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 21 September 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   1047 Books
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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
Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War 1914-19. Water Supply - France. 1st Ed., 92pp., 37 photos., 41 plates (many fldg.). & 10 fldg. maps. Chatham: RE Institution. 1921  #63082
[HLMainPic] Typically detailed & well-illustrated survey of a crucial aspect of the campaign, in three parts: Organization, Plant & Works, Operations, with excellent photos. & diagrams of equipment &c. including Water Points in Flanders, Water Cart Filling Points, Plan of Trench Water Point &c., with equally impressive maps/diagrams. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, VG & rare. See illustration on our website.   £145
The Path of Honour: Sgt. Basil T. Wilmer's Experiences in the Great War, 1914-1918. 1st Ed., 160pp., portrait frontis., 17 photos., plate of original battlefield grave, diagram, sketch map. Launceston, Tasmania: A.W. Birchall & Sons. 1919  #65462
[HLMainPic] Diary from enlisting in August 1914 in 11th Bn. AIF, 1st Australian Div., training then landing at Gallipoli where wounded on the first day; rejoined after a few weeks convalescence then proceeded to Western Front where he exchanged into the Australian Field Artillery & was KiA with 3rd Battery AFA near Zillebeke on 21st July 1917, & buried at Reninghelst. Rare & detakled diary containing much of interest. Orig. dec. paper covd. boards, sp. chipped, generally VG. See illustrations on our website.   £250
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
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
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
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
The Royal Tank Regiment 50th Anniversary Souvenir 1917-1967. Orig. wraps., 132pp., illus. RTR Publications. 1967  #69625
[HLMainPic] Num. interesting conributions, many concerning 1914-18 inc. 'General Sir Hugh Elles' by J.F.C. Fuller; 'The Attack on Flesquieres Ridge' by Maj.-Gen. H.L. Birks; C Bn. Heavy Branch MGC... Dec. 13 1916-July 31 1917' by Lt.-Col. E.J. O'Connor; 'Travails of a Tank Engineer 1916-18' by Brig. W.A. Stack & many others. VG.   £20
The Unveiling of the Stock Exchange War Memorial by the Earl of Balfour K.H., O.M., 27th October, 1922. 1st Ed., 36pp., 4to (263x198mm), 2 photogravure plates. The Stock Exchange. 1923.  #69886
[HLMainPic] An account of the Memorial, design, construction & unveiling, plus roll of names. Sumptuous production, No. 86 of 100 copies printed, printed ojn fine hand-made paper & bound in full crimson morocco, richly gilt to front. Fine copy.   £75
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

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