WAR

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'Secret' document, titled 'Brief Tactical Notes | 6th Armoured Division | To be carried by Officers on all training in the field.'

Author: 
C. F. Keightley, Major General Commanding, 6th Armoured Division [ General Sir Charles Frederic Keightley (1901-1974) ]
Publication details: 
Place not stated [ North Africa ]. 20 September 1943.
£280.00

[1] + 14pp., 16mo. Unbound stapled pamphlet. A frail survival (no copy found on either OCLC WorldCat or COPAC). Aged and worn, with rusting staples. Stencil of the Division's insignia on cover. Divided into seven sections: 'Tactical Notes', 'Appreciations', 'Orders', 'Approach and Contact', 'Attack', 'Defence' and 'Breaking Contact'. In his 'Foreword' Keightley urges the reader, somewhat confusingly, to 'make absolutely certain that there is nothing left to help him ['your men'] fight efficiently and gallantly which it is in your power to do'. From the papers of military historian Barrie Pitt.

Earl Jellicoe and Special Boat Section 'Operation Hawthorn': A 'shambles' in Sardinia, 1943: a small archive

Author: 
[ Earl Jellicoe; Special Boat Service ]
Publication details: 
[1943]
£4,000.00

The distinguished wartime career of George Patrick John Rushworth Jellicoe (1918-2007), 2nd Earl Jellicoe, is well described in Loma Almonds' 'A British Achilles' (2006). However Jellicoe, who commanded the Special Boat Section from 1943 to the end of the war, was not always blessed with success. The present collection of eighteen documents constitutes Jellicoe's own file on what Almonds describes as a 'shambles': an attempted series of sabotage attacks on six Sardinian airfields in the run-up to the allied invasion of Sicily.

[ Commander Augustus Jacob, RN. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Augustus Jacob') to his brother 'Gay', one written from Balaclava Harbour during the Crimean War, the second describing an action he was involved in with cossacks and field guns.

Author: 
Commander Augustus Jacob (1839-1893), RN [ The Crimean War; FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan ]
Publication details: 
First letter [from Balaclava Harbour in the Crimea ] on board HMS Leopard, 12 December 1854. Second letter on board HMS Excellent, 7 December 1859.
£280.00

Jacob was one of the ten children (seven sons) of Archdeacon Philip Jacob (1803-1884). Both items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 'HMS Leopard | Dec 12th. 1854'. 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. To 'My dearest Brother'. The fifteen-year-old Jacob has a shaky grasp of spelling and punctuation.

[ Robin Wallace, British artist in the Second World War. ] Ten items including three Typed Letters Signed from Arnold Palmer of the Committee on the Employment of Artists in Wartime, Pilgrim Trust Grant, and the War Office and Ministry of Labour.

Author: 
Robin Wallace (1897-1952), English landscape artist [ Arnold Nottage Palmer (1886-1973), artist and arts administrator; the Committee on the Employment of Artists in Wartime, Pilgrim Trust Grant ]
Publication details: 
Palmer's three letters on letterheads of the Committee on the Employment of Artists in Wartime, Pilgrim Trust Grant, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London. Also items from the War Office and Ministry of Labour.
£200.00

Wallace, a well-known painter of landscapes and still life subjects in oil and water-colour, was born at Kendal in the Lake District and studied in Kensington at the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1922, and at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Institute of Watercolour Painters, and with the Lake Artists' Society. He was a full member of the Royal Society of British Artists. The present collection casts an interesting light on the efforts of a good English artist to be of use to the war effort. Ten items.

[ The Peninsular War. ] Manuscript Letter, in a secretarial hand, signed by J. L. Mallet of the Audit Office, to Charles Stuart, British envoy to Portugal, regarding £277,450 spent by him on supplies for Wellington's army.

Author: 
John Lewis Mallet (1775-1861), Secretary of the Audit Office, Somerset Place, London [ Charles Stuart (1779-1845), 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay; the Peninsular War ]
Publication details: 
Audit Office Somerset Place [ London ]. 29 January 1812.
£320.00

2pp., folio. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. He is directed to 'make up and transmit to this Office an account Current of the receipt & application of the [...] Sum of £277,450, duly attested upon oath & accompanied by the necessary vouchers & authorities in support thereof'. The money is made up of 'various bills of Exchange drawn by you upon their Lordships on 4th. Novr: 1810 payable to M. T. Sempayo [Sampayo]'.

