Tennant on now. The Trevelyan is one of the few works detailing the Italian Campaign - he was in charge of the Red Cross unit. It seems to have met with official approval as this copy caries a compliments slip from the Italian Embassy!

9th November

An additional posting for my own benefit. Having managed to find a very reasonable copy of Military Operations Togoland & the Cameroons on ABE I find I’ve reached a milestone in my collecting of this elusive series - 55 volumes got, 55 to go (the recent first publication of The Occupation of Constantinople making, I believe,110 volumes). To that end I’ve added a list of the missing volumes to my Books Wanted page. Obviously I’m prepared to settle for copies without their jackets but I’m not looking for the recent reprints from Naval & Military Press.

7th November

I’ve been reading an excellent new book on animals in the Great War called ‘Tommy’s Ark’ by Richard van Emden. It draws on material from some of the best War memoirs amongst them T. S. Hope’s ‘Winding Road Unfolds’ This must be one of the few major works to have so far evaded the print-on-demanders, maybe because it had a brief re-issue as a paperback in 1965. ABE lists 3 copies of that issue from £45 - £150 & 1 of the original 1937 ed. lacking both jacket & title page for £340. Further delving into Google revealed that it was the subject of some debate on the Great War Forum recently with requests, mostly unfulfilled, for information on the author. Now that’s where the jacket proves its’ usefulness as the rear flap gives full biographical details along with a photograph. So if anyone wants further info on an author I’ll be happy to check any jackets I may have.

3rd November

2 excellent buys from E-Bay although neither for the site. The limited edition of the anthology ‘A Martial Medley’ (1 of 75) signed by all the contributors most notable of whom are John Brophy & Charles Edmonds (Carrington) for under £20 & a rare 1st of ‘Officers Died in the Great War’ from 1919 - paperback & near mint. A chastening document - 260 pages, double-column, single line per casualty in no more than 6pt. Print ; the Soldiers Died equivalent ran to some 80 vols. I believe. The list begins with Lord Kitchener.

30th October

A mixed bag today including the 1st Canadian edition of Acland’s ‘All Else is Folly’ from a new contributor James Calhoun, Stephen Graham’s reminiscences of the battlefields ‘Challenge of the Dead’ and a rare view from inside a British prison camp from Paul Cohen-Portheim. 2 major book fairs coming up which will hopefully provide additions to the site - Chelsea on the 5th November & the Military bookfair at Deepcut barracks on the 13th, the latter being a definite must.

25th October

No you haven’t arrived at the wrong site; the 2 unlikely additions below can both be considered War literature. The title story in the penultimate Holmes collection has our hero unmasking a dastardly German spy in our midst, whilst Zane Grey leaves behind the purple sage to tell the story of a returning soldier who finds his fellow townsfolk have slipped into decadent ways - he should come into Brighton on a Saturday night!! The UK edition of the Holmes is yours for a mere £25,000 from Adrian Harrington Rare Books. It’s still more often seen than many of the books on this site however!

21st October

An unusual edition of Rupert Brooke’s ‘1914 & other poems’ found by Andrew Harrison in New Zealand. With its clear glassine-type cover and solander box it looks like a deluxe issue but I can find no mention of it in the standard bibliography or in the British Library. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I’ve finally found a copy of Mackenzie’s ‘Greek Memories’ to complete the quartette. Supposedly suppressed on the day of publication it’s less scarce than might be expected, the 4th volume ‘Aegean Memories’ being the hardest to find. A message for Nick Fletcher if you’re still reading this - my emails to you keep bouncing back as undeliverable.

15th October

Just how much is a book worth? The Ian Hamilton below was picked up on Ebay last week for £4.99 with free postage. The single copy on ABE is nearly £300 with shipping from Australia. His thoughts on the final phase of the Gallipoli campaign are interesting but they’ve been reiterated many times since - it just seems a trifle dear! I’ll entertain offers over £150!! The Sitwell was supposed to go alongside the UK 1st but when the copy arrived it was printed in 1974. I suppose at £2.99 I can’t complain but you do have to be careful with ABE descriptions. It always pays to get confirmation first!

11th October

A new batch from Fons to filter in over the next few weeks and a few from me including the rare revised edition of the Naval Operations set which has even retained its jacket round the map volume! I’ve had some thoughts on the scarcity of dust jackets prompted by an article on 19th century jackets in Book & Magazine Collector for this month. I rather suspect that most books may never have had them! They’ll be publishing my letter in the next issue. An excellent catalogue from Turner Donovan today but I’ve had to resist as I’ve spent all available cash on my other book passion - Illustrated books from the 1860’s!

1st October

So the Great War will finally come to an end on Sunday as the Germans cough-up the final £50 million of their War debts. At least there is still one combatant, Claude Choules, alive to see it. Perhaps they should give it to him. Some new additions from David & Helen Pritchard who seem to be finding new things more easily than I do. I’ve also put a link on the Siegfried Sassoon page to a site dedicated to the author, run by David Gray, which shows most of Sassoon’s original publications.

15th September

My thanks again to Andrew Harrison for providing 3 of today’s new additions. Alongside these & hiding behind one of the dullest jackets imaginable are the letters of Rothesay Stuart Wortley, an RFC pilot with No. 22 (Bristol Fighter) Squadron. This collection of his letters & diaries gives a really vivid picture of a pilots life in the War & is quite easy to find sans jacket. It even boasts a short memoir jointly written by Duff Cooper & John Buchan.

