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   1032 Books
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Diary of H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, January-May 1915. 1st Ed., 50pp., 20 photos. Printed by permission of the Admiralty "for Private Circulation to Officers & Men." 1919  #65900
[HLMainPic] Day-to-day record of battleship "Big Lizzie" in the Dardanelles; covering landings at W Beach, bombardments &c., with rolls of officers & awards & also Log of Trawler 448. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, a littled rubbed, VG. Rare. See illustration on our website.   £145
Artillery Operations of the Ninth British Corps at Messines, June, 1917. 1st Ed., orig. printed wraps., 124pp., 4 fldg. plates, 10 fldg. maps, 2 tables. Edited at Army War College, Aug. 1917, printed by US Govt. Ptg. Office, Washington. 1917  #66734
[HLMainPic] Designated CONFIDENTIAL! For official use only NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO FRONT LINE TRENCHES. Contains a detailed study of artillery preparations for the Battle of Messines, 7th June 1917, & reproduces various instructions, orders, reports, intelligence & communications. A Summary of Artillery Operations explains that "Systematic trench bombardment & wire cutting was commenced about May 21, 1917, & was intensified about May 28. During the period May 28 to June 6, inclusive, 297 trench bombardments were carried out with aeroplane observation. Wire was cut along front & support lines by trench mortars & 18-lbr. batteries, & on rear lines by 6-inch howitzers with aeroplane observation..." The most informative text is supported by reproductions of four aerial photos. of parts of the Messines battlefield & ten excellent actual size 1:10,000 & 1:20,000 British operational fldg. trench maps, barrage maps, &c., & several tables, all reproduced in colour. Objectives, barrage lifts &c. are shown in great detail. Orig. brown printed wraps., chipped & worn, signs of much use but generally VG, complete & rare. See illustrations on our website.   £225
The Northern Barrage: Mine Force, United States Atlantic Fleet, The North Sea 1918. Edited by All Hands. 1st Ed., 127pp., 4to, photos. & sketches throughout. Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute. 1919  #66137
[HLMainPic] Fully illustrated with photos. of all USN vessels & crews of Mine Force, based at Invergordon &c. during this period. Several hundred photos. (inc. shore bases, ships at sea, mining eqpt. in use &c.) + supporting text notes, endorsements &c. Nicely produced record of this work. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, little marked & worn, generally VG. See illustrations on our website.   £65
The Western Front Then & Now. 1st Ed., 256pp., 4to, photos. throughout, map. VG in dw. Pearson. nd (c.1938).  #59714
[HLMainPic] Useful volume of around 300 comparison photos. in wartime & after, + commentary & index. Orig. dec. red cloth, VG in sl. chipped dw & scarce thus. See illustration on our website.   £45
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 Gallant Legion. Complete set of 12 Vols. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. 1930s.  #66392
[HLMainPic] Angus & Robertson was the most prolific publisher of war memoirs in Australia after the Great War & produced a number of notable & several classic texts recording the experiences of Australian men & women in the Army, Naval, Nursing & Air services. At some point during the late 1930s, presumably to give a new lease of life to unbound sheets, the publisher reissued all these works in a series called The Gallant Legion. The sheets of various (but not 1st) editions were bound in excellent quality blue cloth with the series title at the head of the spine, plus the number of the volume in the series, with the individual volume title & author below, & a fighting soldier motif at the foot of the spine. All the volumes in this edition are complete as per the original texts, with all maps & photos. as originally published. This fine body of work, complete here in 12 volumes, includes: IDRIESS (Ion L.) The Desert Column; MAXWELL (J., VC, MC, DCM) Hell's Bells & Mademoiselles; WHITE (T.W.) Guests of the Unspeakable; RULE (E.J., MC, MM) Jacka's Mob; WILLIAMS (H.R.) The Gallant Company; TILTON (May) The Grey Battalion; REID (Frank) The Fighting Cameliers; MORROW (Edgar) Iron in the Fire; BURTON (O.E., MM) The Silent Division: New Zealanders at the Front 1914-1919; JONES (T.M.) Watchdogs of the Deep: Life in a Submarine During the Great War; SUTHERLAND (L.W., MC, DCM) Aces & Kings; MONASH (Gen. Sir John) The Australian Victories in France in 1918. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, VG throughout & excellent complete set. See illustrations on our website.   £425
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
The War Work of the G.E.C. 1st Ed., 83pp., 4to, photos. throughout. Published by the G.E.C. Publicity Organisation. nd (c.1920)  #67866
[HLMainPic] A high quality, profusely illustrated record of the war work of the General Electric Co. Ltd. at its factories in Birmingham, Kent, Coventry, &c., where shells, aerial bombs & many other warlike supplies were manufactured. Also contains a list of honours & awards gained by members of staff while on active service. Orig. blue cushioned morocco, gilt design & title to front, light rubbing to edges o/w VG with an oval stamp of a works library to front blank. See illustrations on our website.   £125
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
St. Nicholas, Brighton, Parish Magazine, January 1916-December 1919 [Bound together with:] The Sign with which is incorporated The Living Church, January 1916-December 1919. Approx. 600pp. in all, bound in 3 annual volumes, several photos. St. Nicholas Church/The Sign. Contemp.  #63795
[HLMainPic] The parish magazines contain a certain amount of Home Front news (teas for soldiers in Brighton hospital, fundraising efforts &c.), death notices of parishioners at home & On Active Service, quite a few letters from soldiers at the Front, &c. The Sign - a Christian journal - include many articles on the war work of the Church & so forth, such as Church Life on Tyne-side in Time of War; Sunday in a Munition Factory; Our Village in War Time; The Welfare Supervisor: Her Place & Duties in Munitions Works; Welfare Among the Industrial Boys, &c. Three vols. in contemp. green binder's cloth, gilt titles to spines, VG. See illustrations on out website.   £85

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