[ British Expeditionary Force, German East Africa. ] Autograph article titled 'The Little Nurses of Morogoro. A character study from "German East"'. With newspaper cutting about the author Captain Francis Robinson, and a print of a drawing by him.

Author: 
Captain Francis Robinson, Chaplain, 4th South African Horse [ British Expeditionary Force, German East Africa ]
Publication details: 
The article (regarding Morogoro, German East Africa, in the First World War) and the drawing are both without place, the latter being dated to 1902. Newspaper cutting from 'The Pictorial', Durban, 9 February 1917.
£125.00

12pp., 4to, including title-page: 'The Little Nurses of Morogoro | A character study from "German East" | by Capt. Francis Robinson | Chaplain. | South African Horse | with the British Expeditionary Force | German East Africa'. In good condition, on aged paper, with closed tear to last leaf. A reference dates the item to after the Battle of Salaita Hill on 12 February 1916. The following captures the tone of an enthusiastic tribute: 'Wherever you go in that unattractive collection of miscellaneous buildings, you come across a little nurse, prim & smart in her uniform & cap.

[ 1st American Squadron, Home Guard (London). ] The first thirteen issues (all printed?) of the mimeographed squadron magazine 'Yankee Yahoo incorporating The Pirbright Lament', with hand-coloured illustrations and separate typed article 'Home Gods'.

Author: 
Charles G. Tubbs, editor [ 1st American Squadron, Home Guard (London); Brigadier-General Wade Hampton Hayes (1879-1956), officer commanding ]
Publication details: 
London: 'Printed and published at the Headquarters of the 1st American Squadron (Home Guard), 58 Buckingham Gate, S.W.' Nos. 1 to 12 monthly, from December 1941 to November 1942. No. 13 undated [February 1943?].
£2,500.00

For more information on the squadron see Charles Dickon's 'Americans at War in Foreign Forces: A History, 1914-1945' (2014). After some difficulties over its status and that of its members, and with the disapproval of American Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, the unit was formed in London in June 1940, with Brigadier-General Wade Hampton Hayes (1879-1956) as commanding officer. After some string-pulling by Charles Sweeny, the Thompson Company in America contributed 100 Tommy Guns and 100,000 rounds of ammunition, and members contributed their cars, painted in camouflage at their own expense.

[Siege of Nanking and Second Sino-Japanese War.] Typed Memorandum and Manuscript Notes by British diplomat, of meeting between Sir Robert Clive and Japanese Ambassador Yoshida and Ichiro Hatoyama, and meeting with Manchukuo adviser A. H. F. Edwardes

Author: 
[ Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967), Japanese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1936-8; Sir Robert Henry Clive (1877-1948), British Ambassador to Japan, 1935-7; Ichiro Hatoyama (1883-1959) ]
Publication details: 
Report and minutes both without place and date, but referring to a meeting in London on 22 November 1937.
£1,200.00

Despite the fair amount of attention bestowed on the 'Anglo-Japanese Conversation' - the secret negotiations between the British government and the Japanese ambassador at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War - it is only with the discovery of these two documents that it can be established that the two countries continued with informal negotiations until the fall of Nanking.

[ Sir Thomas Dyke Acland. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('T D Ackland') to an unnamed recipient, on the eve of the Russo-Turkish War, regarding 'the horrors of Turkish Rule'

Author: 
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland (1809-1898), 11th Baronet, Tory and then Liberal politician [ John Webb Probyn (1828-1915), Editor, the Cobden Club; Robert James Loyd-Lindsay (1832-1901), 1st Baron Wantage ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Holnicote, Minehead [ Devon ]. 18 September 1876.
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper, with strip of glue from mount discoloring second leaf. Written in a difficult hand, the letter begins: 'My Dear Sir | I have not forgotten a conversation with you on returning from Bradfield which first opened my eyes to the horrors of Turkish Rule'. He is sending 'a small contribution to a fund to which I am led by your name'. Mentions 'the League', 'Lady ' and 'Col Lindsay', stating that he is 'a little puzzled'. Postscript refers to 'Mr Probyn Editor of the Cobden Club', ending 'I am just going to a meeting at Barnstaple'.?>

[ John, Lord Belasyse. ] Extensive manuscript 'Abstract of the Will and Codicil of the Right Honble John Lord Belasyse from the Probate thereof granted the 7th. May 1690', mentioning estates in Yorkshire, London, Middlesex, Nottingham and Durham.