10th September

Only pictorial cloth bindings today,2 of them from New Zealand sent in by Andrew Harrison. The Hugo Morgan is one of that elusive series from Hodder & Stoughton called ‘The Soldier Books’. According to the BL catalogue there were 9 books in the series all published in 1916, an early set of first-hand narratives. You can see 5 of them on the Pictorial Bindings page. Should you have any of the 4 missing titles I’d be most eager to see them. They are:- Suvla Bay & After by ‘Juvenis’, Sun, Sand & Sin by Joan Kennedy (sounds like a Harrison Marks film from the 60s!!), The Padre by ‘Temporary Chaplain’ & Odd Shots by ‘One of the Jocks’.

4th September

Rather a dull batch today I’m afraid! The Arthur Innes Adam is a series of letters from the front by a Captain in the Cambridgeshires. If you search for this on ABE you’ll turn up 77 copies of which only 1 is a real book, the rest being Print on Demand. ABE’s claim to have 140 million books on line seems rather misleading in the light of this - maybe 1.4 million might be nearer the mark. I think as many of us as possible should write to them complaining or this much beloved organisation is in danger of sinking beneath the virtual waves. A simple button to exclude POD titles would do the trick (The dog book yields 67 titles of which only 60 are imaginary!) The Soldiers’ Tales for Boys volume reads rather like an Alan Bennett sermon from Beyond the Fringe finding religious parallels in everyday occurrences.

29th August

All the books that have come my way lately were already on-site including Spears ‘Liaison 1914’, Brice’s ‘Battle Book of Ypres’ & Lambert’s ‘Over the Top’. However I have treated myself to an Ipad & it is a truly remarkable piece of equipment. It could have been designed with this site in mind. The ability to expand images by just moving ones fingers apart works really well with the images here - most of them can just about stand being blown up to full screen size. It rather makes me wish I’d put the pictures on at higher resolution but then the pages would have taken an age to load and most browsers would have moved on to other things rather than wait. There’s even an App that tells me what all the ships in the channel nearby are and where they’re going. Now how sad is that!

25th August

The loss of decent second-hand bookshops is no better exemplified than by the current London bookshop scene. Whereby in the past it was worthwhile travelling beyond Cecil Court & its environs : to Bloomsbury for Ulysses and others, Bond Street for Biblion, Gloucester & King’s Road for several shops, they’ve all gone now. Cecil Court is still lively but as with all such shops there is a tendency for the stock to silt up and visiting only every couple of months rarely yields anything new. Nonetheless alongside the Compton Mackenzie spy novel below I did find a copy of Charles Morgan’s ‘The Gunroom’ in a reasonable jacket from Nigel Williams. This is one of those books supposedly suppressed on publication like Graves’ Goodbye but which actually seems to be quite common. The jacket remains rather scarce though.

19th August 2010

Back from a long break to find the Bairnsfather biography waiting for me. A rare find on Ebay. A nicely illustrated volume from early in his career. The ‘Aces & Kings’ is from the recent Ebay batch that I missed although the price of this one was higher that a copy currently available from ABE! There have been further additions to the Great War Adventures Magazine page & to the German editions page. I’ve also bought the copy of Williamson’s ‘Happy Days in France & Flanders’ that was on the site already so have put a better picture up on p. 30.

The splendid & exceedingly rare jacket from the John Rhode comes from Mark Sutcliffe Books but was long gone by the time I saw it.

3rd August

I read in the press that Tom Stoppard has scripted a 5-part series from one of the largely forgotten classics of the War, Ford Madox Ford’s Tietjen Quartette. It’s expected to come to the BBC sometime next year. This is bound to increase the demand for War books and will likely further fuel the price rises seen lately - a recent batch of John Hamilton RFC books on Ebay greatly exceeded the sellers expectations. I recently purchased a near mint copy of Olive Dent’s ‘V A D in France’ from 1917 so have replaced the image currently on-site. Thanks to my contributors for 3 of the images below. ‘Hurricane’ is mine and is a novel of the Russian Front during the revolution.

27th July

The Bert Thomas cartoon ‘Arf a Mo, Kaiser’ on the jacket of the Frederick Treves anthology ‘Made in the Trenches’ must be the most enduring image of the plucky British Tommy at War. Worth seeking out, this rare survivor actually contains some excellent writing and reasonably amusing jokes. The Adrienne Thomas gives a fine description of a German Field Hospital at Metz - you’ll be lucky to find another copy though!

21st July

Several books from Andrew Harrison in NZ. I’m expecting a few but they’re probably bouncing around in mid-Atlantic on an old tramp steamer. For those of you in the Sussex area let me recommend a visit to Newhaven Fort. I’m just paid one of my twice yearly visits and it really is a most fascinating place. Mostly displays on the 2nd War with a superb Blitz recreation but also plenty on the Great War with several new displays since last year. Open until the end of October.

18th July

For the first time I’ve found that 3 of the books I’ve just bought for the site were on already - maybe I’ve nearly got them all! Fat chance. The Anthony Bertram comes from Brian Webb’s Design series book on Paul Nash. According to Edmund Blunden’s War Books checklist it’s a War novel but I can find nothing about it on the web so I’ve ordered a jacketless copy to check. His other War novel, ‘The Sword Falls’ has an even rarer jacket than this; Supposedly by Eric Ravilious there are no known surviving copies in the jacket. (‘Here we Ride’ has arrived. It has a 2-page inscription on the endpapers from Bertram explaining the fact that his dog has chewed-up the corners! The only mention of the War I can find in it is a brief mention of some commemorative china on someone’s table. It’s set just after the War, but is definitely not a War Book. I shall leave it on the site however because it allows me to mention his ‘other’ War novel which otherwise won’t get on.)

15th July

There seem to be numerous sites on the net that give a value to one’s website, seemingly based on its commercial potential. This sites value seems to be between £43 & £1300 which compared to Google’s $6.2 Billion doesn’t bode to well for my skills as a budding media mogul. Perhaps I need to apply for a Government grant to fund the further purchase of books in the National interest. Only the Renn follow up below comes from me. It’s definitely a 1st but the cloth is blue with black titles whereas other copies have red on oatmeal.

