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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Great War Memorial Volumes Great War Memorial Volumes   164 Books
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A Poet of the Air: Letters of Jack Morris Wright, First Lieutenant of the American Aviation in France, April, 1917-January, 1918. 1st Ed., xvii+246pp., portrait frontis., plate. Boston & NY: Houghton Mifflin. 1918  #66498
[HLMainPic] Letters of the American aviator/poet in France 1917-18, arranged by his mother. He was killed in a flying accident before seeing active service in the air. Orig. paper covd. boards with blue cloth backstrip, paper label to sp., label rubbed, generally VG. See illustration on our website.   £35
Essays, Poems, Letters by Bernard Pitt, M.A. (Assistant Master Cooper's Company's School), Lieut., Border Regiment, Attached Trench Mortar Battery, Killed in Action, April 30th, 1916. 1st Ed., ix+202pp., 217x144mm, portrait frontis. Francis Edwards. 1917  #66058
[HLMainPic] Bernard Pitt was born in 1881 and was an assistant master at the Cooper's Company's School. He was Killed in Action by the explosion of a German mine between Souchez and Givenchy at 7 p.m. on 30th April 1916. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He was thirty-four. Includes 50pp. interesting and atmospheric letters from France & Flanders between December 1915 and April 1916, serving with 47th Trench Mortar Battery, notable for rare account of trench mortar work in the front line (Pitt describes the phenomenon, known well to infantrymen, of mortar men turning up in their trench, loosing off a few rounds then clearing out before the inevitable retaliation). The letters are followed by poems (including one war poem) and various prose pieces on the nature of poetry, comedy, and so forth. Orig. green cloth, gilt to front, somewhat rubbed, generally VG. See illustration on our website.   £95
Kingsley Darling: A Mother's Tribute. 1st Ed., xi+307pp., 227x152mm, portrait frontis., 11 plates. Printed for Private Circulation. 1919  #69277
[HLMainPic] Captain James William Kingsley ("Lovey") Darling, born in 1894 and educated at Merchiston Castle School, enlisted in the 9th Royal Scots in August 1914, was commissioned in October and posted to Gallipoli in September 1915, where he was attached to the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment. He later served with the 5th Royal Scots (later 5/6th Battalion) on the Western Front, was wounded in December 1917 and killed in action on 11th August 1918. He was twenty-four years old and is buried in Bouchoir New British Cemetery. (His family also erected a granite Celtic cross in Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, in his memory.) The work almost entirely consists of his wartime letters from Gallipoli and France, together with a number of tributes and extracts from letters of condolence, also some copies of letters of condolence that Darling wrote to the mothers of fallen brother officers. "Lovey" Darling's letters contain some atmospheric passages; e.g. at Gallipoli in October 1915 "the hills are very pretty, and there are quite a number of trees about the place. At night the sunsets are very fine…" but in Krithia Nullah, "The trenches were a perfect maze, and terribly knocked about by shell fire. Dead lay here and there along the parapets, and along the trench itself, feet, hands, bits of body, etc., were sticking out. Several graves marked the spot where those who had fallen among friends lay, and slept their last sleep. Up on top of the nullah a Turk lay, almost falling over the edge of the cliff, with a big hole in his head." Purple cloth, gilt, regimental badge to front, VG with inscription "To Mrs A. Robertson. 11th August 1919,"   £165
An American Soldier: Letters of Edwin Austin Abbey, 2d. 1st Ed., [ix]+174pp., 202x134mm, portrait frontis., map (Vimy Ridge, showing location of his grave). VG in partyial dw. Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York. 1918  #66405