Author: 
John Belasyse (1614-1689), Lord Belasyse, Royalist nobleman in the English Civil War, imprisoned during the Popish Plot
Publication details: 
Will of 22 April 1689. Probate granted by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 7 May 1690. Abstract dating from the eighteenth century. (watermark includes "GR")
£150.00

13pp., large (41.5 x 33 cm) 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, on good Britannia paper. In worn wraps, with printed slip describing the item from a bookseller's catalogue (Henry Grey, 1901, 45s), and docketed at back. Neatly and closely written out in a clerk's hand. At end: 'The Abstract of this Will and Codicil is taken from the Probate thereof Granted by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury to Anne Lady Belasyse Relict of the said John Lord Belasyse and One of the Executors the 7th. of May 1690'. Belasyse's second wife was the daughter of the Marquess of Winchester.

[ The British Military Cemetery at Solymár, Hungary. ] Long typescript, titled 'The Budapest War Cemetery', including a 'Register of the Graves in the Budapest War Cemetery', with letter by the Hungarian author, and photographs and negatives.

Author: 
[ The Budapest War Cemetery; The British Military Cemetery at Solymár, Hungary ]
Publication details: 
Covering letter dated from Budapest [ Hungary ], 8 April 1985.
£280.00

27pp., 8vo. (The article on 'The Budapest War Cemetery' is 7pp., 8vo, and the accompanying 'Register of the Graves in the Budapest War Cemetery' is 21pp., 8vo. There is also a page of 'Abbreviations to the Register'.) A few manuscript emendations. The covering letter is addressed to 'David', and is effusive in its offer of further assistance, the author urging 'David' to rewrite the piece as he sees fit. It is signed, faintly and undecipherably. The author writes in good, but not entirely idiomatic, English, and has gone to some trouble.

[ Nanking; Japan ]Long Autograph Letter from English-born jurist/adviser to Japan on foreign affairs Thomas Baty to 'Cooper', presenting a detailed defence of the Japanese position after the Nanking Massacre, and of Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

Author: 
Thomas Baty (1869-1954), English-born jurist and authority on international law, who settled in Japan in 1916 as foreign legal adviser [Nanking Massacre; Second Sino-Japanese War; Spanish Civil War]
Publication details: 
'Tokio [Tokyo] 1 October, 1937'.
£1,000.00

A letter of the first importance, as Baty had been since 1916 foreign legal adviser to the Japanese Government (following the death of Henry Willard Denison), and had been part of the Japanese delegation to the 1927 Geneva disarmament conference. Such was Baty's support for the Japanese position that the British Government seriously considered trying him for treason following the Second World War, choosing instead to revoke his British citizenship. 5pp., 4to. The first five pages of the letter only, and so lacking the signature, although Baty is without doubt the author.

Photograph of Cambridge University Air Squadron, May 1941

Author: 
[ Cambridge University Air Squadron, 1941 ]
Publication details: 
May 1941.
£280.00

Black & White Group Photograph, image 29 x 22cm, white border, sl. stained and worn, border makes it 43 x 36cm. Ninety-six (96) men. Image in good condition. On reverse pencilled notes "First One | Cambridge University Air Squadron | May 1941, || Officers = [L to P.] [W.H. Turing , F.J.A. Chase, T.S. Sabine, DFC, J.K. Watson - with rank and function, Sabine being W/CDE]. Followed by the names and rank.function of 7 NCOs.

[ Belfrage; Soviet spies ] Typed Note Signed "Cedric" to "Adrian".