10th July

Dropped in at Sandham Memorial Chapel today to take my yearly look at Stanley Spencer’s War murals. Each time I see them I find new things to look at - the landscapes at the very top of the pictures are quite breathtaking. I feel I have a connection with them as I bought a tiny sketch by Spencer some years ago which seems to show soldiers in trenches and may be a preliminary working of one of these panels. Of the new books below only the Telegraph volume is mine. It’s from 1914 and the listings on the rear of the jacket show just how many books on the War were being published so soon after its’ start. Remarkable in a non-digital age.

5th July

A new page at last featuring German editions of classic English War literature. Only 5 so far courtesy of Stefan Langheinrich but there should be plenty more to come. Let me know if you have any suitable images. Just because they turfed us out of the World Cup is no reason for me to hold a grudge. See link below my Top 20 list.

1st July

One of those books that I’ve always said I’d give my eyeteeth for turned up last week in John Marrin’s latest catalogue - a 1st issue jacketed copy of Yeates ‘Winged Victory’ It turns out I didn’t value those teeth highly enough as £750 is at least twice as much as I could possibly consider. I hope this doesn’t start a trend for inflated War book prices, especially after Peter Harrington’s entry into the market! Diligent searching can still turn up bargains however as the 4 new books below indicate, costing less than £60 between them. War-time covers are still amongst the most satisfying as the 2 ‘Bartimeus’ titles show.

I shall shortly be inserting a new page for German editions of English/US War books courtesy of Stefan Langheinrich. Watch this space!

22nd June

Just back from a few days in Copenhagen. Not somewhere you’d normally go for second-hand books but I was rather pleasantly surprised to find what must be the best bookshop I’ve been in for years. Rather like the good old days of Holleyman & Treacher and Sextons in Brighton or Thorntons and Waterfields in Oxford. Room after room of books, rare and run-of-the-mill jumbled together. Masses of English amongst the Danish and plenty of War books.It’s called Vangsgaards, 34 - 36 Fiolstraede and they speak English, as do most Danes in the Capital. Worth a detour as Michelin would say. Not much for the site so thanks to Chris Johnson & Andrew Harrison for the Buchan & the 2 Rowland Walkers. I got a nice copy of Purcell’s ‘Further side of No-Man’s-Land’ but it’s onsite already so I won’t change it.

13th June

Alec Waughs’ novel showing the after effects of the War on those who survived has a striking cover by Lynn Ward. The UK edition from Cassell is most elusive. Vyvyan Richards biography of his friend T. E. Lawrence is an enlightening read and comes from a military bookshop I discovered recently in Falmouth - Benford Books at 9 Old High Street. Worth a visit but no amount of searching on the net reveals its existence but I swear it’s there. The Australian edition of Coopers ‘Man who liked Hell’ comes courtesy of Andrew Harrison.

9th June

I don’t know why I thought the ‘Gatsby’ was expensive - there’s another one on-line for £350,000!!

The formidable lady below is Maria Botchkareva, the Russian soldier who formed the charmingly titled ‘Women’s Battalion of Death’ in an attempt to shame the men’s battalions into fighting the Germans and not joining the Bolsheviks. She seems to have had the ear of Karensky and to have told Lenin & Trotsky where to get off! The prose reads rather like a Stalinist propaganda novel with lots of ‘How could I a humble peasant woman speak to such great men’ but she does seem to have been exceedingly brave. She fell foul of the new regime by supporting the Whites and was executed in 1920.

7th June

A remarkable survivor bought at the ABA fair at Olympia on Saturday. Vernon Bartlett’s ‘Mud & Khaki’ from 1917 is virtually mint, not a nick or a mark on the jacket or book. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 93 year old book in such fine condition.

Almost the first think I saw on entering the fair (apart from a Great Gatsby at £120,000! Are they mad! You could buy mine & all my contributors entire collections for that) was a copy of Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’,1st, jacketed, unsigned, for £550. Surely I’ve got that in my garage I thought & yes it was there, in even better condition. Oh goodie, I thought, I can sell that & make a few bob. Better check on ABE first. Instant deflation - 20 similar copies mostly under £30. It seems the ABE is still catering for city traders with their ever growing bonuses who presumably don’t care what they pay and are too stupid to check on-line before buying. There was also a 1st impression of Hitchcock’s ‘Stand To’ for £150. No jacket but every copy I’ve ever seen has been the 2nd impression - I was beginning to doubt there was ever a 1st.

5th June

My heart sinks when I find a much sought after work was published by Gollancz. I’m often told by designer friends that these are fine examples of restrained design. No they’re not, they’re terminally boring, denying that basic human love of decoration. The only worse examples I can think of are those interminable series of French paperbacks with their cream covers and red fonts much loved by interior designers. The word is everything, they seem to say, we do not have time for your decorative fripperies! It’s not surprising that this outstanding novel by Pamela Hinkson was rather neglected on first publication, having to wait another 14 years to sell over 100,000 copies when reprinted by Penguin. Hinkson published 2 other War novels under her pseudonym ‘Peter Deane’.

30th May

The only fruit of the June bookfairs so far is this delightful jacket for Donald Mackenzie’s ‘From all the Fronts’, not seen before but there are 2 other copies on ABE. A further example of mis-cataloguing occurred last week. I bought a copy of what is probably the most useful of the Official History volumes - Principal Events 1914 - 1918 - an indispensable guide to what happened when and where throughout the War. Definitely a rare volume, there seemingly being no other copy available unless you search for ‘Principle Events’ in which case one appears - £200 though - I suspect it may have been there for some time!

