Turner Donovan Military Books - The world’s finest selection of rare and out-of-print books on British military history from 1800 to 1945
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FARRER (Reginald) The Void of War: Letters from Three Fronts. 1st Ed., xiv+271pp. Constable. 1918  #65898
[HLMainPic] In between plant hunting expeditions in far flung places the botanist Reginald John Farrer worked for the Ministry of Information under John Buchan (to whom this book is dedicated) & was commissioned to record his impressions at the front. The result contains descriptions of the Western Front from Ypres & Kemmel down to Vimy & Arras, the Somme &c., then a tour of the Italian Front. Records many interesting sights & the author's observations on scenes & aspects of the battlefields. Falls thought the section on Flanders was the best part: "the view of 'a whole huge people methodically at work on a job it hates' quite good." But "Paris seems to be looked on mainly from the Ritz, not the best standpoint from which to study its more serious side" - to which I would add that the section on Paris occupies about two pages & Farrer himself says "Ritzes are not places to give proper perspectives. Here you only see the luxuriousness of life: & the contrast is much more of a jar" i.e. he uses the Ritz as a device to emphasise the vast gap between Paris & life at the Front. Orig. brown cloth, blocked black, nice copy of 1st Ed. See illustration on our website.   £75

     




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