Turner Donovan Military Books - The world’s finest selection of rare and out-of-print books on British military history from 1800 to 1945
  Stock last updated on 31 October 2026
 
   

The First World War The First World War, Personal memoirs of soldiers of all nations on all fronts, anthologies, literature and fiction, history and analysis   1101 Books
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Diary of H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, January-May 1915. 1st Ed., 50pp., 20 photos. Printed by permission of the Admiralty "for Private Circulation to Officers & Men." 1919  #65900
[HLMainPic] Day-to-day record of battleship "Big Lizzie" in the Dardanelles; covering landings at W Beach, bombardments &c., with rolls of officers & awards & also Log of Trawler 448. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, a littled rubbed, VG. Rare. See illustration on our website.   £145
Frederick Goodyear: Letters & Remains 1887-1917. 1st Ed., xv+193pp., portrait frontis. McBride Nast & Co. 1920  #64882
[HLMainPic] Memorial volume including letters from the Front. UCS & Brasenose College Oxford (where he was regarded as "unambitious & dilatory"); became Assistant Manager of the Oxford Univ. Press at Bombay, but came home in 1914 to enlist in the ranks of the Artist's Rifles: served with them in France from May-Sept. 1915 when he transferred to the RE (Meteorological Dept.) then commissioned in the Essex Regt. in Feb. 1917, joined the 2nd Essex on 16th March 1917, wounded at Fampoux during Battle of Arras, 12th May 1917 & Died of Wounds on the 23rd May inst. Contents include letters from India & around 45pp. letters from France 1915-17. These are followed by a selection of poetry & prose compositions. Blue cloth, gilt to spine, some splitting to sp., generally VG with neat ink presentation inscription: "Miss Wood 'Rita' From F. Goodyear 1922." See illustration on our website.   £125
The Attack of the British 9th Corps at Messines Ridge. 1st Ed., orig. printed wraps., 148+ivpp., sketch map & col. drawings of conventional (military) map identifications (HQs, &c.) in text, together with 10 fldg. maps (excellent cold. reproductions of British operational maps). Washington, US Govt. Printing Office. 1917  #70624
[HLMainPic] Designated CONFIDENTIAL For official use only NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO FRONT LINE TRENCHES. An incredibly detailed study, founded on British official documents, of the planning & preparations for the attack on the Messines Ridge on 7th June 1917, the successful precursor to the Third Ypres offensive. Much on the administrative arrangements as well as the infantry attack, including al aspects of the assault. One of the most remarkable components of this study is the excellent series of finely reproduced actual size coloured folding maps (numbered 1-10) which consists of (1) Cross Country Tracks, IX Corps Area, 1:20,000, which was Compiled by IX Corps Topo. Section & dated 29/5/1917; (2) 1:10,000 scale map of the Army Front at Messines with superb details of attack arrangements, brigade & divisional boundaries, barrage lifts, objectives, &c., as well as detailed trench systems; (3) Corps Front & boundaries, i.e. 1:10,000 Wytschaete trench map (corrected to 1/4/1917) overprinted with boundaries & objectives; (4) Second Army Area, Sheet 3. 1:20,000. Information on Enemy Country; (5) Wytschaete 1:5:000. A very detailed map of the village & the defences, trenches & features around it; (6) Wytschaete trench map 1:10,000 overprinted with machine gun barrage lines & positions; (7) 1:20,000 scale map of region around Westroutre, Kemmeil, Messines, &c. Two British sheets reproduced side-by-side showing trench lines &c. with much interesting detail overprinted inc. HQs, admin. areas, boundaries, &c; (8) Map of entire region of operations from Poperinghe in NE corner, eastwards to Ypres &c., south to Ploegsteert, showing trenches, this overprinted with railway communications &c.; (9) Traffic Routes, IX Corps, 1:40,000; (10) 1:20,000 scale trench map overprinted with divisional boundaries, &c., in the rear area behind Wytschaete. VG, housed in modern cloth slipcase with orig. printed paper title panel to.   £325
War Poems by "X" (i.e. T.W.H. Crosland). 1st Ed., viii+96pp. Martin Secker. Oct. 1916.  #70323
