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Remembered Today:

What WW1 books are you reading?


andigger

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3 hours ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

There used to be a postal service from the US called Global Priority which came in a special envelope and cost under £20 but I guess it’s been discontinued.

I assume the £50 plus price means that the seller delivers the book personally.

 

Think it is still there.  

 

image.png.9d4150105c3c2212758254d312f7cafc.png

 

(I assume that purchases of Isaac Rosenberg pamphlets will not weigh too much.............:wub:)

Edited by Guest
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18 hours ago, Gunner Bailey said:

Interesting. When did he have a chalet there?

He, apparently, rented a one room chalet there in the 1920s and on until he was in power, when he knocked it down and built a big chalet. The Eagles Nest, on the top of the hill, was a 'present', and he hated it. He rarely went there, but Eva Braun liked it, so photos show her there but rarely him.

There is a museum where the village was with a film show of interviews with people who lived there. One woman says that he was a lovely man. When the children were on their way home from school, he would come out with his then dog, and take them walking across the mountains, then home via the village shop to buy sweets. As she put it, "The he went to Berlin and got mixed up with the politicians".

Apparently, the village was destroyed by the Nazis. First the village church (built by the people) was destroyed, then a Jewish family was forced to sell their home and flee. She says that she remembers Himmler saying to her father, "Sign here or you and your family will go to Dachau". He signed away their farm for nothing. As they left the village they were already knocking down their home. Everyone else had the same thing.

Bormann had a chalet not far from Hitler as did, I think Himmler, but it might have been Goebbels.

 

It's a lovely area. Berchtesgaden is well worth the visit, with plenty of hotels. We would, have gone back again last year except for the great unmentionable.

You drive from Berchtesgaden to Obersalz where you park and have to take a bus the rest of the way. Go early as the buses stop when the area closes for the evening. Its a long walk down! The chalet was more or less destroyed in bombing in 1944/5 but has been rebuilt and is now a restaurant and café.

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Thanks - more pieces to the jigsaw that is history.

 

So he visited the area pre Landsberg and his book.

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Currently reading History Of The Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment (In The Great War) by H C Wylly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Currently reading 'Louis Coatalen' by Oliver Heal, the biography of the Sunbeam touring and racing car designer.

He also was responsible for the Sunbeam aero engines used in the Great War.

Amazingly an invoice for £18000 submitted to the Russian government in November 1918 for cars and aero engines supplied by Sunbeam,

was only partly repaid in 1989.

 

Mike.

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Just finished 'Memoirs of a Camp Follower' by Philip Gosse who was a medical officer on the Western Front ( 69th F.A ) . He was more of a keen

naturalist than a keen military man and although i'm the opposite i did find his memoir both interesting and well written . The last few chapters 

cover his time in India during the last year of the war and highlights the social gulf between the regular British officers and the 'temporary gentlemen'.

He also mentions the friction between the senior military doctors and the civilian doctors who had joined up when the latter were told to implement 

treatments that they knew were wrong . 

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  1. A Brass Hat in No Man's Land
  2. Remains of Company D
  3. Fight for Gallipoli
  4. Germany's First Air Force 1914-1918

Alternate chapters nightly

Edited by Felix C
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Rather belatedly reading Margaret MacMillan’s ‘The War That Ended Peace’. It’s well written, informative and an easy read. Having said that I’m more than half way through it and have not learnt anything new but she covers the ground well.

Good buy for £5 including p&p off eBay.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finished reading 'Clouds that Flee' the memoir of Colonel Montague Cooke D.S.O , he gained his commission in the Royal Artillery in 1899 

and spent most of his service in the horse artillery . Served in India pre-war and went to France with the 8th Division in 1914 (5th R.H.A Brig )

and gives a good description of his batteries involvement at the battle of Loos where at one time all it's personnel were hospitalised . He had

a tough time on the Somme when he commanded a battery of 34th division and fell out with a C.R.A over the positioning of his guns near 

Mametz Wood . He seems to have had a bit of a breakdown and was sent to India to train gunners and then in 1918 was sent to Palestine 

(303 brigade ) where he saw tough fighting and was the first British officer to enter Jerusalem . He went to Germany post-war as part of the 

allied commission . He seemed to be a determined man who stood his ground and this caused him to fall foul of some senior officers during

his army service . I found it an interesting book and a good read .

