rare books

[Kath]

Re. "What to know in Egypt".

Was this book reprinted for many years?

My late husband was in Egypt for his National Service.

When packing everything for my move to Cheltenham I'm sure I saw this book amongst his  service collection.

It's buried in some box for now.

Kath.

[seaJane]

6 minutes ago, MartH said:

 

First point Diseases of the War was only done in 2 volumes, not 3. Do you mean General History Volume 3

 

What collection are you referring to for WW2? 

 

 

1. Cheers - you're quite right, I do! I managed to find a "ghost" record in another library produced by a cataloguer who had fused two titles.

2. By "collection" I simply mean the collection I curate. The correct wording for the series in question is 'History of the Second World War, United Kingdom medical series.'

 

Thanks very much

[Black Maria]

1 hour ago, seaJane said:

 

Oxford University's online catalogue shows a copy of Nothing of importance at the Bodleian, shelfmark "Owen HO227" which I think must be the English Faculty Library (now part of the Bodleian empire). EFL holds Wilfred Owen's books and papers and I would not be at all surprised to find that Sassoon had given Owen an annotated copy.

 

There's no record in the catalogue of a copy at St John's College 

An inscribed copy of the book, from Sassoon to Owen, was featured in the BBC documentary 'War of Words : Soldier Poets of the Somme' .

[seaJane]

5 minutes ago, Black Maria said:

An inscribed copy of the book, from Sassoon to Owen, was featured in the BBC documentary 'War of Words : Soldier Poets of the Somme' .

Thanks for the confirmation. I do hope they repeat that programme soon - I was not in a position to watch it first time round.

[Black Maria]

17 minutes ago, seaJane said:

Thanks for the confirmation. I do hope they repeat that programme soon - I was not in a position to watch it first time round.

I think they did repeat it not that long ago but I'm sure it will be on again , It's probably my favourite WW1 documentary so far.

[MartH]

14 hours ago, Kath said:

Re. "What to know in Egypt".

Was this book reprinted for many years?

My late husband was in Egypt for his National Service.

When packing everything for my move to Cheltenham I'm sure I saw this book amongst his  service collection.

It's buried in some box for now.

Kath.

 

This is a very special book dating from 1915, I don't think it was reprinted, but other books may have its title.  If you have a copy, it's one of the most scarcest great war books. Take care off it!

[MartH]

15 hours ago, seaJane said:

 

1. Cheers - you're quite right, I do! I managed to find a "ghost" record in another library produced by a cataloguer who had fused two titles.

2. By "collection" I simply mean the collection I curate. The correct wording for the series in question is 'History of the Second World War, United Kingdom medical series.'

 

Thanks very much

 

Yes I am aware of the 2WW books, I have a full a set non library in dj bar 1. 

 

The WW2 medicals are much harder to find than the Great War ones, pm me if you want help finding them.

 

 

[Guest]

On 13/02/2017 at 16:42, MartH said:

There is a whole range of military Book dealers alas no more: Rare and Racey in Sheffield, Max Powling, Frank Smith (New Castle), Peter de Lotz, etc. And Maggs Bros sold the most wonderful military books at decent prices in the 1980's.

 

       I never specialised in military books-it was one of the weakest sections of our stock (deliberately-the vast torrent of modern military books all begin to look the same-while better older military books seemed particularly prone to shoplifters-We lost the late 19th Century vol. (brown cloth one) of the Coldstream Guards in our first week of opening-which spoilt the set)

    Peter De Lotz is,I think, still with us-though retired at normal retirement age- always pleasant and friendly and with his white beard , perhaps a shoe-in for the next Captain Birdseye. And Philip Austen up in Sleaford, a quiet but informed bookman is still going- always an expert on William Kimber publications. Frank Smith- always noticeable when he came down to London bookfairs for his sunny disposition.

 

[Guest]

17 hours ago, seaJane said:

nd v.3 (Campaigns) of the RAF Medical Services sequences for the Medical Series, United Kingdom, in WW2 .

 

      Is this from the 3 vols set- light blue DWs????

[MartH]

Just now, voltaire60 said:

 

      Is this from the 3 vols set- light blue DWs????

 

Yes

[Ron Clifton]

Hello seaJane

 

MartH is right: what you need are vols 3 and 4 of the General History. They have been reprinted in modern times by Naval & Military Press, but only in paperback.

 

A thought from left field - are you in touch with Sue Light's executors? She is likely to have had her own set, which might now be available.

 

Ron

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Just as well as a rather tempting tunnelling memoir has come up on ABE at a similar price.

 

    Oh, temptation..... and,of course, the literary man always has the quip by Oscar by way of excuse.

One area that does intrigue me with the literary end of the military memoirs and literary works of the inter-war years-Is there a decent history of the publication of this sort of stuff- in particular, say, the relationship between the military  service of the publishers and who and what they published?? (Along the lines of all the stuff say on inter-war Paris, Cunard,Kahane, Black Sun etc,). The subject of the literary publishers and their own war experiences seems to me to be neglected-yet as the publishers commissioned and financed much of the literary output, their influence-and, in turn, what influenced them must be a tale worth telling

[David Filsell]

A list of Gale and Polden's would be fascinating to see.

[seaJane]

On 14/02/2017 at 12:05, Ron Clifton said:

Hello seaJane

 

MartH is right: what you need are vols 3 and 4 of the General History. They have been reprinted in modern times by Naval & Military Press, but only in paperback.

