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British Army Manuals (1914-18) British Army Manuals, Text Books and Handbooks (1914-1918)   129 Books
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A Subaltern's Share in the War: Home Letters of the late George Weston Devenish, Lieut. R.A., Attached R.F.C. Intro. & Notes by Mrs. Horace Porter. 1st Ed., xviii+178pp., portrait frontis., 4 plates. Constable. 1917  #67360
[HLMainPic] George Weston Devenish was born in 1893, educated at Charterhouse and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, receiving his commission (Royal Horse and Field Artillery) in July 1913. To France in September 1914, joining 6th Battery, 40th Brigade R.F.A., 3rd Division, on the Aisne. He was wounded near his Observation Post at Fauqissart, 28th October 1914, proceeded to France again in June 1915 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1916; he spent four months as an artillery observer then underwent pilot training. He was killed in action with 35th Squadron, shot down in flames, on 6th June 1917, and is commemorated on the Arras (Flying Services) Memorial. He was twenty-three. Contains lengthy extracts from entertaining and informative letters describing his active service experiences in Flanders and later over the Western Front. Orig. paper covd. boards, sympathetically rebacked in grey cloth, VG thus. See illustration on our website.   £145
Letters of an English Boy, Being the Letters of Richard Byrd Levett, King's Royal Rifle Corps, who Died for England, at the Age of Nineteen, in the Great War. March 10, 1917. [Compiled by his Mother, Mrs. Maud Sophia Levett.] xii+194pp., 9 plates (including portraits and facsimile bookplate). Eton College: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd. 1917  #67570
[HLMainPic] Richard William Byrd Levett was born in 1898 & educated at St Peter's Court Preparatory School, Eton from 1911-15, then Sandhurst from November 1915 until he received his commission in July 1916. Posted initially to the 6th (SR) Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps at Sheerness then to the 1st Battalion (2nd Division) on the Somme Front in France in December 1916. He was appointed to command No. 8 Platoon in "B" Company, then briefly posted to command the 2nd Divisional Company, consisting of shoemakers, carpenters etc., but rejoined his platoon in time to take part in the attack at Irles on 10th March 1917. He was killed near Grevillers Trench by the British barrage, behind which the attack was following closely. He was nineteen and is buried in Albert Communal Cemetery Extension. Contains interesting, observant & atmospheric letters from the Front, recording his duties & surroundings including attendance at Anti-Gas School. For example, a letter dated 13th Jan. 1917, from "The Abomination of Desolation," describes the environs of Contalmaison at that time: "What I think it is most like is the most depressing view in the 'Black Country' that you can find. Take away all buildings and for cinders put brown earth all churned up into millions of shell holes & smashed up trenches. Cover the whole with thick mud – fill all depressions with water, scatter round thousands of empty beef tins, broken rifles, braziers, cart limbers, etc., pieces of men's clothing, boots and equipment & add a continuous roar of guns – there mustn't be a tree, a house or a bird in the scene, but just as far as you can see all round rolling mud covered with débris – well, you can't imagine now what it is like, but I can tell you it is horrible." Concludes with letters of condolence from brother officers, chaplain, his servant etc., an account of "The 'Bapaume Ridge' and the Taking of Irles" reproduced from the Morning Post and finally a letter to be given to his parents in the event of his death. Orig. olive cloth, gilt title to spine & front, corners dec. with enamelled bands in the colours of Eton College and the KRRC, little rubbed & bumped, VG & rare. See illustration on our website.   £145
Album de la Guerre: Five Hundred Photographs, Seventy Drawings & Thirteen Articles by Members of Base Hospital No. 4, U.S.A. Serving with the British Forces on the Somme Front & Mobile Hospital No. 5, Serving in the Meuse-Argonne Sector. As the First Oganization of American Expeditionary Troops to enter active service Abroad the members of this organization had wide & varied experiences with the British, French & American Forces Covering a Period of Twenty-Three Months from May 8th, 1917, to April 8th, 1919. 1st Ed., oblong 4to (340x295mm), 117pp., 500 photos., 70 drawings. Cleveland: Ohio: Scientific Illustrating Studios. 1919  #67004
[HLMainPic] Self-evidently a highly illustrated records of these hospital units in France 1917-1919, with rolls of officers & soldiers who served with them (including attached British officers & men), with index of illustrations. 1000 copies printed of which this is no. 274, with presentation label recording that it was gifted to Troop A, 107th Cavalry O.N.G. [Ohio National Guard]. Orig. blue cloth, silver gilt title & decs. to front, little rubbed & worn, generally VG. An excellent record & seemingly a rare surviving example. See illustrations on our website.   £225
