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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Henry Williamson’s library


Dust Jacket Collector

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Following the death of his son, Richard, a large selection of Henry Williamson’s books on WW1 came to auction this week at Stride’s auction house in Chichester. There were 2 main lots of around 70 books each. The first batch, it seems, is off to America but the other was bought by our favourite local dealer, Tom Donovan. I popped round yesterday and relieved him off a few. Here are a couple which I thought might be of interest to fellow collectors.F9B52D73-734F-4B38-A3D5-B97A1BA0FF52.jpeg.48f1165340d7f086f611dd7a650f7666.jpeg7C4D48B9-A52E-43E1-B7B7-72FDC51CEA4A.jpeg.a52a9b1e6d1009428bd7c94d014cd118.jpeg

The Richards is just a rare example of the original but the Mark VII (Max Plowman) is more interesting. It was gifted to Williamson by Douglas Bell who wrote the anonymously published ‘Soldiers Diary of the Great War’ for which Williamson wrote the introduction. Several passages have been marked up by Williamson with the intention of using them in the War sections of his ‘Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight’ novels.

Tom is going to put the books in a catalogue in a few months time but he’s happy to field any early inquiries ( there are plenty left!)

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40 minutes ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

An interesting sale-which shows there is still stuff out there. It looks as though their home for several decades has been a garden shed, so I suppose one must factor in a goodly amount for book-cloth cleaner and archive standard plastic protectors.

    I suppose the high price of the lot must be because of this irresistible item:

OSMAN (Lt. Col A H) 'Pigeons in the Great War..a complete history of the carrier-pigeon service during the Great War, 1914-18', London, The Racing Pigeon Publishing Co Ltd

    Who wants books  with dustwrappers............

     

    

I believe that one is still available………

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  • 2 months later...

I just bought this proof copy of Remarque’s ‘All Quiet’. It seems to have been sent to Williamson for revue but judging by his comment on the last page he didn’t take up the offer.A475D377-0116-43B3-A849-8943E44D0CDD.jpeg.8effc8afa723d7b19e49029d01e46b6e.jpeg

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Hi DJC

I didn’t notice this thread first time around.  Pleased to see some of the books have gone to a good home.

Mandy

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20 hours ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

didn’t take up the offer

Gosh. Is his low opinion of the book on record elsewhere?

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5 minutes ago, seaJane said:

Gosh. Is his low opinion of the book on record elsewhere?

He wrote a review of War literature which is in his book ‘The Linhay on the Downs’ but I’ve not seen it so don’t know if he mentions it. I’ll get a copy.

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I’ve also bought Williamson’s copy of Bairnsfather’s ‘Bullets & Billets’. It was a particular favourite of his as he says in his essay on War literature:-

“There are... books on my shelves which I read and re-read to project myself into the past: 'Bullets and Billets' by Bruce Bairnsfather for example... It has atmosphere, faithful to the 1914 winter as I knew it...”

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  • 1 month later...

I have managed to get hold of the Seton- Hutchinson book 'Warrior', which belonged to Henry Williamson. As DJC says, he has plenty to say about the author of the book. See attachment for example.

Interestingly, the forward of the book is compiled of Seton-Hutchison's thoughts on the Great War books up to that time. Williamson has not put any notes on those pages but all through the rest of the book with even even references to sections he might use for his Chronicles.

IMG_20221127_185403_859.jpg

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15 minutes ago, other ranker said:

I have managed to get hold of the Seton- Hutchinson book 'Warrior', which belonged to Henry Williamson. As DJC says, he has plenty to say about the author of the book. See attachment for example.

Interestingly, the forward of the book is compiled of Seton-Hutchison's thoughts on the Great War books up to that time. Williamson has not put any notes on those pages but all through the rest of the book with even even references to sections he might use for his Chronicles.

IMG_20221127_185403_859.jpg

Good to see Williamson’s books are ending up in the right hands. Despite his dubious politics in the 1930s he still remains an important writer. The War volumes of his ‘Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’ give some of the best descriptions of trench warfare I’ve ever read. That said I recently mentioned to some reasonably well read friends that I’d bought some of his books - they’d never heard of him!

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