 

A thought from left field - are you in touch with Sue Light's executors? She is likely to have had her own set, which might now be available.

 

Ron

Thanks Ron. I wouldn't want to be the person who split Sue's set up, and in any case I am not sure budget would allow.  In any case, thanks to my ghost record I find I am only 1 volume short anyway.

 

Must apologise to everyone for apparent failure to respond - I didn't notice the activity, for some reason.

 

sJ

[seaJane]

27 minutes ago, David Filsell said:

A list of Gale and Polden's would be fascinating to see.

Searching COPAC's "Publisher" field brings up over 3,000 records, but a lot of those will be duplicates due to cataloguing standards not being as standard as all that. However, for what it's worth:

http://copac.jisc.ac.uk/search?&pub=Gale+Polden

 

sJ

[MartH]

Too much talk of buying rare books here, making me jealous.

[other ranker]

On 18/02/2017 at 15:10, Dust Jacket Collector said:

 I've got numerous books discussing War memoirs but as far as I can see none of them address this particular aspect. I suspect most publishers were hard headed business men who would publish whatever they thought would bring them a profit.

Here's a little starter material for your potential PhD on the subject :-

Take the following four memoirs which are generally thought of as being positive about their War experience :

Junger's 'Storm of Steel', published by Chatto

Pollard's 'Fire Eater', published by Hutchinson

Carrington's 'A Subaltern's War', published by Peter Davies & 

Crozier's 'Brass Hat in No-Man's-Land', published by Cape

Those publishers also gave us, respectively;

Aldington's 'Death of a Hero', Haslam's 'Cannon Fodder', Manning's 'Her Privates We' & Gristwood's 'The Somme', which are usually considered as being somewhat 'disillusioned '. You'll probably need to look at the military careers of the commissioning editors as well who may have been younger men than their bosses.

Should keep you occupied for a few years!

I have an article that I kept from the WFA Stand To! from some time in the year 2000 that was written by Jonathan Walker called 'Breaking the rules' Officers memoirs published 1920-1935.  There are many references to the publishers and their Great War experiences in relations to soldier authors, particularly in the reference section.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

13 minutes ago, other ranker said:

I have an article that I kept from the WFA Stand To! from some time in the year 2000 that was written by Jonathan Walker called 'Breaking the rules' Officers memoirs published 1920-1935. Maybe some one could look it up for Mike. There are many references to the publishers and their Great War experiences in relations to soldier authors, particularly in the reference section.

Sadly I dumped all my back issues of Stand To when I last moved house (just too much stuff). I'd certainly be keen to read that article. Any chance you could scan it? I've checked the WFA website but I don't think they've digitised their back issues.

[other ranker]

DJC,

Just sent it to your email address. Hope you receive it, three pages.

Grant

[Dust Jacket Collector]

26 minutes ago, other ranker said:

DJC,

Just sent it to your email address. Hope you receive it, three pages.

Grant

Brilliant. Thank you. Still in the ether at the moment while BT gets its act together.

[David Filsell]

Seajane,

Thank you. Apologies for the delay in responding

best regards

David

[Guest]

On 2/16/2017 at 16:22, MartH said:

Too much talk of buying rare books here, making me jealous.

 

    No-  Finding them is the game. Hope IMBUCASE was not too dull. I did a FOI request on the Cabinet Office- amazingly, responded in 2 days-alas, to say no vols. held.  The series  CAB 103 at TNA looks particularly interesting -and it suggests that the UK Civil Histories -office files, etc-are all at Kew.

   Evacuation from Russia- I am not at all sure that this is an official history- The IWM list it as a "blue book" but I have a strong feeling that it is not-it would show up on other record systems if it was a parliamentary paper. I suspect it is an internal report-but printed up and in blue wrappers. I am wondering if it could be a missing staff appreciation. However, I will have to do battle with the current IWM library arrangements to see it (A grim prospect).

    Robin Winks must have got his reference to "Eastern Siberia" from somewhere- I will try to run that to earth- the likeliest sources are Yale and,perhaps, the Hoover Institution.

   Likewise, doing a little work as a sideline to find out how the Carnegie volumes came about. Don't worry-You have not yet run out of tings to collect!!

PS- The Eastern Siberia volume is looking for all the world as if the Winks' vol. is a mistake-There is an "Eastern Siberia"  published by the Foreign Office in 1919-1920 but part of the "Peace  Handbooks"- the published background books of social,political, materials published for the Peace Conference (equivalent of the Nval Intelligence Division handbooks of WW2)

 

     Best wishes

                   Mike

Edited 22 February , 2017 by Guest
Extra info.

[Black Maria]

On ‎14‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 08:59, MartH said:

 

This is a very special book dating from 1915, I don't think it was reprinted, but other books may have its title.  If you have a copy, it's one of the most scarcest great war books. Take care off it!

I see an original copy of 'What to know in Egypt' ( minus original covers but with the map) has just sold on e-bay for £20 to a single bidder . It would seem that, like a lot of original  and scarce Great War books , it is just not that sought after by many people.

[Resurgam13]

I was the single bidder for " What to know in Egypt ". There are two annotations in ink in the booklet: "This book will give you some idea of what I saw in Egypt" on page 5, and, "Arrived Abbassia Barracks  Sept. 17 1914" on the folding map, so pre-dating the arrival of the ANZACs.

[other ranker]

I hate to see this thread slipping down the list. I bought this book this week. I know GWDJ has it on his site. I am chuffed to find it for £22!