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 29 March 2025
 
   

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   864 Books
<<   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10    >>
The Gallant Legion. Complete set of 12 Vols. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. 1930s.  #66392
[HLMainPic] Angus & Robertson was the most prolific publisher of war memoirs in Australia after the Great War & produced a number of notable & several classic texts recording the experiences of Australian men & women in the Army, Naval, Nursing & Air services. At some point during the late 1930s, presumably to give a new lease of life to unbound sheets, the publisher reissued all these works in a series called The Gallant Legion. The sheets of various (but not 1st) editions were bound in excellent quality blue cloth with the series title at the head of the spine, plus the number of the volume in the series, with the individual volume title & author below, & a fighting soldier motif at the foot of the spine. All the volumes in this edition are complete as per the original texts, with all maps & photos. as originally published. This fine body of work, complete here in 12 volumes, includes: IDRIESS (Ion L.) The Desert Column; MAXWELL (J., VC, MC, DCM) Hell's Bells & Mademoiselles; WHITE (T.W.) Guests of the Unspeakable; RULE (E.J., MC, MM) Jacka's Mob; WILLIAMS (H.R.) The Gallant Company; TILTON (May) The Grey Battalion; REID (Frank) The Fighting Cameliers; MORROW (Edgar) Iron in the Fire; BURTON (O.E., MM) The Silent Division: New Zealanders at the Front 1914-1919; JONES (T.M.) Watchdogs of the Deep: Life in a Submarine During the Great War; SUTHERLAND (L.W., MC, DCM) Aces & Kings; MONASH (Gen. Sir John) The Australian Victories in France in 1918. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, VG throughout & excellent complete set. See illustrations on our website.   £425
Camion Letters From American College Men, Volunteer Drivers of The American Field Service in France, 1917. 1st Ed., xii+101pp. NY: Henry Holt & Co. 1918  #66586
[HLMainPic] Letters of ten volunteer drivers (mostly from Cornell University) serving with the French Army at the Front. Orig. blue cloth, paper title labels to front & sp., VG. See illustration on our website.   £45
The Western Front Then & Now. 1st Ed., 256pp., 4to, photos. throughout, map. VG in dw. Pearson. nd (c.1938).  #59714
[HLMainPic] Useful volume of around 300 comparison photos. in wartime & after, + commentary & index. Orig. dec. red cloth, VG in sl. chipped dw & scarce thus. See illustration on our website.   £45
The Northern Barrage: Mine Force, United States Atlantic Fleet, The North Sea 1918. Edited by All Hands. 1st Ed., 127pp., 4to, photos. & sketches throughout. Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute. 1919  #66137
[HLMainPic] Fully illustrated with photos. of all USN vessels & crews of Mine Force, based at Invergordon &c. during this period. Several hundred photos. (inc. shore bases, ships at sea, mining eqpt. in use &c.) + supporting text notes, endorsements &c. Nicely produced record of this work. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, little marked & worn, generally VG. See illustrations on our website.   £65
Memoir of Capt. Geoffrey Grenside Bowen, M.C., The Lancashire Fusiliers. 1st Ed., [iii]+121pp., portrait frontis., 2 photos., fldg. map. Printed by Richmond Hill Printing Works, Ltd., Bournemouth. nd [c.1919].  #65271
[HLMainPic] Ed. at Charterhouse 1909-13 & passed into Sandhurst. Commissioned August 1914, Lancashire Fusiliers & joined 3rd (SR) Bn. on the East Coast for a few weeks before being posted to the 2nd Bn. in France in Sept. Wounded 21/10/14 at Le Touquet, near Ploegsteert & returned to England. Back to the 2nd Bn. in Jan. 1915 & on Bde. staff during 2nd Ypres until evacuated with jaundice. On his recovery he was posted to the 19th (S) Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers as adjutant & accompanied them to France in November 1915, but returned to the 2nd Bn. in May 1916. He was wounded on 1/7/16 between Serre & Beaumont Hamel & invalided to England once more; returned in Nov. 1916 & was awarded MC & Mentioned in Despatches for work at Arras in the spring of 1917; later served during 3rd Ypres then attached 2/2nd Lovats Scouts in UK, Nov. 1917-April 1918. Rejoined 2nd Bn. & took part in the Final Advance. He was Killed in Action commanding "B" Coy. in an attack on the Drocourt-Queant Line on 2/9/18. "Granny" Bowen wrote most informative letters to members of his family as well as keeping a daily diary for longish periods. These documents largely make up this book & provide an extremely valuable record of the life of a regular infantry officer in all its facets from the daily routine to active operations, courses of instruction &c. Concludes with letters of condolence from regimental officers, describing his death & burial. Orig. red cloth. leather sp. label, sp. little rubbed & worn o/w VG & inscribed: "Evelyn Barron Christmas 1931. J.C.G. Bowen, Zo. W. Bowen." See illustrations on our website.   £225
