rare books

[Guest]

 Oh God! I succumbed and bought a Great War book off Ebygum today- not looking for it but for something else from the same seller. I'm neither a collector nor dealer in Great War books-but I sniped this off because I have no recollection of ever seeing it before. COPAC locates only 1 copy (no surprise-Oxford) but I was pleasantly surprised that it was not located elsewhere. COPAC suggests it has registers in it-war dead, those served.   Is it as common as muck?  If not, then I will post some more details when the beastie arrives

 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Entirely unknown to me. Be most interested to see what’s in it.

[Guest]

DJC- If it is unknown to you, then that is an accolade.   Not my intention to buy Great War books- just thought it looked unusual. As one gets older, then the acid test of whether a book is rare is whether I have ever seen it before.  COPAC suggests that it may have a couple of lists-thus, the names will be posted on GWF if the item is out of the way and not on archive.org or  Hathi Trust

[MaureenE]

There are some details of the book in "Oxford University Press during WWI" https://blog.oup.com/2014/04/oxford-university-press-during-world-war-i/ 

 

"In 1920, the Press produced a book, On Active Service, War Work At Home 1914-1919 recording the events at the Press during the war and also giving the service record of all the men who were conscripted."

 

The British Library has this book catalogued as War Record of the University Press, Oxford

 

Cheers

Maureen

[Guest]

  Thanks Maureene-  the Press website has the sad tale of Horace Hart, the Printer-  learn something new every day.

[Resurgam13]

Recently acquired Memorial volume which doesn't seem to be widely known.

 

Below from Grace's Guide to British Industry:

 

William Morton Johnson (1881-1916)

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1916 Obituary ^[1]

WILLIAM MORTON JOHNSON, Captain, Manchester Regiment, M.A., F.R.G.S., was the eldest son of the late William Henry Johnson, B.Sc., of Woodleigh, Altrincham, Chairman of Messrs. R. Johnson, Clapham & Morris, Ltd., metal merchants, Manchester.

Captain Johnson was born on September 2, 1881, educated at Summer Fields, near Oxford, at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the History Tripos. Always a lover of history and geography he had read widely in these subjects, and had travelled extensively.

After leaving the University he entered his father's firm and on the death of his father became the Chairman and a Managing Director. Captain Johnson took a great interest in the welfare of the employees; some 450 attended the Memorial Service held in St. Margaret's Church Altrincham, to show their respect and esteem for him.

Captain Johnson was a great lover of children - many little orphan children in Manchester will never forget the happy joy, rides he took them in his motor when they came out to spend the day at Woodleigh. Obituary 211

On the outbreak of war Captain Johnson joined the army as a private in the Public Schools' Battalion, but was shortly after given a commission in the Manchester Regiment, and subsequently became a Company Commander. He was first through the village of Montauban on July 1, and chalked his regiment's name on three German guns.

A brother officer wrote: "During the advance to, and the consolidation of, the village Captain Johnson acted throughout with the greatest bravery and coolness. It was mainly through his ability and foresight that the front of the village was put in such an excellent state of defence, and the men so disposed, that we were able to beat off the counter-attack when it came. He was buried where he fell with the men of his Company who died with him. The battalion has lost in him an excellent and able officer whom, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to replace, and we officers have lost a personal friend whom we all admired and loved."

Captain Johnson was president of the Australian and New Zealand section of the Manchester Importers' and Exporters' Association, and, like his father, was also an original member of the Institute of Metals.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

A rather nice find. Not in Tom Donovan’s recent bibliography - another one for me to search for!

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Picked this up today with two consecutive issues from good old eBay. Printed on board for the crew of the battleship HMS King Edward VII it follows the format set by the various trench newspapers of news, jokes, cartoons, poems etc. Apparently at its peak 7000 copies were printed of each issue at 4d a copy. Publication ceased in January 1916 when the ship hit a mine, fortunately without loss of life. I can find little other information on it, so I’m assuming it to be a fairly rare survivor.