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just read 'Cavalry and sporting memories' by John Vaughan . Lots of polo and hunting rudely interrupted by the odd colonial war where 

the pig sticking was replaced by killing the odd native or two . He was attached to the 21st Lancers during the Battle of Omdurman and

 took part in the famous charge against the Dervish ( the one featured in the film in 'Young Winston' ) . In the Boer War he was wounded

whilst commanding a column of cavalry and in 1914 was Allenby's G.S.O. (1) in the cavalry division , later commanding 3rd cavalry brigade 

and 3rd cavalry division . He left the army after the war but was a senior Home Guard commander in WW2 , he died after a fall from his 

horse in 1956 aged 84 . 

 

I enjoyed the military bits , less so the horsey bits ( he was very horsey ) .

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Reading 'The Lost Legions of Fromelles' by Peter Barton.  Excellent book, I've been particularly fascinated by the extracts from the Bavarian records that are quoted frequently, they certainly give a new viewpoint on the subject.  Another thing that surprised me was how much information British and Australian prisoners appear to have disclosed.  That's quite new, too.

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I recently read Michison’s ‘Defending Albion Britain’s Home Army 1908 - 1919’ a fascinating account of an overlooked an difficult to research topic including the lack of finance and political apathy as once the war began the belief Home Service would dilute recruitment.

 

At the risk of going off topic this article was in my inbox today

https://defenceindepth.co/2021/02/26/the-united-kingdoms-woeful-lack-of-homeland-resilience-capacity/#respond

 

What is the cliche, ‘Those who fail to learn from history etc...’

 

It seems little has changed in a century.  The British Establishment seems slow to recognise and respond to threats within the U.K.

 

 

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I'm currently reading (online) 'Kitchener Chaps' by A.E. Lyons, it is a 'comic' fiction, or collection of short vignettes published in 1915, for example 'The Mutiny at Sludge Lane'.

An interesting period piece, not of any particular literary or factual relevance, I guess up there with 'popular' contemporary patriotic poems, as opposed to those that have made it to the GCSE syllabus.  It does however, reflect one author's perception of the Home Front shortly after war was declared.

 

I searched it out because in July 1916 the author, who lived in Wivelsfield, Sussex appeared before the Lewes Local Tribunal and was granted exemption from military service until October 1916 ("to complete some work he had in hand"). 

Try as I might I can't find any details of him in the October Tribunal sittings to see whether the exemption continued. 

He evidently survived the war, according to online biographies and wrote more books but I've yet to discover any military service.

 

I'm also curious as to whether any of the collectors on here have a copy of the original.

 

The online version for anyone interested is

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433112047075&view=1up&seq=11

 

 

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2 hours ago, kenf48 said:

 

 

I'm also curious as to whether any of the collectors on here have a copy of the original.

 

 

 

I once had a rebound copy of the original ,i bought it in a charity shop years ago . As i was more interested in the factual experiences of the war then it remained unread 

and i eventually sold it on . I see there is a copy for £15 on ABE with a potted bio of the author .

 

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3 hours ago, kenf48 said:

I'm currently reading (online) 'Kitchener Chaps' by A.E. Lyons, it is a 'comic' fiction, or collection of short vignettes.

I'm also curious as to whether any of the collectors on here have a copy of the original.

 

 

Here are 3 of Neil Lyons books.23B8EADE-0132-4754-8EB3-9E62666A769D.jpeg.5632171fb208fef2ce3c346b24a79203.jpeg

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3 hours ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Here are 3 of Neil Lyons books

 

Wonderful, thank you, I thought you might come through!  The jackets definitely reflect the content, I think I've seen similar sketches elsewhere.

I guess you knew he was from Sussex still trying to see if he served.

 

4 hours ago, Black Maria said:

I see there is a copy for £15 on ABE with a potted bio of the author

Thank you. Sadly no mention of military service in the Great War, it is as I said an interesting period piece but I won't be buying.

I have found more extensive bios online but again none mention any military service. He was getting on a bit in 1916 for the front so maybe he stayed at home.