26th May

Friends have been telling me for ages what a wonderful book Hans Fallada’s (Rudolf Ditzen) book ‘Alone in Berlin’ is. It’s become a bestseller for the author who died in 1947. Remembering the name from the Barry Maurer collection I’ve managed to find this copy of his story of a Berlin family during the first part of the 20th century. His descriptions of the Western Front were not based on personal experience as he was sectioned during the War for killing a friend in a failed suicide attempt. His colourful life also involved fraud, theft and attempting to murder his wife. He also seems to have fallen out with Goebbels who insisted on a re-write of Iron Gustav to show how the Nazis’ brought stability to family life.

20th May 2010

An occasional visit to the Military Parade Bookshop in Marlborough today yielded a few choice items including a further addition to my ever expanding Official History set. Always worth a detour (allow for lengthy lunchtime closure !) he has a copy of ‘Squad’ at a lot less than the ABE prices. Several additions to the Childrens’s annuals & Pictorial bindings pages from Andrew Harrison who also supplied the jacket for the Paravane Adventure in Minesweeping below.

17th May

The UK edition of James Wharton’s ‘Squad’ can be seen below. I’d expected it to differ from the US edition but this is one of those rare cases where the same design, by Wendell Galloway, was used for both. There is a slight difference in the size of the image which can be seen on p.30. If anyone is desperate for a copy there are 2 on ABE at a little over £200 each! That’s some 10x what I paid for mine. It’s worth remembering that many dealers add 15 - 20% on to their prices for their ABE listing to cover the charges so it’s always worth contacting the dealers directly for a lower price.

14th May

I could have sworn I had a copy of Animal War Heroes & that it was on the site but it seems not - probably the first sign that I have too many books! The Hindenburg below is quite an engaging biography & makes one feel quite sorry for the old General - particularly when faced with the Nazis at the end. Have just finished a splendid new book - ‘Drawing Fire’ by Len Smith who served throughout the War and kept a diary peppered with the most accomplished sketches. He seems to have had a fairly hair-raising but mostly enjoyable time when he wasn’t in hospital with numerous bouts of Tonsillitis & Trench Fever.

11th May

The RFC memoir by Philip Arnall shown below should serve as warning to booksellers to check their text before uploading it. Exceedingly scarce in its charming jacket there are 4 copies on ABE without said jacket. However, suspecting that his name might be misspelt phonetically, I searched for Arnell and turned up this sole copy at a very reasonable price. Now what’s the opposite of Caveat Emptor?

4th May

I’m glad to see this 1st of Carroll Carstairs memoir of his time with the 3rd Grenadiers which William Erti has sent in. 30 years ago I saw this book quite often and so passed it by but now it’s become particularly scarce. Also several new images from Fons Oltheten in Holland. My copy of Hell in the Heavens has arrived - the very epitome of a tired copy so I won’t be replacing the existing image. The are several jacketed copies of it on ABE but at outrageous prices- more than I’d care to pay even for ‘Winged Victory’!

1st May

The only books to come my way lately are already on the site from other contributors - Roughanapes, Animal War Heroes & Hell in the Heavens. It seems churlish to replace their images with mine, so I’m reduced to scavenging images from the net. Apart, that is, from ‘Mice in Oxygen’, a play from 1930 set in the trenches which may be the equal of ‘Journey’s End’ but for the fact that it’s largely written in Scottish dialect which has made reading it well nigh impossible!

24th April

I still continue to acquire the Official History - a probably hopeless task as I’m not even half-way there and most of the rest are virtually impossible to find. Still here’s an example of the Naval Operations set in its usual plain text jacket. I’ve made contact with the head of the Bruce Bairnsfather society so expect to see more of his amusing jackets appearing here shortly.

21st April

Only this delightful period jacket by John Farleigh on Osbert Sitwell’s ‘Those were the Days’ to offer today. A novel set in London before, during & after the War it seems to have passed from view these days with little mention of it to be found on the web. The cast make constant reference to the conflict so I may give it a go in the coming weeks.

17th April

Bruce Bairnsfather is only remembered these days as the Artist behind the ‘Old Bill’ cartoons, but in 1916 he published the attached volume of War memoirs ‘Bullets & Billets’. I read it over 20 years ago but still recall it as a most engaging, if somewhat sanitised, memoir of the trenches. Fortunately my small stock of 1:10,000 trench maps provided me with the appropriate one to accompany my reading of the book and his descriptions are such that it’s quite easy to follow exactly his day-to-day movements. My thanks to an attentive viewer of this site who sold me the fine & rather scarce jacketed copy below.

14th April

Back from France. A few jacketed books should be on their way but only vol.5 of the War in the Air and GHQ by GSO awaited me. The later has some kind things to say about Lt. Gen. Travers-Clarke, Haig’s QMG at Montreuil who turns out to be the Great Uncle of a friend of mine in France. The latest B & MC has an interview with Simon Heffer of the Telegraph who sounds off about e-Book readers. I have to say they seem to be the most unnecessary of inventions. Expensive, useless if wet, dependent on batteries & the high cost of e-books. Promoted with their ability to store hundreds of books one has to ask why would anyone not writing a PhD want more than 1 or 2 books at a time.

31st March

6 new books as there may be a brief hiatus in updates. It’s seems to be getting harder to find decent ones lately. Ebay seems to be getting more and more cluttered-up with repeat listings. Presumably it’s free to list unless the book sells so several hopeful sellers put stuff on at inflated prices and then keep re-inserting when they fail to sell. And ABE is getting even worse since being swallowed up by Amazon. I guess the ‘A’ no longer stands for antiquarian as the vast majority of the 110 million books they claim to have would seem to be print-on-demand. These can hardly even be called books at all but merely prospective ones.