Author: 
Cedric Belfrage, Film Critic, journalist, writer, political activist, MI6 Agent, alleged Soviet spy.
Publication details: 
[Typed heading] Cedric Belfrage, 49 Hallam Street, London W1, 13 July [c.1944].
£56.00

One page, 8vo, fold marks, good condition. I've been hoping for an opening so as to make that excursion to Gerrards Cross, but alas it has not opened. Now I am completely involved in a Shaef [SHAEF = Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force] press job and hope to be over the water very soon - so such delights fade from view. || It's a disappointment - it would have been fun to dish the dirt with you - but there's always after the war and by that time they'll be more dirt."BBC website headline: "Cedric Belfrage, the WW2 spy Britain was embarrassed to pursue"

Keywords:

[ Belfrage; Soviet spies ] Typed Note Signed "Cedric" to "Adrian".

Author: 
Cedric Belfrage, Film Critic, journalist, writer, political activist, MI6 Agent, alleged Soviet spy.
Publication details: 
[Typed heading] Cedric Belfrage, 49 Hallam Street, London W1, 13 July [c.1944].
£56.00

One page, 8vo, fold marks, good condition. I've been hoping for an opening so as to make that excursion to Gerrards Cross, but alas it has not opened. Now I am completely involved in a Shaef [SHAEF = Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force] press job and hope to be over the water very soon - so such delights fade from view. || It's a disappointment - it would have been fun to dish the dirt with you - but there's always after the war and by that time they'll be more dirt."BBC website headline: "Cedric Belfrage, the WW2 spy Britain was embarrassed to pursue"

Keywords:

[ Robinson & Sons, Ltd., Chesterfield. ] Two British Army cloth bandages, in cloth packet with printed instructions headed 'First Field Dressing'.

Author: 
Robinson & Sons, Ltd., Chesterfield, textile and packaging manufacturers, suppliers of textile goods to the British Army in the Second World War ]
Publication details: 
Robinson & Sons, Ltd., Chesterfield. January 1941.
£90.00

Two pink cloth bandages, in brown cloth packet, roughly 8 x 11 x 2 cm. The contents are described as 'Two Dressings in Waterproof Covers, each consisting of a gauze pad stitched to a bandage and a safety pin.; The printed text, encased within a border, also includes instructions 'To Open' and 'Directions for Use'. The Imperial War Museum has three such dressings (1940, 1942 and 1944), but none with the same date as the present item.

[ Printed periodical, with contribution by A. A. Milne. ] 'The Prisoner of War', official journal of the Prisoners of War Department of the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation, London,

Author: 
A. A. Milne contributes to 'The Prisoner of War', official journal of the Prisoners of War Department of the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation, London
Publication details: 
Prisoners of War Department of the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation, St James's Place, London. Vol. 2 No. 17. September, 1943.
£120.00

16pp., 4to. Illustrated with photographs of PoWs and camps. Stapled pamphlet on cheap paper. In fair condition, aged and with rusted staples, with slight wear at corners of last few leaves. Milne's contribution, titled 'It depends on the Book', and with two illustrations, takes up p.10. Milne writes that 'To a prisoner of war, shut up for an indefinite time in an enemy country, any book must be a haven of escape from his thoughts; any book must be better than no book. [...] the Prisoners of War Department of the British Red Cross and St.

[ A British Army surgeon in the Crimean War. ] Handbill article: 'The Trenches. | By Surgeon Lt. Col. E. M. Wrench, II. V.B. Sherwood Foresters, late Asst. Surgeon 34th Regt.' With cyclostyled facsimile letter describing the assault on the Redan.

Author: 
Edward Mason Wrench (1833-1912), Assistant Surgeon 34th Regiment of Foot; The British Army in the Crimean War; Siege of Sebastopol; Crimea; trench warfare ]
Publication details: 
Handbill without place or date [ late nineteenth century ]. Cyclostyled letter from Park Lodge, Baslow, Derbyshire. 13 June 1905.
£200.00

ONE: 'The Trenches'. Handbill printed in two columns of small print on one side of a piece of 4to paper. Drophead title to first column. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with closed tear along central vertical fold line unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. The article begins: 'WHAT was service in the trenches before Sebastopol like?