[HLMainPic] Edwin Austin Abbey the Second, son of William Burling Abbey and Katharine Eleanor Abbey of Philadelphia, enlisted 2nd Canadian Pioneer Battalion Oct. 1915, served in Flanders March-April 1916 when he was wounded. Commissioned in 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, returned to the Front in Dec. 1916 & Killed in Action by a sniper at Vimy Ridge on 10th April 1917. Contains lengthy letters written during training in Canada & on active service during 1916-17, these giving a very good impression of his life in France and Flanders, both in and behind the lines. They are followed by several letters of condolence, one of them containing a detailed account of his final hours and the location of his body (which had been plundered by the Germans for identifications), with a map showing the location of his battlefield grave. Orig. brown paper covered boards with cloth backstrip, gilt to spine and title to front, VG in dw (latter scarce example, but lacking sp. panel). See illustration on our website.   £125
Dennis Ely, Captain Durham Light Infantry. 1st Ed., 40pp., 204x138mm, portrait frontis. Oxford, Frederick Hall, Printer to the University. 1916  #69280
[HLMainPic] Slim but moving memorial volume to Dennis Herbert James Ely, born in 1896 and Ed. at Ayr Academy, Whitgift (where he was a segeant in the OTC). Enlisted in Public Schools Brigade 1914 then gazetted to the Durham Light Infantry on 31st October 1914. In October 1915 he was sent with a draft to the 15th (Service Battalion, was slightly wounded in January 1916, wounded again then Killed in Action on 1st July 1916. He has no known grave, is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial, and was twenty years old. Memoir and extracts from letters in training and from France 1915-16, also an account of the 15th DLI on 1st July 1916 "derived partly from the notes written by his Colonel on his death-bed... partly from the letters of brother officers & men." Orig. pale blue paper covered boards with wheat backstrip, blocked black to spine, VG, nice copy. See illustrations on our website.   £165
Geoffrey Watkins Smith. 1st Ed., 219pp., 197x133mm, portrait frontis., 5 plates, facsimile letter & menu card. Oxford: Printed for Private Circulation. 1917  #69281
[HLMainPic] Geoffrey Watkins Smith was born in 1881 at Beckenham, Kent. He was a Scholar at Winchester & New College, Oxford, taking a First and becoming a Fellow & Tutor at New College. A distinguished zoologist, he was commissioned in 13th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade, in 1914 & commanded "A" Coy. in France until his death on the Somme on 10th July 1916 during the battalion's tragic attack at Contalmaison. He was thirty-four years old and is buried in Pozieres Military Cemetery. This memorial contains around 60pp. letters in training & at the front; also biography, lists of scientific publications &c. Grey paper covd. boards with wheat cloth backstrip. Number 91 of 125 individually numbered copies printed, "Each copy is to be numbered & presented to a near relation or intimate friend & the name inscribed." This copy presented to E.A. Elliott. Little wear, VG. See illustration on our website.   £225
Dan: A Memorial. 1st Ed., 283pp., 202x150mm, portrait frontis., 21 photos. & sketches. Printed for Private Circulation by R. & R. Clark Ltd., Edinburgh. 1918  #69282
[HLMainPic] Daniel Edward Bradby, born at Rugby in 1896, the son of a Rugby School housemaster (H.C. Bradby, compiler of the volume) & educated there, was commissioned in the Rifle Brigade in 1914 & joined the 9th (S) Bn. in France in Dec. 1915; became O.C. "B" Coy. in September 1916 (after the Battle of Flers-Courcelette) & was KiA near the Harp Redoubt during the Battle of Arras on 9th May 1917. He was twenty years old & is buried in Tilloy British Cemetery. Contains around 175pp. letters from the front, also lengthy extracts from various letters of condolence etc. Interestingly contains a (fairly indistinct) photograph of Bradby and another officer near the Harp Redoubt taken on the day of his death. In his final letter to his Mother, written on 8th April 1917 and left with a colleague ("I am giving this letter to some one or other who is staying behind to post if I get knocked out, so I hope you will never read it!") he wrote: "If I am killed you will at any rate know that I died trying to do my duty, and thinking always of you at home who I love so dearly." Orig. grey paper covered boards with wheat cloth backstrip & paper sp. label, VG & scarce.   £165