25th March

New today, a children’s book and a couple from Babylon Revisited (always lots of War novels on their site). I just bought a copy of 1 of the deluxe Raemaeker volumes, published by the Fine Art Society, on Ebay . No doubt his drawings seemed very hard-hitting during the War but I’m not sure they’ve retained their power today alongside more familiar works by Nash & Nevinson, let alone Otto Dix! It also seems a bit insensitive to have produced such a lavish coffee-table publication whilst men were dying in the mud at the Front.

22nd March

Back from France & ready to tackle another page. A couple of 1930’s seafaring reprints from ‘Klaxon’ (John Graham Bower). Diligent searching has only yielded me a copy of Falkenhayn’s ‘General Headquarter’s’, a plain but scarce early jacket which I’ll put on when it arrives. Ebay has yielded little of late - I wish sellers would list their books in the correct categories - non-fiction is just too vague, there are usually several million of them and life is too short.

16th March

As you can see our little band of veterans has shrunk to just 3 with the recent passing of John Henry Babcock, the last surviving Canadian soldier of the Great War. A sad loss.

10th March

Today I’m beginning my attempt to make the site more HTML compatible by giving each image a searchable title/author. This should mean that should anyone search for a given title in Google images or suchlike then the appropriate picture should appear for that book. This could take several months as I’ve only done p.23 so far and that’s taken an hour! I’ll do each page when a new image goes on it. I’ve tried to do the same for the index below but everything disappeared so will leave that for the moment.

7th March

Have you noticed how rare books seem to be like London buses & come along in pairs? Having sought Von Unruh’s ‘Way of Sacrifice’ for years 2 copies turn up within weeks of each other. Unfortunately I bought the first one which cost twice as much as the later appearance. Also having bought Herbert’s ‘Mons, Anzac & Kut’ with the jacket glued to the front another copy appears on ABE 2 days ago (sold very quickly). Again I hadn’t seen it before. The most startling instance occurred a few years ago - a jacketed copy of Sapper’s ‘Mufti’ not seen before or since came up on ABE only to be followed 3 days later by another copy - in this case the earlier one was 10x cheaper, thank goodness! There must be a secret place where they wait for a partner before venturing out together.

4th March

The A P Herbert below is unfortunately only the US 1st which is scarce but not nearly as rare as the UK ed. which I’ve never seen. (Maggs has a jacketless copy for £185 at the moment). It came from Royal Books in Baltimore who kindly included their latest catalogue. In it are 2 books by one Jim Thompson?? which can be yours for a mere $80,000! That’s just 1000 times more than they charged me for the Herbert. I think I’ll stick with the War! I’ve also just acquired the latest Kipling bibliography by David Richards. I’ve long been a Kipling collector and this has extensive listings of his Great War output. Unfortunately half of the book is on CD, including all the pictures. Presumably this was to save on costs but as the book is £125 they haven’t succeeded. Some of the illustrations show the most appalling copies, even my modest holdings could have improved on them.

27th February

A batch of European works that feature in Hager & Taylor’s 20 most significant novels of the Great War in their book ‘The Novels of World War 1 : An annotated bibliography’. I’ve appended their list to my Top 20 memoirs page. All this comes from my new high spec pc with Windows 7 which I was told wouldn’t run the old software but which so far it’s doing very well - if only I could remember all those myriad passwords!!

24th February

The US edition of the D. H. Lawrence novel ‘Kangaroo’ was supposed to go with the UK 1st which I’d bought on Ebay. Unfortunately neither the book nor a refund of my money ever arrived & the seller has gone strangely quite. Still that’s the first book ever to have gone awol in some 10 years of buying over the net so I can’t complain. Fabulous image on the Ackerman supplied by Dave Golemon. I’ve also relocated the image of Von Unruh’s ‘Way of Sacrifice’ to it’s correct place on p.29 and with a better image. A lucky find on ABE!

21st February

Firstly a welcome to Dave Golemon from Texas who’s sent in some splendid jacket images which will go up over the next week or so.

I’ve only just found out that one of my favourite bookshops closed over Christmas - Biblion in Gray’s Antique Market in London. A multi-dealer outlet it started in Bloomsbury some years ago & whilst not the cheapest place to buy books there was always the finest of collections on display. At this rate there won’t be many left soon. The web is all well & good but you only find what you’re looking for - no serendipitous buys.

I was about to hit the ‘add to basket’ button when I saw the “Trooper Bluegum” below on ABE only to notice just in time that this is all that is left of the jacket pasted inside the book - how disappointing is that!

18th February

Back from snow-bound France. The Hook below is to go with my newly acquired set of the Merchant Navy vols. of the Official History. Having also bought the reprint of the rare Occupation of the Rhineland vol., it informs me that the series has even more volumes than I’d thought, there being 12 volumes on the History of the Ministry of Munitions which takes the total to 109 (only 63 more to get!) . Does anyone know of a definitive listing? Most online bibliographies miss out some of the series. I’m about to change computers so lets hope this software is compatible with Windows 7!! (The desk pictures have gone to the Stats page)

7th February

The Ebay book finally sold for 4x the price of a similar copy on ABE!!!! Below I append a picture of THIS editors desk - staged? Well just a little. I’m always fascinated by the journey’s made by the books that come my way. A recent set of the Official History - Seaborne Trade has just arrived. Originally sold by a London Bookseller it made it’s way to Stockholm to spend most of its time in a Naval Library there. It then travelled to Frankfort where it acquired another stamp and it’s now made its way back to England. I’m sure there’s a thesis to be written in there somewhere.