[Black Maria]

A couple of rare books that I have recently acquired quite cheaply . About half of the memoir is about Lt-Col Steel's WW1 experiences ,

it's 172pp long with an index . I've been looking for a copy of 'No names' for about five years , since I saw it on DJC's web site , I did

see a copy on Amazon once but it had already been sold . The first book is scarce because I doubt many copies were printed , the

second probably because it was published quite late ( 1932) and it's thickness ( 563pp ! )

 

[Guest]

   How unusual that both books should be so scarce. The memoir of Steel (available on Archive.org) is unusual in being put out by a commercial publisher, Simpkin Marshall-though as far as I can see they more or less continually  struggled for decades.. Cecil Palmer produced any number of books through the Twenties but what seems to dent them is that they all lack  any panache with presentation- dull typography and dull cloth- always on the slightly cheap side..  With both publishers, then the old conundrum applies- you sell more copies of rubbish as a major publisher than copies of a good book if you are a small publisher. I suspect that both books lacked both proper reviews-both by number and publications- and had poor distribution compared to ,say,Cassell or Hutchinson

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Cecil Palmer certainly seem to have been a rather minor publisher. Looking through my collection I can only find four War books with their imprint - No Names, In the Clouds above Baghdad, Diary of a Tommy & Iron Rations. Apart from a couple of minor works by Graves & Chesterton they singularly failed to attract any authors of note. I wonder who swallowed them up in the end? As with so many such takeovers you can be sure their archives ended up in a skip.

I suspect the Steel was effectively a private publication. I know a number of Memorial volumes carry a commercial imprint but I think they were done on a jobbing basis.

[Guest]

Agreed about Steel being a private publication- I think Simpkin would have ago at anything that attracted funds inward- though, fair go, the book is well-rpoduced by their normal standards.

   As to Cecil Palmer, there is the makings of an archive in a collection of stuff which the manuscript dealer John Wilson had a while back:   