Welsh Army Corps 1914-1919. Report of the Executive Committee. Facsimile reprint of 1921 1st Ed., [ii]+51pp. Newport: Westlake. 1989  #66294
[HLMainPic] Recruitment in Wales 1914-15 & the raising of the 38th (Welsh) Div. Hardback reprint, VG.   £15
Fundraising for the Dardanelles: Mrs Cara Leland Broughton. (i) Printed 'form' letter from Jean Hamilton (with recipient's name: Mrs Broughton, in pencil) acknowledging gift to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force; (ii) Receipt issued to Mrs Broughton by the Lady Hamilton Dardanelles Fund for gift of £15, signed in ink by [Lady] Jean Hamilton; (iii) Handbill issued by Mrs Moncrieffe's Fund, "Urgently required for the Dardanelles: The 'Gallipoli' or Improved Bell Stretcher Tent... These stretcher tents meet a want that has been created by the peculiar position on the Gallipoli peninsula where the wounded have not at their disposal field ambulances... but are obliged to lie on the ground without shelter, & tormented by flies..."; (iv) Another similar regarding the increased costs of improved Stretcher Tents (dated 10th Sept. 1915); (v) & (vi) printed letter & official receipt (signed by Marie Michell, Hon. Sec.) re Cara Broughton's gift of £30 to towards Stretcher Tents; (vii) Orig. 3pp. ms. letter (with OAS envelope, Passed by Censor &c.) from 245 L/Cpl. A. Forbes ASC, 2nd Mtd. Div. in Gallipoli to Mrs Broughton, thanking her for gifts of cigarettes.  #61081
[HLMainPic] During the Great War, especially during the early years, citizens, rich & poor, were exhorted to subscribe to a cornucopia of relief funds, ranging from those for Belgian Refugees to small comforts for the men in the trenches. Many of the organisers were 'society' ladies, & the campaign at Gallipoli was not without its sponsors, including Lady Hamilton, wife of Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton, with her Lady Hamilton Dardanelles Fund, and Mrs Moncrieffe (Gen. Hamilton's sister-in-law) with her "Mrs Moncrieffe's Fund" whose St. Marylebone War Hospitals' Supply Depot had a "Dardanelles Account." The small collection of documents here offered are a rare survival of these funds for men at the Dardanelles. The letter from the soldier (L/Cpl. Forbes) shows that Mrs Broughton also sent comforts to individual soldiers: "I am just writing a few lines in my dug-out, to thank you very much for the cigarettes which you are sending me every two weeks. I don't think there is a better tonic, as the chaps say, for our nerves when the shells & shrapnel come whistling over our heads..." (he goes on to describe some close shaves &c.). Note: Cara Leland Broughton, or Mrs Urban Hanlon Broughton, was an American heiress who married a relatively impecunious English engineer, Urban Broughton, when he was working for her father, the tycoon Henry Huttleston Rogers (of Standard Oil &c.) in 1895. Broughton became rich & successful in his own right, but the couple became enormously wealthy on the death of his wife's father in 1909. They lived in Park Street, Mayfair, & at a country house at Englefield Green. Two sons were ed. at Harrow & Urban was MP for Preston, 1915-18. Mrs Broughton made many generous gifts to various war charities. All items VG. See illustrations on our website.   £225
On Safari: Experiences of a Gunner in the East African Campaign. By F.C. 1st Ed., 90pp., orig. dec. card wraps., 5 plates. Cape Town: Juta. 1917  #66333
[HLMainPic] Personal experiences inc. a short account of German South-West Africa in 1914-15 then mostly active service in German East as an artillery signaller &c. Orig. illustrated card wraps., VG throughout & rare. See illustration on our website.   £95
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
Littoral Belge - Belgian Coast - Belgische Cust 1914-1918. Orig. printed wraps., 15 col. drawings on 12pp., oblong 8vo (235x158mm). Bruxelles: Collection Marcovici. nd (1920s)  #67561
[HLMainPic] Series of fifteen appealing coloured views (based on photos.) of locations on the Belgian coast at La Panne, Coxyde, Nieuport-Bains, Lombartzyde &c., showing war damage & wartime emplacements, ordnance &c. VG. See illustrations on our website.   £35

<<   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10    >>




View Order/Checkout


 

 



Terms & Conditions  - Links  - Contact Us  - Newsletter
Turner Donovan Military Books, Flat 1, 22 Florence Road, Brighton BN1 6DJ