3rd February

The only new book from me is the Blunden Anthology below which is surprisingly scarce in its jacket given that 10,000 copies were printed & the jacket is as thick as cardboard. I’m following a book on Ebay which has already been bid up to over twice the price that a couple of similar copies on ABE are selling for?? Most odd. And there are now 4 volumes of the Official History winging their way to me from around the globe. If you think John Marrin’s offerings are rather meagre these days, look back to his catalogue 36 which I just chanced upon again - more desirable books in one place than I’ve seen since, and all I suspect from the previous collection of one of my contributors!

31st January

As a change from adding new books I’ve attached the picture below. It’s supposedly a corner of the editorial office of Peter Scott at the end of his term as editor of that excellent journal of the Western Front Association, ‘Stand To’, taken towards the end of 1986. I was so envious of the treasures displayed that it started me on converting my existing, largely jacketless holdings, into what you see on this site. It’s clearly a very posed shot drawing largely on the holdings of Peter’s employer, Bertram Rota, showing several books that would later end up in their seminal Catalogue 245. I’ve since managed to find jackets for 4 of them - Richards, Edmonds, Rogerson & Mottram but the Rodker & Vol. 3 of the 1917 France & Flanders remain unclothed. I’ll find a permanent place for this photo somewhere on the site.

28th January

The Mesopotamia vol. arrived 2 days ago - so much for their estimate. Now can anyone now find me the last volume of the set? I see the new Turner Donovan catalogue has the Seaborne Trade set of the Official History. Can’t decide wether to carry on collecting them or not - there are some 97 volumes of the whole series, some exceedingly rare, and I can’t say I ever read them - but then that’s not the point is it?

22nd January

Most of my new arrivals are duplicates of books already on-site. A nice copy of Benn’s’ In the Side Shows’ from ebay but without jacket. I’ve ordered a volume of the Official History from the US and went for the cheaper postal option - it’s on it’s way, estimated delivery date May 28th!! How on earth can a book from the States take so long - deliberately delaying it for that length of time must cost more than sending it airmail. Perhaps they’re waiting for the North-West passage to be free of ice!

14th January

Melting at last & the postman’s been - hallelujah! 3 books from Babylon Revisited.

12th January

Another batch as the snow doesn’t seem to be abating and the postman has not been seen in a week. I think Seaford post office must be full of Great War books for me at the moment.

5th January 2010

Masses of new books to add so it’s just as well we’re all snowed in for the foreseeable future. I see the bookseller Peter Harrington is single-handedly trying to elevate the prices of War books. His latest list has a copy of Sapper’s ‘Sgt. Michael Cassidy’ for an eye-watering £1500. Of Sapper’s 6 War books this is probably the least scarce in it’s jacket, I can recall seeing some 4 copies in the last 5 years, so God knows what he’d ask for the others. And there was I hoping to pick up Men, Women & Guns or The Human Touch for £50 each. Mind you he obviously makes a comfortable living - he lists the supposedly inscribed copy of Austen’s ‘Emma’ for £325,000 which I remember passed through Bonham’s about a year ago for £180,000. I suspect the jacketed copy of Jacomb’s ‘Torment’ below is scarcer.

27th & 29th December

Bloated with too much turkey and Agatha Christie repeats it’s time to add a few more gems from the Vergette-Whitehorn collection.

23rd December

A splendid Christmas present in the form of a whole batch of new images from the Vergette-Whitehorn collection. I shall be putting them on in dribs & drabs over the next few weeks. Which will go someway to make up for the slight disappointment that the V & A will let me photograph their dust jacket collection but not put them on the site without extensive permissions - I’ll address that in the new year.

17th December

Having just finished ‘The Last Veteran’ I was made aware of some startling facts which connect us more closely with distant wars than I’d previously realised. I was 7 years old when the last veteran of the American Civil War died, & only missed by 6 years overlapping with the last survivor of Balaclava. My aunty Mabel, mentioned on the front page, was born in the same year that the last survivors of Waterloo & Trafalgar died! And the last Boer War vet? Well he was around until 1993! Suddenly the Great War seems so much closer.

16th December

Still reading Peter Parker’s excellent book ‘The Last Veteran’ it has reminded me of Dorothy Sayers novel ‘The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club’. More than almost any other Golden Age detective novel, the War floods nearly every page. The 2 minutes silence on Armistice day is used to move the body of the murder victim! Sayers herself was well aware of the effects of the War, her husband suffering from delayed trauma as a result of his time at the front. I don’t intend to put many such novels on site otherwise we’d be full of Agatha Christie (Poirot a Belgian War refugee, Hastings invalided back from the Somme) but this I think deserves its place.

The site seems to have been inducted into the Collectors Weekly Hall of Fame (see badge above) a useful guide to collectors on the web.

13th December

The later, Hutchinson, edition of Aubrey Herbert’s memoir comes from the Broad Street Book Centre in Hereford. It’s a scarce book in any condition but the jacket lacks the spine & is glued to the boards. A fine image though.

9th December

Little to add lately apart from the superb jacket shown below on Margaret Skelton’s scarce anti-war novel ‘Below the Watchtowers’ from 1926. The figure holding the sword of Damocles over the decadent throng below could have come straight from a Doctor Strange Marvel comic of the 1960s. It concerns 2 groups of English & German students separated by the War.

1st December 2009

Having found myself a copy of Matthew’s ‘Cornwall Territorials’ it made me think about the survival of some books. This was an expensive volume, 25/-. Given that the average novel cost 6/- in 1921 that makes it equivalent to £60 - 70 today. It can hardly have sold many outside of libraries and yet there are 6 copies on ABE whereas many of the popular novels of the time selling in vastly larger quantities are virtually unobtainable. The vagaries of survival!

