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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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   898 Books
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Comforts for the Wounded in Our Hospitals. Written by the Staff of Fort Pitt Hospital. 1st Ed., orig. pictorial wraps., 36pp., approx. 20 photos. Charham, Mackay & Co. on Behalf of the Committee of the Comforts Fund, [Central Military Hospital, Fort Pitt, Chatham]. 1915  #68378
[HLMainPic] Illustrated record of work at this military hospital in Chatham, 1914-15, including Surgical Division, Operating Theatre, Radiant Heat & Massage Dept., Dispensary, &c. Orig. pictorial wraps., little chipped/rubbed, generally VG & scarce contemporary souvenir.   £60
Ypres 1914: An Official Account Published by Order of the German General Staff. Translated by G.C.W[ynne]. 1st Eng. Ed., xxiv+136pp., 7 sketch maps. Constable. 1919  #61010
[HLMainPic] Translation of the German official account of 1st Ypres. Intro. & notes by the Historical Section (Military Branch), Committee of Imperial Defence. Orig. blue cloth, little marked, VG. See illustration on our website.   £45
Diary of an Officer of "U.C. 26." May 1917. 1st Ed., orig. blue printed paper wraps., 4pp., foolscap. Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Division. May 1917  #61756
[HLMainPic] I.D. 1156. For Official Use Only. Translation of the diary of Leutnant D. Reserve (or Sub.-Lt. of the Reserve) Heinrich Petersen, second-in-command of submarine U.C. 26, 30 April 1917 [leaving Bruges] until 7th May 1917, detailing operations in the English Channel during these few days. They found a gap in the RN barrage on 1st May & steered for Havre. The submarine laid mines & sank a Norwegian steamer by torpedo, but U.C. 26 was herself sunk on 9th May. Detailed diary of a week at sea. VG & rare. See illustration on our website.   £95
Who's Who in the British War Mission to the United States of America 1917. Chairman Viscount Northcliffe. 1st Ed., 55pp., lge. fldg. chart. NY: Clode. 1917  #65166
[HLMainPic] Biogs. of members (many military officers &c.) & detailed guide to the objects of the Mission. VG with typed note "With Lord Northcliffes Compliments" on the headed notepaper of the Mission. See illustration on our website.   £35
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
Letters from Bob (Captain George Pollard Kay) Flight Commander 46th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. With an Intro. by Rev. F.E. Brown, Headmaster, Geelong C. of E. Grammar School. 1st Ed., xi+152pp., portrait frontis., 9 photos. Melbourne: Melville & Mullen. nd (c.1917)  #68295
[HLMainPic] George Pollard Kay, a native of Melbourne, Australia, Ed. at Trinity Grammar School, Kew, & Geelong Grammar School, sailed for England in Feb. 1916 in company with a group of school friends whose aim was to join in the war. Arriving in London, he was accepted for pilot training in the RFC but this was delayed for several months by appendicitis. He was posted to France in Jan. 1917, attached to No. 46 Squadron ("a topping lot of chaps"), flying Nieuport scouts, & saw much service until died of injuries sustained in a crash on 29th June 1917. Contains a short biographical introduction mainly describing sporting achievements & school life, then his letters from Feb. 1916 onwards: voyage to England, training & active service, together with letters of condolence. Contemp. nicely tooled full calf school prize binding, crest of Geelong Grammar Schl. to front, presentation bookplate to paste-down (but attempted removal of this leaving unsightly remains: still nice copy & rare). See illustration on our website.   £120

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The ANZAC Book: Written & Illustrated in Gallipoli by men of ANZAC. 1st Ed., xv+169pp., 4to, 11 col. & 2 b/w plates., illus. throughout. VG in dw. Cassell. 1916  #61084
[HLMainPic] Collection of stories, rhymes, recollections of Gallipoli &c., sold for the benefit of patriotic funds connected with ANZAC. Attractive work, very nice copy in sl. chipped (but scarce) dw with oval cut-out to front revealing the heroic wounded yet still fighting Aussie from the coloured illustration on the front cover. See illustration on our website.   £120
Four Brothers & The World War: The Private Record of Their Father for His Grandchildren. 1st Ed., xii+281pp., 11 plates, coloured ep maps & one other. Hove: Printed by Combridges For Private Circulation. 1933  #66000
[HLMainPic] War narrative incorporating the military careers of four brothers Wright, utilising their letters & various published sources, operational reports &c. All four were Ed. at Winchester: G.L.W. ('Geoff') served in the RFA,, becoming a battery commander in 46th (North Midland) Div., MC & Bar. He was wounded in the battle of Bellenglise in Sept. 1918. Egerton Lowndes Wright ('Toddy') received a commission in the Buckinghamshire Bn. O&BLI in 1914; served in France from April 1915 onwards, being appointed to the Staff in June, awarded MC & as Brigade Major, 6th Inf. Bde., was KiA 11/5/18; P.L.W. ('Phil') also served in the Bucks. Bn. & on the staff, DSO, MC; F.L.W. ('Frank') went to Sandhurst, crossed to France in Sept. 1914 with 1st Bn. WYR, was severely wounded in Oct. near Hazebrouck. Served on the staff at Horse Guards but died in 1922 from the effects of his wounds. Orig. black & red buckram, gilt, VG indeed, handsomely produced, rare & appealing record of one family's service & loss in the Great War. See illustration on our website.   £325
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
The Making of an Officer: or, A Boy's Life Told in His Letters by the Late Captain Arthur Coke Burnell, 2nd Bn. Rifle Brigade. 1st Ed., viii+190pp., 220x184mm, portrait frontis., 8 plates. Winchester: Printed by Warren & Sons for Private Circulation. 1916  #65998
[HLMainPic] Arthur Coke Burnell was born in 1894, educated at West Downs, Winchester & Sandhurst: commissioned in the Rifle Brigade 1913 & joined the 4th Battalion in India; to France in Dec. 1914 as a Platoon Commander in "D" Coy., in action at St Eloi & 2nd Ypres (Acting Adjutant during this battle), wounded in May & after a few months in England joined the 2nd Bn. (commanded by his brother in law, Frank Nugent) as MG Officer in October 1915. He became a Company Commander & was KiA on the evening of 18th March 1916, trying to bring in a man who had been wounded with a wiring party in No-Man's-Land. He was 21 & is buried in the Rue-du-Bois Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix. Burnell was a typical keen, regimentally minded, young regular officer, unreflective but conscientious & brave. He was proud to be appointed Adjutant during the Second Battle of Ypres, "it is really a very great thing for me to have done Adjutant on active service, something that is remembered later on, if there ever is an end to this show! This is about the greatest success I have had since joining, & I can't help feeling that my career as a soldier has been rather a success. I think the Army has a higher opinion of me than Winchester College ever formed." Appealing memorial with interesting letters from school and regiment (both in India and at the Front), a fine portrait in full dress, others in khaki including several taken in or near front line trenches. Orig. half white buckram, rifle green cloth boards, gilt, with badges of the RMC and Rifle Brigade to front board, VG with comp. slip from his father inserted. Rare. See illustrations on our website.   £275

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