[ Lancelot Spicer and Radical Action. ] Two Typed Letters Signed to Mark Bonham Carter, discussing the aims of the group, the resignation of Wilfrid Roberts and a dinner for Sir William Beveridge. With copies of two letters from Bonham Carter.

Author: 
Lancelot Spicer [ Lancelot Dykes Spicer ] (1893-1979); Mark Bonham Carter, Baron Bonham-Carter (1922-1994) [ Radical Action; The Liberal Action Group ]
Publication details: 
Spicer's first letter: On letterhead of 16 Pelham Place, Kensington. 31 December 1943. Spicer's second letter: On Radical Action letterhead, 346 Abbey House, Victoria Street, London. 17 November 1944.
£120.00

The four items in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. ONE: TLS by Spicer, 31 December 1943. 4pp., 12mo. With a couple of minor autograph emendations. A long and wide-ranging letter, discussing the aims of the group (in response to Item Three below). Topics include: 'intellectuals in the Group', whether it is 'disuniting the Party', 'the future of the Party', 'going into opposition', 'the position of the Liberal Party at the next General Election, or at the conclusion of the European War', and whether Radical Action is 'pin-pricking the Parliamentary Party'.

[ Berlin British Sector, 1956. ] 'Restricted' typescript by the Assistant Provost Marshal: 'Instructions for the Information and Guidance of Travellers using the Berlin-Helmstedt Autobahn'. With typescript 'Tour' of places on the 'East-West-Axis'.

Author: 
[ British Army in Cold War Berlin ] Lieut-Col. A. W. B. Symonds, Assistant Provost Marshal for General Officer Commanding, Berlin British Sector
Publication details: 
'Instructions' dated from Berlin, August 1956. 'Tour' without date or place, but issued with the 'Instructions'.
£85.00

The two items are on the same cheap paper stock, and folded in a way indicating that they were issued together. In fair condition, on browned high-acidity paper, with wear at base of Item One, and one leaf detached from Item Two. The two items are interesting artefacts, and a valuable source of information on Cold War Berlin. ONE: Duplicated typescript. 2pp., folio.

[Edward Mason Wrench] Three hectograph duplicates of manuscripts describing his service and that of his uncle Captain Henry Kirke in the 12th Royal Lancers, during the Sepoy Mutiny [Indian Rebellion] of 1857. With typed transcript and commentary.

Author: 
Edward Mason Wrench (1833-1912) of the 34th Regiment of Foot and 12th Royal Lancers [The Indian Mutiny; Sepoy Mutiny; Indian Rebellion of 1857; Capt. Henry Kirke; Maj.-Gen. William Astell Franks]
Publication details: 
Two duplicate letters, one dated from Park Lodge, Baslow, Derbyshire, on 23 December 1907 (and 'Christmas 1907'); and the other from the same place, 'Aug 1909' and 13 September 1909. Third duplicate and typescript without place or date.
£550.00

Wrench was the son of a clergyman, and well educated and well connected (being presented to the Prince of Wales and staying at Chatsworth in his old age). His obituary in the British Medical Journal (27 April 1912), describes how, after service in the Crimea, 'he was transferred to the 4th Lancers, went to Madras with that regiment in the following month, and served with it during the whole of the Indian Mutiny. For his services in India he received the Indian medal and clasp for Central India. He returned to England in 1860, and married in 1861 his cousin, the daughter of Mr.

[Edward Mason Wrench] Manuscript describing events in 1855-6, during his service in the Crimean War with the 34th Regiment of Foot. With duplicated (hectograph) letter by him and handbill advertisement for talk by him, both on the Siege of Sebastopol

Author: 
Edward Mason Wrench (1833-1912) of the 34th Regiment of Foot [The Crimean War; Siege of Sebastopol; Crimea]
Publication details: 
The account of 'Events in 1855 [and 1856]' dated by Wrench from Park Lodge, Baslow [Derbyshire], 1902. The duplicated letter dated 12 December 1880. The printed advertisement for talk at the School, Baslow, and dated 14 January 1881.
£600.00

Wrench was the son of a clergyman, and well connected, being presented to the Prince of Wales and staying at Chatsworth in his old age. His obituary in the British Medical Journal (27 April 1812), describes how he went out to the Crimea in 1854. 'He had been gazetted Assistant Surgeon to the 34th Regiment in November, and joined it on its arrival in the Crimea. He served during the terrible winter of that year, and was present at the capture of the quarries, the successful assault on the Redan of June 18th, and the final capture of Sebastopol on September 8th, 1855.