Letters of an English Boy, Being the Letters of Richard Byrd Levett, King's Royal Rifle Corps, who Died for England, at the Age of Nineteen, in the Great War. March 10, 1917. [Compiled by his Mother, Mrs. Maud Sophia Levett.] xii+194pp., 9 plates (including portraits and facsimile bookplate). Eton College: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd. 1917  #67099
[HLMainPic] Richard William Byrd Levett was born in 1898 & educated at St Peter's Court Preparatory School, Eton from 1911-15, then Sandhurst from November 1915 until he received his commission in July 1916. Posted initially to the 6th (SR) Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps at Sheerness then to the 1st Battalion (2nd Division) on the Somme Front in France in December 1916. He was appointed to command No. 8 Platoon in "B" Company, then briefly posted to command the 2nd Divisional Company, consisting of shoemakers, carpenters etc., but rejoined his platoon in time to take part in the attack at Irles on 10th March 1917. He was killed near Grevillers Trench by the British barrage, behind which the attack was following closely. He was nineteen and is buried in Albert Communal Cemetery Extension. Contains interesting, observant & atmospheric letters from the Front, recording his duties & surroundings including attendance at Anti-Gas School. For example, a letter dated 13th Jan. 1917, from "The Abomination of Desolation," describes the environs of Contalmaison at that time: "What I think it is most like is the most depressing view in the 'Black Country' that you can find. Take away all buildings and for cinders put brown earth all churned up into millions of shell holes & smashed up trenches. Cover the whole with thick mud – fill all depressions with water, scatter round thousands of empty beef tins, broken rifles, braziers, cart limbers, etc., pieces of men's clothing, boots and equipment & add a continuous roar of guns – there mustn't be a tree, a house or a bird in the scene, but just as far as you can see all round rolling mud covered with débris – well, you can't imagine now what it is like, but I can tell you it is horrible." Concludes with letters of condolence from brother officers, chaplain, his servant etc., an account of "The 'Bapaume Ridge' and the Taking of Irles" reproduced from the Morning Post and finally a letter to be given to his parents in the event of his death. Orig. olive cloth, gilt title to spine & front, corners dec. with enamelled bands in the colours of Eton College and the KRRC, book review to front paste-down, little rubbed & bumped, VG & rare. See illustration on our website.   £165
Kenneth Gordon Garnett MC, RFA, 30 July 1892-22 August 1917. 1st Ed., 62pp., portrait frontis., 11 plates. Privately printed at the Chiswick Press. 1917  #67100
[HLMainPic] A memoir by his Mother with selections from his letters from the Front followed by customary extracts from obituaries & letters of condolence. Garnett was born in 1892, Ed. at St. Paul's School & Trinity College Cambridge (rowed in the triumphant boat in the 1914 boat race). He was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery in Jan. 1915 & proceeded to France the following month, only to be accidentally wounded in March. He returned to the Front in Oct. 1915 & spent the winter in the Ypres Salient then, on 24th August 1916, during a bombardment of Delville Wood, he was shot in the neck & paralysed. He was convalescent in England for a year before his death from a relapse of his spinal wound & is buried in Wandsworth (Putney Vale) Cemetery. Orig. brown paper covd. boards with wheat cloth backstrip, titled in black to front & spine, ink stain at foot of front board, o/w VG. See illustration on our website..   £125
A Scholar's Letters from the Front: Written by Stephen H. Hewett, 2nd Lieut. in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. With an Intro. by F.F. Urquhart, Fellow of Balliol College. 1st Ed., xviii+114pp., portrait frontis. Longmans, Green & Co. 1918  #67103
[HLMainPic] Stephen Henry Philip Hewett was born in India in 1893 (his father was in the Indian Telegraph Service), educated at Downside & Balliol College, Oxford: completing his third year in 1914 he went to Savoy for the summer where he witnessed the French mobilization and made his way home, commissioned in 11th (S) Bn. Warwickshire Regiment, but kept back when the Battalion went overseas, he eventually joined the 14th Battalion – the First Birmingham City Battalion – at the Front in February 1916 & was KiA leading his platoon in an attack between High Wood and Delville Wood on 22nd July 1916. He was twenty-three & is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. The book consists of lengthy 'diary letters' to his mother together with those to his sisters and various friends, containing, inter alia, affectionate descriptions of characters such as one Latham, the company officers' cook, and his horror at the first casualty he encountered: "his young freckled face was horribly smashed in by a bullet… I was severely shaken; but one has to get callous both in mind and body, and one does: and an hour's sleep revived me." Orig. paper covd. boards & cloth backstrip with paper label, eps rather browned, somewhat rubbed/worn, generally VG. See illustration on our website.   £145
