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 18 August 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   1033 Books
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My Airman Over There. By His Wife. 1st Ed., [v]+288pp. NY: Moffat, Yard & Co. 1918  #69563
[HLMainPic] The supposed letters of an English scout pilot (who had previously served in an infantry regiment at Gallipoli & in France, winning the MC), describing aerial combats &c. with apparent authenticity. By the end he is missing in action having been shot down, while the author, his wife, holds out hope of his survival. Orig. wheat cloth with illustrative onlay to front, VG.   £25
Letters from Flanders written by 2nd Lieut. A.D. Gillespie Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders to his Home People. 3rd Ed., with an Appendix, xvi+326pp., portrait frontis., 2 other portraits. Smith, Elder. 1916  #65190
[HLMainPic] Alexander Douglas Gillespie was Ed. at Winchester & New College, Oxford, commissioned in the 4th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders & went to the Front in Feb. 1915. He was killed in action on 26th September 1915 with the 2nd Bn. near La Bassée, during the Battle of Loos (his only brother, Thomas Cunningham Gillespie, 2nd Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers, had been killed near the same place on 18th October 1914). A.D.G. was twenty-six and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. Contains one long letter from T.C.G. dated 16th October 1914, relating recent experiences in action etc. Almost all the book comprises A.D.G.'s lengthy letters from the Front, February 1915 onwards, describing life in trenches and billets, from the antagonistic activities of the Germans opposite to the habits of Sonia the cat that shared their trenches (and her kittens), changing conditions of warfare (issue of respirators etc.), curious rumours (streams poisoned with arsenic; booby-trapped corpses) and much more. Orig. red cloth, gilt, minor wear, VG. See illustration on our website.   £120
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
9th Royal Scots (T.F.), B Company On Active Service, From A Private's Diary, February-May 1915. 1st Ed., 94pp., sm. 8vo. Edinburgh: Printed by Turnbull & Spears. 1916  #69446
[HLMainPic] Presumably privately printed record, the writer reporting events with great immediacy as they unfolded, of active service in the Ypres Salient, billeted at Voormezeele & Vlamertinghe, in action at Sanctuary Wood, in support of the Canadians at St. Julien during '2nd Ypres,' then back to Sanctuary Wood. Several officers named in text. Some of the letters also appeared in Scottish newspapers of the period. Orig. brown cloth, gilt to front, VG & scarce.   £65
Bombardment of Lowestoft by The Germans, April 25th, 1916. 1st Ed., orig. dec. wraps., 1pp. letterpress followed by 12 photo. plates, each captioned in the negative. A. Crisp & Sons, Lowestoft. Contemp.  #69478
[HLMainPic] Contemp. illustrated souvenir of bombardment of Lowestoft by German battleships on 25th April 1916. Text leaf foxed, generally VG & scarce.   £45
Battle of Le Cateau 26th August, 1914. Tour of the Battlefield. 1st Ed., orig. printed card wrappers with map pocket, 36pp., 2 fldg. maps & 10 'panorama sketches.' HMSO (By Command of the Army Council). 1934  #69487
[HLMainPic] Detailed & useful work published for instruction of officers, including notes on 1914 era modes of defence, battlefield tour, principal lessons of the battle, order of battle. Orig. printed card wraps. with fldg. map of Battle of Le Cateau & The Eve of Le Cateau, together ten panorama sketches, contained in end-pocket. Minor wear, VG. Scarce.   £145
Battle of The Marne 8th-10th September, 1914. Tour of the Battlefield. 1st Ed., orig. printed card wrappers with map pocket, 50pp., 3 fldg. maps. HMSO (By Command of the Army Council). 1935  #69489
[HLMainPic] Detailed & useful study published for instruction of officers, including: Events Leading up to the Battle of the Marne; Notes on the 1914 Training Manuals; Summary of the Battle; Tour of the Battlefield; Principal Lessons of the Battle; Orders of Battle of Troops Engaged (British, French & German). Orig. printed card wraps., VG & scarce.   £145
Army List August 1956. Very useful edition as it includes officers of the Territorial Army, National Service officers, officers on Short Service Regular Commissions, &c. Complete index. Orig. paper wraps., VG. See illustration on our website.  #64724
[HLMainPic]   £25
The Gallipoli Campaign: An Outline of the Military Operations. By A Student. Revised Ed., orig. printed wraps., 87pp., 4 maps. Sifton, Praed & Co. 1930  #64166
[HLMainPic] Lucid concise account of the operations designed for use by officers studying for promotion exams &c. Sp. sl. chipped, near VG. Uncommon. See illustration on our website.   £30
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

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