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Catalogue No. 169 “Pilckem”
September 2020
This catalogue contains a choice selection of some 200 items in most of the usual sections. Of particular note are the good range of 1914-1918 training manuals and instructions (numbers 28-45) and trench maps (numbers 109-130). I hope you will find something to interest you.
We are a leading dealers in rare and second hand books on British military history from around 1800 to 1945. the Great War, 1914-1918, has always been our speciality and we hold extensive stocks of regimental and divisional histories, official histories, standard works, memoirs, Rolls of Honour, Army Lists and so forth.
Almost all our books, including the ones in this catalogue, are illustrated on our website:
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1916-1918: A War Diary.
 Very rare privately published memoirs of Capt. Herbert Mayow Adams, MC, who was Ed. at Marlborough & Oxford, embarked for France with 2/8th Worcesters (TF) 24th May 1916. They were part of the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division, & served with this formation on the Western Front until the end of the war, including operations at Fromelles in 1916, the Ancre & Ypres in 1917, the German counter-attack after Cambrai & Somme 1918. By January 1918 Adams was commanding "B" Coy. & was awarded the MC; he afterwards commanded No. 4 Section, "B'"Coy., 48th Bn. MGC in France & Italy during 1918. He did not paly a part in any major offensives, but his very detailed, matter-of-fact, account of several years of trench warfare, much of it spent in quiet but rarely uneventful sectors, provides a valuable account of war on the Western Front. He frequently mentions officers & men in his unit, & at the edn are rolls of "B" Coy., 2/8th Worcesters & his machine-gunners in 48th MG Battalion, as well as a detailed index. Orig. pale mottled paper covd. boards with wheat cloth backstrip, titled in black to sp., VG & rare privately printed memoirs. See illustration on our website. 1922 £275
Frank Maxwell, Brig.-General, VC, CSI, DSO: A Memoir & Some Letters.
 Francis Aylmer Maxwell was born in 1871, Ed. at the United Service College at Westward Ho! & Sandhurst. In 1891 he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment in India for a year before his appointment to the Indian Army, initially to the 24th Punjab Inf. His first active service was in the Tochi Valley in 1895, then in the Chitral Relief Expedition when he was attached to the Guides Cavalry. During this campaign he was recommended for the VC. The following year, 1896, he transferred to the 18th Lancers, saw further active service on the North-West Frontier including A.D.C. to his uncle, Gen. Sir William Lockhart, in the Tirah Expedition, after which he was awarded the DSO. He was attached to Roberts' Horse in South Africa during the Boer War, when he was awarded the V.C. for gallantry at Sannah's Post. He was A.D.C. to Lord Kitchener (who bestowed on him the nickname "The Brat") & Military Secretary to Lord Hardinge. In 1916 he was posted to France & given command of the 12th (S) Bn., Middlesex Regiment – a New Army unit that had failed to perform & required firm leadership to bring it up to standard. Under Maxwell's command the battalion was transformed, doing well on the Somme including the capture of Trônes Wood & Thiepval. Orig. red cloth, gilt, 18th Lancers (IA) crest to front, near fine in rare dw (but this lacking top part of rear panel). See illustrations on our website. 1921 £165
The Way of Sacrifice.
 Von Unruh was a Prussian officer but also a writer & by the time the high command ordered him to write a propaganda novel to spur on the army before Verdun he was becoming disillusioned & "Way of Sacrifice" underscores the "soul-shattering futility of modern war." Falls disliked the "futurist prose" but acceded that "those who like this sort of thing will like it very much." Near fine, orig. black cloth in scarce dw. See illustration on our website. 1928 £125
With Botha in the Field.
 Early & very well illustrated account of the GSWA campaign. Author was a member of the South African Police & of Botha's Bodyguard on the campaign. Orig. printed boards with photo. onlay, cloth backstrip (one plate was censored [Group of Rebel Leaders/Rebels Rounded up] & this illustration listing is frequently missing, the list of photos. being annotated in ink 'cancelled', but this copy retains the censored plate so is complete in all respects). VG. See illustration on our website. 1915 £75
History of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) Vol. II 1929 to 1947.