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A Publisher's Archive The Archive of Cecil Palmer  Substantial group of ca 265 letters addressed to the publisher Cecil Palmer, ca 1905-1930. A remarkably fine accumulation of letters to a publisher who was evidently held in the highest regard and personal affection by his authors, reflecting their many concerns, not only with respect to their works.  Stacy Aumonier (1887-1928, writer of fiction): substantial correspondence of ca 51 fine and lengthy Autograph Letters Signed to Palmer (sometimes as 'Gustave' or 'Old Boy') and signed either in full (the early letters) or as 'Stacy' or 'Stace' (six as 'Bill'), a few on cards, some in pencil, largely undated. The letters of a close friend, full of personal news, especially about cricket, his long spell in various sanatoria, an interlude in Spain, the Savile Club, etc. '... I was very bucked with the O.B. cricket book - a delightful production. Cliffords & Arnolds contributions seemed to me exceptionally brilliant. Did Squire write the poem about "The Major Straining"? That was a gem! ...' '... I was specially touched to hear that you had all drunk my health, & that old G.K.C[hesterton]. had come up to the scratch so kindly. I hardly know him, & was surprised to hear he had read my stories. I think I must drop him a line & thank him. ...' '... God! "The Brothers Karamarzoff [sic]" is an unemotional Girls own paper story compared with my life during the last three months! I am undone. Thank God! I don't know a soul in Brighton. ...' '... I have decided (or rather I should say we) to chuck the sanatorium. When well enough to travel I shall treck Southwards. My plans are vague. I may go back to Ascot. Also I may go up to London for a week or so, to consult more quacks & try new treatments. This place has been fairly good, & my lung is distinctly improved ...' [From Malaga] 'I must write & tell you about a perfect scream I have got mixed up in. I don't know whether you have read the articles I had in the Evening Standard on things out here & Spaniards generally? Anyway I never expected them to come home to roost & create a kind of moral tornado. There has been no end of a stink. It is not the poor wretched Spaniards, who would never have heard of them, but the British colony ...' (Sir) Arnold Bax (1883-1953, composer): 6 Autograph Letters Signed (all but one addressed to 'Gustave'), 1923 where dated 'I am deeply distressed to have to write this, but I fear I must ask you to withold any further work on my book of poems [Love-poems of a Musician], for a few days anyway. It appears to me that the publication of this little book would be so extremely unpleasant in its results for me that I fear it will have to be stopped. ...' Clifford Bax (1886-1962, miscellaneous writer): 6 Autograph Letters Signed and 1 Typewritten Letter Signed, 1921 where dated, including one very long Autograph Letter Signed on the subject of the authorship of Shakespeare's works. 'I had a shock this morning when I picked up a copy of the Daily Mail which I found in a cab, and say that dear affectionate wayward humorous Stacy had at last said good-bye to all of us. We shall all miss him, but you, I fear, most of any among us. ...' Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953): 4 Autograph Letters Signed & 2 Typewritten Letters Signed, together with the proofs of Do We Agree / A debate between G.K. Chesterton and G. Bernard Shaw with Hilaire Belloc in the chair, published by Palmer in 1928, with Belloc's brief corrections on the first page, and more extensive ones on the last page, to which one of the letters relates. Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956): 7 Autograph Letters Signed, 1915-1918 where dated '... You remember that arrangement we made about the Serbian artist Radovani, and doing a book on him. I have written him that owing to the War it may be difficult to carry this out and that you will made [sic] a Serbian section on his work to the Bouvier book. ...' 'I will write to Kipling if you will send me a typed letter to sign. ... By the way, before I can complete the title what is to be the name of the book - "The Navy"? and what else should go on the title page? ...' Cecil Chesterton (1879-1918): Autograph Letter Signed and Typewritten Letter Signed, 1911 where dated, concerning making a book of his New Witness articles, and 'Nell Gwynn', for which he hoped for an advance. G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936): Autograph Letter Signed and 2 Typewritten Letters Signed, 1927 where dated, largely on technical editorial matters. '... If we have the suggested leader on "Defeatism" we must be very careful not [to] seem to be annoyed by the Universe or snapping back at it - the word "Universe" had better not be used. We must be serenely grateful for their praise of Hope & Courage & assure everyone that we will never yield to Defeatism & the destruction of the family ...' Robert Graves (1895-1985): good Autograph Letter Signed (ca 1924 from Islip) giving Dr Head's views on his 'Dream Book' [The Meaning of Dreams, Cecil Palmer 1924], asking Palmer to publish his next work, and commenting on the success of his poetry. '... You notice his remarks about Chapter VIII; which concerns dreams & poetry. I hope that you will see your way to publish my second book, which you have acknowledged. I am constantly getting press references to my first On English Poetry [1922], which was possibly an amusing book & started many hares ...' 'There are signs of a very good press for my latest poems, Mock Beggar Hall (Hogarth Press) [1924] ...' Palmer was to publish Poetic Unreason and Other Studies in 1925. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): Autograph Letter Signed on card, 15 December 1915, declining to write an appreciation, and Typewritten Letter Signed, 30 October 1921, thanking Palmer for the 'calendar of quotations'. '... As you surmise it was so many years ago that you wrote to me on the matter that I had quite forgotten the agreement, and to find any letters bearing upon it would necessitate a long search. ... So many applications are made to me, or to [Macmillans], for terms for including poems, etc. of mine in anthologies that I am quite vague on such particulars.' The present letters are apparently unpublished, but Hardy had written to Macmillan on 15 June 1914 to inform him that he had given Palmer permission to compile a 'Calendar of sentences' from his books ('a quotation of single sentences can do no harm') [Collected Letters, Vol. 5, page 32]. Sir Harry Lauder (1870-1950): 4 Autograph Letters Signed, 1917-1921, two (from Canada and Maryland) about the prospect (or not) of sales of his book in North America. Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960): 8 lengthy Autograph Letters Signed and a signed photograph, 1914-1928, largely on publishing details. '... I think I would sooner put the money into really classy paper etc, than elaborate decoration, which only detracts from the writer's art, or at any rate divides attention between it & the painter's or decorator's.  'The Edition-de-luxe (though a failure I am sorry to hear from you here) may be worked off in U.S.A., where my vogue is growing. They write a good deal more about me there than, under present conditions, in England. ...' [August 1917] '... I am one of those who place absolute faith in the honesty & genius of Lloyd George; but I know all the pacifist & Asquithian groups do not & are dead to all that he has done. We should not probably agree in an estimate of the pacifist people. Personally I feel most thankful that they have fallen, since, had they won there [sic] way, England would now be under the heel of Germany, instead of still a free nation. John Drinkwater was stopping with me recently & actually said, echoing his side, that it would have been better to throw open our doors & let Germany come into this country - anything in fact better than striking a blow! How all these poets & art-loving young men think their verses & plays & repertory theatres would have stood after the arrival of the German & his culture, I cannot guess. ...' Ezra Pound (1885-1972): Typewritten Letter Signed, 3 pages 4to, Rapallo, 25 December 1925, a long and lucid letter urging Palmer to publish an English translation of J.L. Chastanet's La Republique des Banquiers. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950): Autograph Letter Signed, 3 Typewritten Letters Signed, 2 Letters Signed on cards and an autograph note, 1913-1928, with Shaw's copy of the proofs of Do We Agree (see above under Belloc) with alterations and corrections on several pages. '... I am much obliged by your offer as to the Quintessence of Ibsenism; but my present routine of publishing is so well established now that it goes on absolutely withour [sic] friction. My printers are used to me; so are my publishers; and the consequence is an economy of time and worry and letter writing that has a value to me that is not to be set off by anything that I can hope to gain from a change. ...' [May 1913] 'Thank you for the copy of Chesterton's book. The difficulty with me is that I am old enough to have finally made a groove for myself as regards publishing ...' November 1915] [Regarding what was probably an earlier proof of Do We Agree than the one present] 'This infernal report has cost me two days work to reduce it to a show of coherence; and I have had to pull it about so much that it will probably be cheaper to set it up afresh on the machine than to correct the standing type. My second speech, p 22, begins with a reply to a point of Chestertons which the reporter has left out. I don't know how much G.K.C. has done in the way of revision; but the more the better. ...' [12 June 1928] Alec Waugh (1898-1981): 3 Autograph Letters Signed and 1 Typewritten Letter Signed ('Alec'), 1923-1928, send a manuscript and discussing Evelyn's film ambitions ('she' Evelyn, not his brother). Arthur Waugh (1866-1943): 2 Autograph Letters Signed, 1923 & 1926 and a page of humorous notes, thanking Palmer for kindnesses. '... it is a pleasure to feel that my younger colleagues on the Board do not want to see the last of me yet. I hope to work as long as I live; and, if I were to die, like Moberley Bell, at my desk, I should not ask for a better euthanasia. ...' H.G. Wells (1866-1946): 3 Autograph Letters Signed on cards, undated, briefly discussing literary matters, and agreeing to become a subscriber. '... We still feel the tragedy of that pleasant lady's death very acutely & it will be nice to have such a personal memorial of her.' A large quantity of miscellaneous correspondence Lord Beaverbrook, Arnold Bennett (2), Jane Burr, Hall Caine (5), Marie Corelli, Lord Curzon, John Drinkwater, James Hannay, Anthony Hope Hawkins (3), Maurice Hewlett, Spencer Leigh Hughes (6), Jerome K. Jerome, Sir Sidney Lee, Sinclair Lewis, Norman Lindsay (very long), David Low, J. Ramsay MacDonald, E.H.W. Meyerstein, Rafael Sabatini, Hannen Swaffer, Michael Sadler, Hugh Walpole (2), Humbert Wolfe, Israel Zangwill (2), H. Granville Fell, Lord Ampthill, J.C. Snaith (2), Lord Wolseley, W.B. Richmond, J. Forbes-Robertson, St John Ervine, Glyn Philpot (3), J.D. Beresford, the Countess of Warwick, Sir Thomas Brock, W. Shackleton, Frank Rutter, Lord Dewar, Bruce Bairnsfather, G.L. Stampa (4), W. Pett Ridge (4), Oscar Levy, Ethel May Dell, Sir Reginald Hall, A. St John Adcock, Sir Arthur Keith, Sir Gilbert Parker (2), Sir Clive Wigram, Norman Angell (2), Ralph Straus, Edwin Pugh, Gerald Gould (3 with a copy of Gould's Lady Adela, Cecil Palmer 1920), Sir Ian Malcolm, Aubrey Hammond (3), Edmund J. Sullivan, Hamilton Fyffe (3), Kate Perugini, W.A Darlington, and further group of ca 64 unlisted letters. With The Collected Poems of G.K. Chesterton, limited edition published by Cecil Palmer, London, 1927, number 1 of 350 copies signed by the author, decorative boards, vellum spine (worn), xvi + 356 pages, uncut and partly unopened, 8vo.  [No: 22412] The image is of part of a specimen letter only.