Richard Vincent Sutton: A Record of His Life Together with Extracts from His Private Papers. 1st Ed., [ii]+195pp., 290x217mm, portrait frontis., 3 other portraits, 2 further plates (one of HQ Staff, 4th Army, 1917, all subjects identified), several small sketches and diagrams. Printed [for private circulation] by George W. Jones, Gough Square, Fleet Street. 1922  #66399
[HLMainPic] A fine & rare memorial volume. Sir Richard Vincent Sutton, sixth Baronet of Norwood Park, county Nottingham, and Benham Valence, Berkshire, "Dick," was born in 1891 and Ed. at Eton. Failing to gain entry to Oxford University he was granted a commission in the 1st Life Guards in 1910, doing duty in London and Windsor when not shooting on his estate or travelling in europe. He served abroad with the Life Guards in October 1914, when after three weeks in Flanders, he was slightly wounded near Zandvoorde on the 25th. This first period of active service is described in lengthy daily diary entries. Sutton returned to his regiment in March 1915 and was wounded again on 13th May near Hooge. Out again in August and joined IV Corps Staff for several months then 4th Army Staff, where he remained for twenty-five months as ADC to Sir Henry Rawlinson, including the planning and execution of the Battle of the Somme. In September 1917 he was then reclaimed by his regiment as Adjutant, then served with the Guards Machine Gun Regiment in 1918. Surviving to the end, he was struck down by influenza after the armistice and died in Base Hospital at Wimereux on 29th November 1918. He was buried in the Terlincthun British Military Cemetery, was twenty-seven years old and held the Military Cross. This lavish memoir includes lengthy extracts from his letters to family and friends throughout his service on the Western Front. Blue/grey paper covered boards with wheat cloth backstrip with paper label, VG.   £325

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In Memoriam. Alexander Roxburgh Murray, 2nd Lieut., 17th Highland Light Infantry. Born at Chungking, West China, on Christmas Day, 1897. Killed, leading his men into action, near Beaumont Hamel, on the morning of 18th November, 1916. 1st Ed., 59pp., 170x122mm, portrait frontis. & 47 photos. No imprint or date (c.1917).  #69285
[HLMainPic] Alexander Roxburgh Murray was educated at Glasgow Academy where he excelled at athletics and Rugby Football. Leaving school in 1915 he was commissioned in the 17th (Service) Battalion Highland Light Infantry (The Glasgow Chamber of Commerce battalion) and went to France in July 1916. He was just eighteen when he fell on 18th November 1916 and is buried in New Munich Trench British Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel. This small book, printed on art paper throughout, contains a 'photographic essay' of his young life, growing up in China and Scotland, and later in uniform, followed by several pages of extracts from letters of condolence. Orig. purple cloth, silver gilt to front board with H.L.I. badge & "In Memoriam." VG & rare.   £165
Letters, Essays & Verses of John Brown MC, MA (Oxon.). 1st Ed., 280pp., 194x138mm, 2 portraits. Edinburgh: Elliot. 1921  #69286
[HLMainPic] John Brown was educated at Merchiston Castle School & Balliol College, Oxford. He enlisted in the 9th (TF) Battalion Royal Scots & served with them in Belgium; received a commission in the Seaforth Highlanders in 1915, won the Military Cross in 1916 with the 7th (Service) Battalion & was shot by a sniper near Wytschaete on 11th April 1918 whilst serving with the 9th (Service) Battalion, the Pioneer battalion of the 9th (Scottish) Division. He was twenty-seven when he fell and is buried in Voormezeele Enclosure No. 3. Contains some letters from the Front, also Brown's account of "A" Company, 9th (Service) Battalion Royal Scots in Flanders, February-May 1915. Orig. rust brown cloth, blocked black to sp, VG & scarce. See illustration on our website.   £165

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