There's a Devil in the Drum by John F Lucy

[Guest]

Hello.... I would be interested to hear any thoughts on this book, particularly from anyone who has done a detailed review. Thanks. MG

[Dust Jacket Collector]

There will be others who will be able to give you a detailed textual analysis. I would just like to join with many other commentators over the years that this is probably the finest other ranks memoir of this or any War.

[Jim Hastings]

Martin, particularly with your current interest in 1914 (from another of your posts that I have just replied to), simply a 'must' read. I nearly quoted from it, his account of his brother and he on the Aisne, to give you some flavour, but thought better of it - it is so poignant I think you'd prefer to read Lucy's work in its entirety. Outstanding.

Jim

[WilliamRev]

Hi Martin,

I mentioned it recently here (in post no. 60). I think it has occassionally been mentioned in the past on the forum if you use the search facility.

[The more modern green hardback edition it is a very off-putting cover plus a number of typsetting errors - I think it may have been one of the very early books published by Pen and Sword before they learned how to do it properly ]

William

[Dust Jacket Collector]

[The more modern green hardback edition it is a very off-putting cover plus a number of typsetting errors - I think it may have been one of the very early books published by Pen and Sword before they learned how to do it properly ]

The original edition certainly has the nicer cover.

[WilliamRev]

Ah yes, that's much better!

William

[David Ridgus]

Martin, particularly with your current interest in 1914 (from another of your posts that I have just replied to), simply a 'must' read. I nearly quoted from it, his account of his brother and he on the Aisne, to give you some flavour, but thought better of it - it is so poignant I think you'd prefer to read Lucy's work in its entirety. Outstanding.

Jim

I'm spending the afternoon playing catch up with Jim, as I have also replied to your other post!

Once again he and I are in agreement, it remains an outstanding read. His pithy 3 page description of how to survive trench warfare (pages 299 to 301 of the NMP edition) is unsurpassed.

David

[David Filsell]

Probably the definitive work by a ranker (although latter commissioned). I really rate this work.

[maxi]

Ah yes, that's much better!

William

I have the plain green paperback version which makes me look like I am reading a disguised dirty book! Enjoy MG.

Maxi

[Black Maria]

I first purchased a copy in 1993, I ordered it from my local bookshop (they existed then) , it was a hardback copy in the Green jacket from N & M press and it

was the second impression, the first being printed the year before. Ever since I have been looking for an original copy published in 1938, I saw a copy for sale

in the Tom Donovan catalogue in 2003 but at £120 it was too much to part with at that time and a few years later I missed out on an x-lib copy he had for sale.

Last year I finally purchased a copy and the icing on the cake was that it was also signed and dedicated by Lucy on the front free end paper and it is now takes

pride of place in my collection, I still have the 1993 reprint, most of the reprints I sell once I have managed to find an original copy but I think this book is special,

I can't believe it took fifty four years for it to be reprinted.

[Guest]

Here a WFA review Click

I'm sure Chris Baker has mentioned it somewhere, but am not seeing it?

Mike

[Jim Hastings]

Last year I finally purchased a copy and the icing on the cake was that it was also signed and dedicated by Lucy on the front free end paper and it is now takes

pride of place in my collection, I still have the 1993 reprint, most of the reprints I sell once I have managed to find an original copy but I think this book is special,

I can't believe it took fifty four years for it to be reprinted.

Wow John, that must have been one amazing moment, cherished in your memory. Did you read it again on getting it? I have the green cover version and the purple covered 'Somme Harvest' and I truly consider them the most uninspired covers in my collection of about 140 GW books, surely N&MP could have come up with better? main thing is, though, that we have the text, both truly exceptional. What a brilliant find John

Cheers, Jim

[Black Maria]

Wow John, that must have been one amazing moment, cherished in your memory. Did you read it again on getting it? I have the green cover version and the purple covered 'Somme Harvest' and I truly consider them the most uninspired covers in my collection of about 140 GW books, surely N&MP could have come up with better? main thing is, though, that we have the text, both truly exceptional. What a brilliant find John

Cheers, Jim

Cheers Jim, yes when I finally got it through the post I was well chuffed, when you have spent so long trying to find a book it is a almost surreal moment to

actually see it, because you have an image of what it will look like in your mind and to be honest it looked quite ordinary and indistinct but to see his writing

inside was quite special .I must admit I have not read it again yet as I have so many unread books on my list, but I shall .I did check that all the pages were

there though!

I agree the jackets for those two books are rather lame, I think they should have at least reproduced the originals or gone for something even more dramatic.

I find that with modern books though, the jackets are usually quite uninspiring and the quality of the paper is sometimes very poor, personally I would rather

pay a bit more for a better quality book, a case in point is 'Harry's War ' that has just been published, the paper and photo quality is quite poor when compared to

the Pen and Sword books for example, which is a shame as it looks like a really good book.

All the best,

John.

[Guest]

You can read quite a bit of it Here

Here's his MIC

Mike

[Dust Jacket Collector]

I agree the jackets for those two books are rather lame, I think they should have at least reproduced the originals or gone for something even more dramatic.

John.

I once wrote to N & MP offering to let them scan the original jackets to use on their reprints but they didn't seem particularly interested. Pity, they'd have looked a lot more enticing than the drab efforts they usually come up with.

If anyone wants to wrap a facsimile jacket around their jacketless originals then get in touch with Mark Terry at the Facsimile Dust Jackets website - www.facsimiledustjackets.com. About a year ago he scanned most of my collection. They may not all be on his website but he has thousands more. I think he charges about $20 each but they are restored.