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Rarest book?


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On ‎07‎/‎02‎/‎2014 at 18:15, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Biggest regret - too many to mention really. A jacketed copy of Bucher's "In the Line" in an old Marrin catalogue or a similar Wilfred Owen's Poems for £200 in an old Rota catalogue - now £10,000. Not really a regret, as it was too expensive, but Peter Jolliffe once had a copy of Sassoon's 'Old Huntsman' simply inscribed 'RG (Robert Graves) from SS'

I notice a first edition of Owen's poems in a worn jacket ( most of spine missing) has come up for sale on e-bay , price £3000 or best offer.

Edited by Black Maria
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17 minutes ago, Black Maria said:

I notice a first edition of Owen's poems in a worn jacket ( most of spine missing) has come up for sale on e-bay , price £3000 or best offer.

The same people that sold me the Bairnsfather. Rather too much for me. I suppose I could offer £200.

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1 minute ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

The same people that sold me the Bairnsfather. Rather too much for me. I suppose I could offer £200.

You could, but there is a small chance they may say no .

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On 23/11/2016 at 17:20, Dust Jacket Collector said:

The same people that sold me the Bairnsfather. Rather too much for me. I suppose I could offer £200.

you will be surprised at what people will accept!

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On 23/11/2016 at 17:33, Black Maria said:

You could, but there is a small chance they may say no .

I did and they did.

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6 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

I did and they did.

Oh well, nothing ventured as they say, at least you gave it a try.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2016-09-03 at 06:40, Broznitsky said:

James, I hate to burst your bubble, but Canada in Khaki is easily found.  The leather rebinding was likely done by an owner along its provenanc, after publication.

Broznitsky, agreed.  An issue of "Canada in Khaki" itself is not that special.  But Max Aitken's copy, specially bound with his bookplate, is.

 

Cheers,

 

James

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15 minutes ago, jcalhoun said:

Broznitsky, agreed.  An issue of "Canada in Khaki" itself is not that special.  But Max Aitken's copy, specially bound with his bookplate, is.

 

Cheers,

 

James

Very nice!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Never seen this in its jacket before. Not a brilliant copy but you can't be fussy. Published by Hodder in 1919.

Whatever one thinks of Tony Benn, rather a Marmite politician, you can't deny his father was a very brave man winning both the DSO & DFC.

in the side shows-001.jpg

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2 hours ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Never seen this in its jacket before. Not a brilliant copy but you can't be fussy. Published by Hodder in 1919.

Whatever one thinks of Tony Benn, rather a Marmite politician, you can't deny his father was a very brave man winning both the DSO & DFC.

 

 

It is an interesting read. He expresses some strong views on structural problems in the Army. In his first action at Gallipoli  - the advance across the fringes of the dry Salt Lake at Suvla, Gallipoli with the Middlesex Hussars (on foot) and their subsequent attack on Scimitar Hill, Benn actually forgot to arm himself with anything more potent than a cane. It is worth reading this in parallel with Yarn of a Yeoman.

 

One of the Benn clan is an occasional visitor to the GWF. 

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Not rare, but unique, and very precious to me: The Great War volume of Regimental Records of the RWF owned and signed by Percy [call me Peter] Moody, ex-Artists Rifles, commissioned into the 2nd battalion, and a stalwart, some-time adjutant and modest hero.

 

Signed as "Major" after the war.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎28‎/‎04‎/‎2015 at 14:56, barkalotloudly said:

Although not privately printed or printed for private circulation i was very pleased to find an original copy of "Letters from France" by A J Sansom the first i have ever seen, these letters are from June 1915-July 1917 when he was killed at Arras whilst commanding the 7th battalion Sussex regiment, 383 pages unfortunately not D/W but you cannot have everything in life!

This was one of the twenty books which formed my first wants list back in 2002 and I have just managed to find a copy , which is also the only one I've ever seen.

 

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Every thing comes to those that wait!! i have never seen another copy, strange how some books just never seem to surface  when i look through my collection i am very surprised at the number of books that i have never seen since my original purchase  

 I am still looking for several and after nearly twenty years i wonder if i will ever find a copy !! but i think that effort brings results and i have now been concentrating on original photographs and photograph albums so perhaps i do not deserve to find those elusive titles!!  