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This is the archived description of an item that has already been sold. You may search or browse current stock from the links above.

[Black Maria]

4 hours ago, voltaire60 said:

   How unusual that both books should be so scarce. The memoir of Steel (available on Archive.org) is unusual in being put out by a commercial publisher, Simpkin Marshall-though as far as I can see they more or less continually  struggled for decades.. Cecil Palmer produced any number of books through the Twenties but what seems to dent them is that they all lack  any panache with presentation- dull typography and dull cloth- always on the slightly cheap side..  With both publishers, then the old conundrum applies- you sell more copies of rubbish as a major publisher than copies of a good book if you are a small publisher. I suspect that both books lacked both proper reviews-both by number and publications- and had poor distribution compared to ,say,Cassell or Hutchinson

I agree with you about their publications being slightly on the cheap side . In my own collection all their books are a bit like that , apart from

'In the clouds above Baghdad '. Maybe that's why it's not quite as scarce as the others .

 

[barkalotloudly]

there were at one time at least 2 copies of the Steel book available on the net a bit like buses! A leader of Men by Baker is another one that seems to have gone to ground 

 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

That’s an impressive list of correspondents - clearly Palmer was a more important player than I thought. I presume that little lot wasn’t cheap.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

That’s an impressive list of correspondents - clearly Palmer was a more important player than I thought. I presume that little lot wasn’t cheap.

 

Alas, no idea-it was an archive listing. Wilson is realistic and generally mid-market on what I have seen over the years.  But you are right in that there  must be a successor publisher to Palmer, as the rights still in force had to go somewhere. University of Reading listings of their British publishers' collection is always my first port of call for this sort of thing.

     I know little of Palmer save he did have a go at some interesting books- though it seems he was better at belles lettres than belle finance.  

Edited 15 March , 2018 by Guest

[familyhistoryman]

Does anyone know the month the book “In Salonika with our Army’s” was published in 1917

Tony

[Guest]

1 hour ago, familyhistoryman said:

Does anyone know the month the book “In Salonika with our Army’s” was published in 1917

Tony

 

   The standard ways of  dating are:

1) Date of publisher's catalogue at end if any- These catalogues tend to be dated by the month

2) Copyright reciept stamp on the BL copy (This is the publication date for copyright purposes)

3) Contemporary reviews- a review slip often gives the formal date of publication and newspaper or magazine reviews of that time oftenn give the publication date taken from it.

.  Easiest way is probably to zap British Newspaper Archive and see which month the book starts getting notices, reviews or even adverts.

Edited 16 March , 2018 by Guest

[seaJane]

9 hours ago, voltaire60 said:

Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956): 7 Autograph Letters Signed, 1915-1918 where dated

Now those I would have liked to get MkI eyeball on before they disappeared into private ownership. A small stash of papers in work's archive is from someone whom Brangwyn adopted, whether unofficially or not I don't know.

[Resurgam13]

The November 1917 Second Edition of "In Salonica With Our Army" lists the printing history, giving the date of the First Edition as July 1917

[Black Maria]

16 hours ago, barkalotloudly said:

there were at one time at least 2 copies of the Steel book available on the net a bit like buses! A leader of Men by Baker is another one that seems to have gone to ground 

 

Yes , I seem to remember searching for the book once and seeing a couple of copies available . Although I'm not a collector of memorial volumes

I thought I would have a punt on this one and was more than chuffed to get it for under a tenner. I have mentioned it before but when I was lucky

enough to get my jacketed copy of ' Nothing of Importance ' there was another one for sale also , both were about £75 . That was over ten years

ago and I've never seen another jacketed one since .

[Dust Jacket Collector]

17 hours ago, barkalotloudly said:

there were at one time at least 2 copies of the Steel book available on the net a bit like buses! A leader of Men by Baker is another one that seems to have gone to ground 

 

Tom Donovan has a copy of the Steel book at the moment but it’ll cost you £165.

[barkalotloudly]

A wonderful find....."War Memoirs" by Davson been keeping an eye for this book for about 15 years printed in 1964 {Gale Polden} in a run of only 100 copies, things do come to those that wait!

[barkalotloudly]

Just like buses nothing really good for months, then in addition to the Davson book a nice copy of Foley`s "Three years on Active service "  another very scarce memoir very seldom seen  

[Dust Jacket Collector]

2 hours ago, barkalotloudly said:

Just like buses nothing really good for months, then in addition to the Davson book a nice copy of Foley`s "Three years on Active service "  another very scarce memoir very seldom seen  

Very nice. I bought mine from Tom a few years ago but it wasn’t cheap.

I see another scarce one has just gone up on eBay - W.Linton Andrews ‘Haunting Years’ in a fine and very rare jacket. Sadly they want an eye-watering £750 for it.