 Magnificent history, almost wholly devoted to WW2: three bns. in Burma, one in Italy. Roll of Hon., awards, nominal rolls of officers (with biographical notes). "classic unit history, written & produced to the highest standards" - Perkins 503. Orig. green & black cloth, sp. a little worn o/w VG & very scarce. See illustration on our website. 1956 £225
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The Story of the First Gas Regiment.
 History of an American"offensive gas unit" initially designated 30th Engineers, then after Aug. 1918 the 1st Gas Regiment. In action at Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne &c. With descriptions of weapons, nominal roll, citations &c. Orig. green cloth, gilt, VG in chipped & worn dw. Rare. See illustration on our website. 1919 £85
Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War 1914-19. Geological Work on the Western Front.
 Another typically detailed & well-illustrated volume in this series with much on tunnelling & mining in Flanders & other geological work in relation to operations &c., with an impressive range of photos. & sectional drawings, coloured maps & diagrams. Orig. blue cloth, VG & rare. See illustration on our website. 1922 £165
Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-19. Military Mining.
 Superb & now very rare reference on Western Front mining: outline history of operations, technical aspects & mine rescue, with splendid illustrations inc. fldg. maps of trench & tunnel systems, aerial photos., photos. & sketches of methods & equipment. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, VG. See illustration on our website. 1922 £225
A Personal Narrative of the Outbreak & Massacre at Cawnpore During the Sepoy Revolt of 1857.
 By "One of the Survivors of the Garrison Under Major-General Sir Hugh Massy Wheeler, KCB." The author was a Eurasian clerk of the Cawnpore commissariat who left the cantonment as a spy on 24th May 1857 & was later asked to prepare a report for the Commissary General. While he was not present at events towards the end of the siege, he was evidently able to question witnesses. His account was first published in 1857 in several newspapers & then in several editions, of which this is the most complete, illustrated, text, with, at the end, a roll of all the Europeans & loyal Indians killed at Cawnpore. All versions are rarely seen. Ladendorf 375. Raugh #2567 at p.246. Orig. brown cloth, gilt, little rubbed but very nice example in the orig. cloth with gilt title to sp. & the 'Marachetti Angel' Memorial Well to front board. See illustration on our website. 1886 £245
Osterreich-Ungarns Letzter Krieg 1914-1918. Herausgegeben vom Osterreichischen Bundeministerium fr Heereswesen und vom Kriegsarchiv.
 Complete set of the Austro-Hungarian official history of the First World War on land: seven text volumes + seven accompanying map volumes + the rare Registerband (or index volume), 15 volumes in all. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, VG or better throughout (but for Vol. V text, covers little stained) & all but Vol. I text/maps complete with dustwrappers. Rare complete set, especially in dws. Neil Wells ('Official Histories of the Great War 1914-1918') informs us that: "The Austrian Federal Ministry for Army Affairs & of the War Archives employed mainly ex-members of the Austrian General Staff... under the general editorship of Genereale de Infanterie Doktor Edmund von Glaise-Horstenau... Each volume was written by a team of historians, each specialising in various aspects of the individual history... With so many ex-members of the General Staff writing the histories there was to some degree a corruption... to show the Austrian General Staff, or individuals (in some cases the author himself) in a more favourable light. Certainly the former Chief of the General Staff... FM Franz Graf Conrad von Hotzendorf's reputation was defended to the utmost by the official historians." In an interesting note about the general editor, Wells adds: "Glaise-Horstenau became one of the first Austrian Nazis... second in command of the Austrian Nazi Party... After the Anschluss he joined the Wehrmacht and... took a leading military-administrative role in the occupation of Yugoslavia... in 1946 whilst being being held at Langwasser Military Camp, Nurnberg he committed suicide." See illustrations on our website. £2250
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