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19 hours ago, barkalotloudly said:

Every thing comes to those that wait!! i have never seen another copy, strange how some books just never seem to surface  when i look through my collection i am very surprised at the number of books that i have never seen since my original purchase  

 I am still looking for several and after nearly twenty years i wonder if i will ever find a copy !! but i think that effort brings results and i have now been concentrating on original photographs and photograph albums so perhaps i do not deserve to find those elusive titles!!  

Well I know of something that definitely comes to those who wait , I just hope I find all the books I'm after before that happens :) I do find it a bit strange that 'Letters from France' is so rare, as you say it was published by a well known publisher (Melrose), although I do have another book in my collection published by them and I've never seen another since I purchased it.

 

Edited by Black Maria
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4 hours ago, Black Maria said:

Well I know of something that definitely comes to those who wait , I just hope I find all the books I'm after before that happens :) I do find it a bit strange that 'Letters from France' is so rare, as you say it was published by a well known publisher (Melrose), although I do have another book in my collection published by them and I've never seen another since I purchased it.

 

I find I have some 17 books published by Melrose, including the Sansom. You're right, they do seem to be among the scarcer volumes - maybe they only did small print runs? Among them are Bluett's 'With Our Army in Palestine', Thekla Bowser's 'Diary of a VAD', a couple by Oliver Hogue, 'Trooper Bluegum' & 'The Cameliers' & Jacomb's 'Torment'. Quite a distinguished list really.

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    I suspect DJC will agree- as a semi-retired bookseller, the easiest definition of a "rare" book is simple-one you haven't got. Books float in multiples before one collector and evade another for a lifetime. Sod's Law. And Sod's Law Mark II is that when you eventually pay a small fortune for a wanted book, a better condition one will turn up shortly after at a more advantageous price.  London Transport Bus Syndrome.

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3 hours ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

I find I have some 17 books published by Melrose, including the Sansom. You're right, they do seem to be among the scarcer volumes - maybe they only did small print runs? Among them are Bluett's 'With Our Army in Palestine', Thekla Bowser's 'Diary of a VAD', a couple by Oliver Hogue, 'Trooper Bluegum' & 'The Cameliers' & Jacomb's 'Torment'. Quite a distinguished list really.

Yes that is a distinguished list , quite ironic when you think they started out publishing religious books.

 

3 hours ago, voltaire60 said:

    I suspect DJC will agree- as a semi-retired bookseller, the easiest definition of a "rare" book is simple-one you haven't got. Books float in multiples before one collector and evade another for a lifetime. Sod's Law. And Sod's Law Mark II is that when you eventually pay a small fortune for a wanted book, a better condition one will turn up shortly after at a more advantageous price.  London Transport Bus Syndrome.

Very true , it's happened to me on a couple of occasions, especially on e bay when I have paid over the odds on winning an auction for a rare book and

another copy comes up for auction a couple of weeks later because a seller has seen how much my copy went for and hopes to receive the same price

for theirs and so the under bidder on my book ends up getting a bargain the second time around.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not, I know, particularly rare, but I was happy to fill a gap in the collection with a 'classic' this week

Penguin copy of Marching on Tanga

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12 minutes ago, David Filsell said:

Not, I know, particularly rare, but I was happy to fill a gap in the collection with a 'classic' this week

Penguin copy of Marching on Tanga

There's an interesting copy on ABE at the moment which might improve on that Penguin. It's inscribed by the author to Lloyd George. Only £100.

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Strangely enough, I finished reading 'Marching On Tanga' last week. Its been sitting on the shelf for 20 years! Cyril Falls gave it three stars, the ultimate accolade. I thought it was a very atmospheric account of a desperate campaign where the Germans and the Environment took as many lives as each other. A great read.

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Just taken delivery of 'Letters from Germany and from the army' - a privately printed edition of the letters of the War poet Charles Hamilton Sorley. Published in 1916 in an edition of only 60 copies, this is no.5, inscribed by the poets' mother and father to his uncle James. Rather nice, I thought.

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45 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Just taken delivery of 'Letters from Germany and from the army' - a privately printed edition of the letters of the War poet Charles Hamilton Sorley. Published in 1916 in an edition of only 60 copies, this is no.5, inscribed by the poets' mother and father to his uncle James. Rather nice, I thought.

went to buy a copy from the good ol` USA for about 30.00 never turned up!

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1 hour ago, barkalotloudly said:

went to buy a copy from the good ol` USA for about 30.00 never turned up!

 

   Woof-   do you have details of the missing book-ordred through what system-Amazon?Abe?Alibris?    Had you paid for it?

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