25th November

I’m in the throws of what may be Swine Flu but is probably just a common cold so only a paltry offering of new things. Thanks to Tom Donovan for giving me the superb image from ‘Woman Under Fire’ cut from the original jacket. And thanks also to Book & Magazine Collector for mentioning me again in their Christmas issue. Still waiting to hear from the V & A as to wether they’ll let me photograph the British Library Dust Jacket archive covering the inter-war years.

19th November

A superb series of letters from a flyer in the Royal Naval Air Service. Some of the best descriptions of flying I’ve come across particularly for a volume published during the war. I’m reading Peter Parker’s ‘The Last Veteran’ at the moment. An excellent book and with a fine put-down of the tediously po-faced ‘Revisionists’. I never realised that over 30% of the male population aged between 20 & 24 were killed. Still we won in the end so it was all worth it!

18th November

To the new PBFA Military book fair at the notorious Deep Cut Barracks on Sunday. An excellent if remote venue where the highlight was a complete set of the Official History - Medical Services. 11 original and 1 recent rpt. But £1975 so it stayed there! Have also at long last found a signed copy of Anthony Bertram’s ‘The Sword Falls’, the future art historians novel about the devastating effect of the War on a working man’s family. Like every other known copy this was without its jacket. Apparently it was designed by Eric Ravilious but no one has ever seen a copy nor are there any sketches in the Ravilious archives. Remarkable for a book published at the height of the War boom in 1929 and mentioned by Cyril Falls. The Holy Grail for this collector!

13th November 2009

Reading a short story in the Sapper collection below (see Sapper page) I was surprised to read of a strangely modern occurrence. Our clubland hero has parked his car in St. James Sq. but has to leave his dinner engagement early to move it. Apparently parking is limited to 2 hrs so he has to drive it to Waterloo Place otherwise he risks a fine. And this was written in 1927!! I’ll probably read that he gets caught by a speed camera next!

10th November

There seemed to be an emptiness at the Cenotaph this Remembrance Sunday now that the Great War generation has passed away. It was after all built to commemorate that war. I’m extremely thankful that I was there on the 11th November last year when Henry, Harry & Bill made their last appearance. I may go to the Abbey tomorrow for the final service.

Many thanks to George Simmers for digging this rare Arnold Bennett jacket out of the Bodlean Library.

7th November

With the approach of Armistice Day, ABE have produced, with a little help from me, a short guide to the books soldiers were reading in the trenches. See here.

A trip to the Chelsea Book Fair yesterday didn’t yield much, but I noted a copy of Griffith’s ‘Up To Mametz’ inscribed to W.V. Tilsley on John Marrin’s stand - no jacket unfortunately & not cheap at £350. Worth checking some new stock from Peter Harrington on ABE - some 20 jacketed WW1 books which I suspect have come from a collection I’ve seen recently! All rather pricey though!

23rd October 2009

A trip to Canterbury on Wednesday yielded a few books. Long gone are the days when a town’s proximity to a University guaranteed a plentiful supply of secondhand bookshops. Canterbury now has only 2 of note, the Chaucer & the Canterbury, but both are excellent and well-worth a diversion as Michelin would say. I see that this site is now listed by the V & A no less as a source of book-jacket images. Hopefully it will bring some of these pictures to the attention of today’s young designers.

18th October

Sometimes I think there are only about a dozen of us collecting these books. Tom Donovan has had a copy of Lucy’s ‘Devil in the Drum’ for sale for £75 for several months now. Often described as the finest memoir of this or any other war it’s also extremely rare in its original edition - I’ve only seen it 2 or 3 times in the last 30 years - so very few can actually own a copy. Compare it to say Casino Royale, the first Harry Potter or early Agatha Christies’, all of which turn up regularly at auction but still command over £20,000. I know which I’d rather have on my shelves. Perhaps it’s just as well the millionaire collectors have left our field alone otherwise this lot would never have been acquired!

15th October

A batch of children’s novels from that incredibly industrious novelist Percy Westerman on the Children’s novels page - all courtesy of

Stella & Rose’s Books.

12th October

Only a couple of vols. of the satirical Pepysian view of the War to add, vol. 1 being only a 2nd ed. I recall seeing the last vol. some years ago with a colourful jacket. Also Money’s time with the RFC. One of our contributors is at present with the troops in Afghanistan so our thoughts go out to him for his safe return.

5th October

A batch of new additions are on their way once I have the relevant publishing details, meanwhile a small batch from the internet to be going on with. Just read a nicely illustrated book on children’s war artists ‘When the Comics went to War’ by Adam Riches. Highly recommended.

25th September 2009

I’ve just returned from a most moving ceremony to open the restored Lunette Battery, a Victorian Gun emplacement below Newhaven Fort. For any of you who are down this way and don’t know the Fort I can highly recommend a visit. For a small local museum the quality of the displays is outstanding with particularly fine pieces on the Great War & the Home Front in WW2. Open March till the end of October.

23rd September

Nothing fresh from me at the moment, the 3 new books below were all gleaned from ABE with apologies. I did pick up an interesting Rifleman’s guide to building trenches from Ebay. At over 250 pages I was surprised to find that so much could be written on the subject. With useful data on how much digging should be expected from each soldier - apparently the amount of soil shifted falls off dramatically after 8 hours! Plus a table to show the depth of penetration of a rifle bullet in different materials - some 5ft. In clay!

14th September 2009

If I read one more newspaper article saying that the last veteran of the War has died I shall go mad. Claude Choules is STILL alive - he fought at Jutland. Just because it was at sea doesn’t make his contribution any less worthy of remembrance and because he has lived in Australia for most of his life doesn’t expunge his service in the Royal Navy. Lets celebrate this man’s life while he’s still with us!