Corps Extracts. "A" and "Q" Branch Headquarters, Cavalry Corps. January, 1916. 2nd Ed., orig. buff printed card wraps., 40pp. + blank interleaves. Printed by Harrison & Sons for HMSO. 1916  #61040
[HLMainPic] These 'extracts' from Cavalry Corps standing orders relate to Commissions & Cadet School (with details of how candidates may become eligible for commissions in various branches of the service; how the commissions should be applied for & details of the establishment of the officer Cadet School in France ["Classes are received fortnightly, & the duration of the course is about one month..."] &c). Also contains details re promotions, reporting of casualties, guidance on courts martial, billeting, civilian claims against damages to billets &c. Much of interest on these various non-operational yet essential matters. Very nice condition, this copy with around 20 signatures of members of Cavalry Corps HQ, ranging from the GOC, Lt.-Gen. Sir Cecil Edward Bingham [who relinquished command of the Corps in March 1916, which neatly dates these inscriptions to early 1916, soon after this issue was published], Brig. Home (BGGS), Brig. Longmore (DA&QMG) & various lesser functionaries. VG & rare. See illustration on our website.   £145
Henry Dundas, Scots Guards: A Memoir. 1st Ed., xv+253pp., portrait frontis. Blackwood. 1921  #67352
[HLMainPic] Henry Lancaster Nevill Dundas was born in 1897 at Edinburgh, Ed. Eton & commissioned in the Scots Guards in Sept. 1915. He joined the 1st Bn. in France in June 1916, serving with them up until his death (apart from some time attached to Brigade Staff) and was awarded the MC and Bar. Dundas was KiA on 27th September 1918 during the attack on the Hindenburg Line (his Commanding Officer wrote "Death was practically instantaneous, and he could have suffered no pain. He was shot by a sniper, the bullet going through his heart") and is buried in Hermies Hill British Cemetery, between Bapaume and Cambrai. He was twenty-one years old. Memoir consisting mostly of his interesting letters 1916-18, describing aspects of trench warfare such as raids and patrols and presenting an authentic veteran's view of the Western Front including the Somme and Passchendaele. Also various letters of condolence, including one from J.M. Barrie. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, sp. dull, little wear, generally VG & scarce. See illustration on our website.   £100
James Lusk, BA (Cantab).; Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur; Captain & Adjutant 6th Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Letters & Memories. 1st Ed., [vii]+151pp., portrait frontis., col. plate (of Legion d'Honneur). Oxford: Printed for B.H. Blackwell. 1916  #66642
[HLMainPic] James Lusk was commissioned in the 6th Cameronians in 1908, mobilised & served in France March-Dec. 1915. Memoir followed by extensive & interesting letters from training and the Front: wounded by a trench mortar on Christmas Day 1915 whilst going round his trenches & DoW 28/12/15. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur at Festubert in June when he was Bn. Transport Officer & the bn. having lost heavily in officers he made his way up the line & helped reorganise. He was appointed adjutant after this battle. Orig. grey paper covd. boards with purple cloth backstrip, VG. See illustrations on our website.   £145
Letters from Mesopotamia in 1915 & January 1916 from Robert Palmer, who was Killed in the Battle of Um El Hannah, June 21, 1916, Aged 27 Years. 1st Ed., 134pp., several sketches. Printed for Private Circulation. nd. [1916]  #67359
[HLMainPic] Robert Stafford Palmer was the son of the 2nd Earl of Selborne, K.G., G.C.M.G., P.C., and the Countess of Selborne, of Blackmoor, Liss, Hants. He was Ed. at Winchester and University College, Oxford (President of the Union), travelled in India and worked in the East End boys clubs. Commissioned in the 6th (Territorial) Battalion Hampshire Regiment, he accompanied the battalion to India in 1914 and was attached to the 1st/4th Battalion in Mespotamia in August 1915. He was severely wounded in a charge at the Battle of Umm-Al-Hannah on 21st January 1917, picked up by the Turks & tended in their hospital but died the same day. He was twenty-seven and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial. This memorial contains detailed letters throughout the time he was at the front, several with sketches of trenches at Amarah. Letters of condolence & notes concerning the battle in which he died also included. Orig. blue cloth with paper sp. label, minor wear, VG. See illustration on our website.   £165

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