Thanks again chaps, made my day!

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Just finished 'Buck's Book' by Herbert Buckmaster . Born in 1881 and educated at Sherborne he left school to join the I.L.H as a trooper in the Boer War .

Unable to secure a regular commission after he returned home sick he became a 'professional horse backer' and later married the actress Gladys Cooper .

During the war he was an subaltern in in the Royal Horse Guards finishing it as acting Major . Post war he founded Buck's Club in London ( he invented 

the cocktail Buck's Fizz ) , his marriage broke down as a result of the war ( shades of Lt-Col Bartlett ' I shall not be away long ' ) . He later remarried another

actress Nellie Taylor but she sadly died at a young age shortly before the book was published ( 1933 ) .

 

Not a bad book ,it gives a flavour of the social life of pre and post war London although most of the people are unknown now . His WW1 service is covered 

in around eighty pages . His daughter married the actor Robert Morley ( there is a clip of him and Gladys Cooper being interviewed on YouTube ) and his

son tragically committed suicide in 1983 , he himself died in 1966 . 

 

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1 hour ago, Black Maria said:

Just finished 'Buck's Book' by Herbert Buckmaster . Born in 1881 and educated at Sherborne he left school to join the I.L.H as a trooper in the Boer War .

Unable to secure a regular commission after he returned home sick he became a 'professional horse backer' and later married the actress Gladys Cooper .

During the war he was an subaltern in in the Royal Horse Guards finishing it as acting Major . Post war he founded Buck's Club in London ( he invented 

the cocktail Buck's Fizz ) , his marriage broke down as a result of the war ( shades of Lt-Col Bartlett ' I shall not be away long ' ) . He later remarried another

actress Nellie Taylor but she sadly died at a young age shortly before the book was published ( 1933 ) .

 

Not a bad book ,it gives a flavour of the social life of pre and post war London although most of the people are unknown now . His WW1 service is covered 

in around eighty pages . His daughter married the actor Robert Morley ( there is a clip of him and Gladys Cooper being interviewed on YouTube ) and his

son tragically committed suicide in 1983 , he himself died in 1966 . 

 

Sounds interesting, John. I’d read it if I could find a copy!

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1 hour ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Sounds interesting, John. I’d read it if I could find a copy!

Probably like buses a few will appear together one day Alan . I notice there was also a numbered limited edition of 200 printed which may be worth looking out for .

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image.png.0f9879bfb7f7400dc47cb5ecd8c56a4d.png

 

  Just keeping a weather eye on this one on Ebygum,the well known internet platform.  By no means an uncommon book.  Firsts are out there...but firsts in DW are a little uncommon. Alas, this one is DW but second impression.  Watching it to see if the DW turns up again.  But surely all my colleagues both as collector and dealer would never switch a DW from a later edition back on to a wrapperless first?    On the other hand......

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37 minutes ago, voltaire60 said:

 

 

  Just keeping a weather eye on this one on Ebygum,the well known internet platform.  By no means an uncommon book.  Firsts are out there...but firsts in DW are a little uncommon. Alas, this one is DW but second impression.  Watching it to see if the DW turns up again.  But surely all my colleagues both as collector and dealer would never switch a DW from a later edition back on to a wrapperless first?    On the other hand......

I suppose in this instance the wrapper blurb is different from the first so would be spotted by a serious collector . But i'm sure it must have been done when the

2nd impression jacket is indistinguishable from a first .

Edited by Black Maria
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I had failed to spot in one of the pics, the bottom of the wrapper:

 

image.png.378d02881dfa003d7c8751d6aa939585.png

 

  Oh dear!  What a shame. Never Mind.

Oh yes , that's a bit of a giveaway as well ! :lol:

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10 hours ago, Black Maria said:

Oh yes , that's a bit of a giveaway as well ! :lol:

Mind you at £20 it represents better value than the genuine 1st on the same platform at an eye-watering £1250.
Don’t think I’d switch jackets between copies. Most of the books I’m after are so scarce that the chances of finding more than one are fairly distant. I think it’s more of a concern for wealthy collectors of modern firsts. I suppose If you’re spending tens of thousands on a book it needs to be right.

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