10th September 2009

3 new jackets for Sapper’s books - only the non-war ‘Bulldog Drummond at Bay’ is a 1st. I often ask myself why I collect Sapper - even his biographer, Richard Usborne, doesn’t have anything nice to say about him. The aforementioned ‘Drummond at Bay’ although written as late as 1935 under the spectre of the Nazis is still as xenophobic & anti-Semitic as the earlier ones. And as for Drummond & his cronies - they’re little better than heavyweight thugs. I tell myself it’s just for the jackets!

7th September

Several new images from Fons Oltheten who continues to publish Dutch translations of WW1 titles as can be seen on his website -

Dulce-et-Decorum

6th September 2009

Back from a long break in France. Several books here when I returned but most were on the site already - Hutchison’s ‘Warrior’, A variant ‘All Quiet’ which turned out to be published in 1952 & not the 1929 as advertised (I think {Putnam stopped updating the publishing details as the years passed) and a nice 4th ed. of Joe Maxwell’s ‘Hell’s Bells’, same jacket as 5th ed. Some rare Sappers on the way - more when they arrive. An email from Dean Echenberg who points me in the direction of his website of War Poetry.

25th August 2009

A few new additions but nothing more for the next few days. Many books are on their way to me from the far flung corners of the old Empire but the vagaries of the international postal system mean books from Canada take at least 6 weeks by air - perhaps that means by balloon!

21st August 2009

I’ve put in a new page for Erich Maria Remarque - just the 3 novels dealing with the War - German, UK & US 1sts with some contemporary reprints. It makes the previous page a little less crowded. Prompted my the arrival of the William Kermode jacket from Ebay on a 1931 reprint.

20th August 2009

A whole batch of jackets from a new contributor, Roger Joye. That still means that over the last two and a half years I’ve only heard from some 30 or so fellow collectors. There must surely be lots more of you out there with some interesting material. If you’re still thinking that the pictures are used for some nefarious purpose please be re-assured that the site is for information only.

18th August 2009

Came across this set of Lord Beaverbrook’s history of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on Ebay. Not a very good picture unfortunately but seeing all 3 vols. together is unusual, vol.3 being rather scarce. I shan’t be buying it however - £795 seems a trifle steep!!

17th August 2009

As you can see my attempt to add a second counter has placed it over some existing text. Moving it has so far defeated me so I may be forced to remove it. Came across yet another jacket for the early UK issue of Remarque’s ‘All Quiet’. It’s supposed to be the same year as the 1st but I won’t receive it for several weeks so can’t check yet.

14th August 2009

A rather tatty copy of Tank Commander Mitchell’s ‘Tank Warfare’ came today. He was in charge of the first English tank to meet a German one in single combat. At first I thought the book was meant for a young audience but it’s just his plain style. Full of interesting tank lore. I’ve put a new counter on this page as I assume most regulars have this page bookmarked.

12th August 2009

3 more books from Tom Donovan’s collection. I was looking at his copy of ‘One Mole Rampant’, that rare tunneling memoir which must be one of the most sought after books amongst WW1 collectors. Issued in a private edition of only 300 copies I’m wondering if it ever had a jacket. Tom’s copy looks so bright I’m sure it must have done. Worth going to George Simmers Great War Fiction blog to see his rendition from the Trafalgar Square plinth of a new 1000 line poem.

10th August 2009

A milestone reached - 10,000 hits, but it’s taken over 2 years! Perhaps there aren’t that many of us collecting these books. Strange really when you think that the Great War produced some of the most powerful literature of the 20th Century. There are probably 100 collectors of Stephen King or P G Wodehouse to every 1 of us. Maybe I need to sprinkle names like Michael Jackson or Paris Hilton around the site to increase the hit rate!! Have added a new page for Australian Pictorial bindings (mostly thanks to Nick Fletcher). See below.

7th August 2009

A few more books from Tom Donovan’s Collection. If you’re interested in a definitive history of the Indian Cavalry Regiments he has several copies of a new work on the subject.

6th August 2009

A fascinating little pamphlet from Ebay this morning ‘Tricks for the Trenches’ published in 1915. They mostly involve matches & coins with a few card tricks. I’m trying to picture the average Tommy, knee deep in mud and dodging the whizzbangs trying to lay out a few dry matches on an upturned crate to do these tricks! On the day of Harry Patch’s funeral I wonder what he would have made of them.

26th July 2009

Broadcasting House on Radio 4 this morning brought in Jay Winter to speak about the passing of Harry Patch. Barely mentioning the last Tommy, Winter used his time to promote the revisionist agenda. He trotted out the usual line about most of the memoirs being written by Officers and so were not really representative of the actual mood of the troops. This has always seemed to me to be a fallacious argument. Admittedly they were better educated and so more able to express in print their true feelings, but their sensibilities would have been the same as their men. Given that their generally elevated financial positions would have to some extent buffered them from the effects of the depression of the late 20’s, one would have expected them to be less disillusioned than the common soldier! Perhaps if more Tommies had written their memoirs the revisionists would see things differently. Harry Patch was never in any doubt about the awfulness of War!

25th July 2009.

And now Harry Patch has gone. All three men who were at the Cenotaph last November have passed away this year. Hopefully a National memorial service will swiftly be arranged - it’s the least the Government can do.

An excellent new book on dust jackets has recently been published - Faber & Faber : Eighty Years of Book Cover Design by Joseph Connolly. Faber 2009. Whilst only covering the output of a single publisher it shows a wonderfully varied selection of jackets. Only 2 are Great War related but as one of those is Lucy’s ‘Devil in the Drum’ I’m not complaining - and I thought I had the only copy!

I must once again express my thanks to Tom Donovan who has allowed me to photograph some more of his excellent collection - they’ll be appearing over the next week or so.