[HLMainPic] Thomas William Hodgson Crosland (1865-1924), writer & journalist, published several volumes of poetry, this one being dedicated to "The Artists' Rifles... in the First Battalion of which I have many friends." Reilly p.100. Among other ventures Crosland ghost-wrote Lord Alfred Douglas's memoir 'Oscar Wilde and Myself.' He was apparently concerned with the plight of the poor & of returned soldiers, but had participated with Douglas in the persecution of Robbie Ross, Wilde's friend & literary executor, whose biographer labeled him 'a narrow-minded bigot.' Orig. red cloth with paper sp. label, minor wear, near VG.   £25
The Last Lap. By "G," with Preface by E.B.O. 1st Ed., 141pp. VG in chipped dw. Melrose. 1917  #64745
[HLMainPic] Reproduction from the Morning Post of the observations on the Western Front of one who "has served as a war correspondent in many parts of the world & seen the evolution of modern methods with his own eyes." This work is an exhortation to further effort to complete the job, with Victory in sight. Includes chapters on Our Infantry: the then recent Battle of Messines: German Man-Power; The German Moral &c. Interesting & scarce. I believe 'E.B.O.' to be E.B. Osborn, journalist & another writer on military matters, while the identity of 'G' remains elusive to me. Orig. blue cloth, titled in paler blue, VG in chipped dw. Scarce thus. See illustration on our website.   £75
A German Deserter's War Experience. 1st UK Ed., translated by J. Koettgen. 254pp. Grant Richards. 1917  #63251
[HLMainPic] The author, it is stated, 'escaped from Germany after fourteen months of fighting in France... [a] vivid description of the life of a common German soldier in the present war' - Preface. Orig. black cloth, minor wear, VG & scarce. See illustration on our website.   £45
The Railway Gazette: Special War Transportation Number. 1st Ed., 160pp., 4to (30x23cm approx.)., 105 photos., several maps & diagrams. Railway Gazette & Railway News. 1920  #70448
[HLMainPic] Special Issue of the Railway Gazette. published 21st September, 1920. Contains a wealth of detail on operations on most Fronts inc. the organization of wartime transportation; statistics; the 'mystery port' (Richborough); the Trans-Siberian Railway; light railways in war; the Port of Basra; Railway Operations in Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine & East Africa; transportation of the wounded; cross channel ferry train services & more, supported by a wide range of excellent quality photos. & diagrams. Orig. orange printed wraps., covers little creased, VG & rare original edition.   £145
The ANZAC Book: Written & Illustrated in Gallipoli by men of ANZAC. 1st Ed., xv+169pp., 4to, 11 col. & 2 b/w plates., illus. throughout. Cassell. 1916  #61048
[HLMainPic] Collection of stories, rhymes, recollections of Gallipoli &c., sold for the benefit of patriotic funds connected with ANZAC. Attractive work, little rubbed but entirely sound orig. blue cloth with col. onlay on front board depicting an ANZAC in martial pose. Nice ink presentation inscrip. "Norman Campell Maughan from W.R. Matthews A.I.F. Baiuleul [sic] 1918." The only person with the name of the recipient that I can locate was born 1908 & died 1987; the giver was William Robert Matthews, a farm labourer from South Australia who enlisted in 1916, served with the 50th Bn. AIF & was wounded by gunshot on 20/10/17 & again on 16/6/18. A copy of his service record is included.   £50
The Royal Tank Regiment 50th Anniversary Souvenir 1917-1967. Orig. wraps., 132pp., illus. RTR Publications. 1967  #69625
[HLMainPic] Num. interesting conributions, many concerning 1914-18 inc. 'General Sir Hugh Elles' by J.F.C. Fuller; 'The Attack on Flesquieres Ridge' by Maj.-Gen. H.L. Birks; C Bn. Heavy Branch MGC... Dec. 13 1916-July 31 1917' by Lt.-Col. E.J. O'Connor; 'Travails of a Tank Engineer 1916-18' by Brig. W.A. Stack & many others. VG.   £20
The Path of Honour: Sgt. Basil T. Wilmer's Experiences in the Great War, 1914-1918. 1st Ed., 160pp., portrait frontis., 17 photos., plate of original battlefield grave, diagram, sketch map. Launceston, Tasmania: A.W. Birchall & Sons. 1919  #65462
[HLMainPic] Diary from enlisting in August 1914 in 11th Bn. AIF, 1st Australian Div., training then landing at Gallipoli where wounded on the first day; rejoined after a few weeks convalescence then proceeded to Western Front where he exchanged into the Australian Field Artillery & was KiA with 3rd Battery AFA near Zillebeke on 21st July 1917, & buried at Reninghelst. Rare & detakled diary containing much of interest. Orig. dec. paper covd. boards, sp. chipped, generally VG. See illustrations on our website.   £250

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