[ Lady Carmichael-Anstruther and the Polish Children Rescue Fund. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('F. C. Anstruther') to 'Mr Blake', discussing the activities of the organisation.

Author: 
Lady Fay Carmichael-Anstruther [née Fay Sibyl Marie Rechnitzer], wife of Sir Windham Eric Francis Carmichael-Anstruther (1900-80) [ Polish Children Rescue Fund, London; Second World War Poland ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Polish Children Rescue Fund (British Committee for Polish Welfare), 1 Hill Street, Berkeley Square, London. 21 February 1945.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. Written in a small close and neat hand. In good condition, on lightly aged paper.

[ A Radley College old boy in the Second Boer War. ] Diary of a short tour of duty in South Africa by 'Frank' or 'F. R. W.', against the background of the lifting of the Siege of Ladysmith.

Author: 
'F. R. W.' ('Frank') [ Radley College, Oxfordshire ] [ The Siege of Ladysmith, Second Boer War, 1899-1902 ]
Publication details: 
In a 'Charles Letts's Improved Diary for 1900'. Entries relating to England, Madeira and South Africa, dating between 1 January and 16 April 1900.
£220.00

[1] + 36pp., 8vo. The diary is in good condition internally, in worn and aged covers. The author is 'Frank' and 'FRW', a Radley old boy, belonging to what he calls 'more or less an Anglo-Indian & City set'. (The family's surname is not given, but family members include 'Sybil and Ella'.) An officer in a militia regiment, he sails out from England on the RMS Goorkha (Capt. Williams), and returns to Tilbury on the Oratava (Capt. Morgan). Preceding the diary is a list of 24 'Unpacked' items, from 'Hair brushes' to '2 Pr Pants'.

Sixty-five black-and-white pencil portraits by Antony Brett-James, 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, of Indian soldiers who served under him and his fellow English officers, including the fifteen reproduced in his book 'Report My Signals' (1948).

Author: 
Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, military historian and Sandhurst lecturer
Publication details: 
Executed while on duty with the British Army in Africa and Asia between 1942 and 1945.
£600.00

A feature of Brett-James's well-received war memoir 'Report My Signals' (1948) was the fifteen reproductions of his pencil drawings of Indian men who served under him, the originals of which are present here, together with a further fifty. These indicate Brett-James's skill at conveying character in well-executed pencil sketches. The sixty-five black-and-white pencil drawings in this collection are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper with occasional creasing. They consist of: ONE. The original fifteen portrait heads of men of the Fifth Indian Division reproduced as illustrations in RMS.

[ General Ulysses de Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes [ Lord Downes ].] Autograph Letter Signed ('Downes') to 'Cap Holby | Secretary to the RVYC [ Royal Victoria Yacht Club? ] regarding the donation of a work by him.

Author: 
General Ulysses de Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes [ Lord Downes ] (1788-1864), Irish soldier and Tory politician, Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, 1820-1827 [ Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Ryde ]
Publication details: 
Binstead. 22 July 1853.
£38.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and ruckled paper. He is sending a copy of 'a Work which I lately published representing the orders of Knighthood received by the late Duke of Wellington from his own & from Foreign Countries', and hopes that 'the Committee will do me the Honor of accepting the same as a Donation to the R V Y Club'.

Sixty-five black-and-white pencil portraits by Antony Brett-James, 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, of Indian soldiers who served under him and his fellow English officers, including the fifteen reproduced in his book 'Report My Signals' (1948).

Author: 
Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, military historian and Sandhurst lecturer
Publication details: 
Executed while on duty with the British Army in Africa and Asia between 1942 and 1945.
£600.00

A feature of Brett-James's well-received war memoir 'Report My Signals' (1948) was the fifteen reproductions of his pencil drawings of Indian men who served under him, the originals of which are present here, together with a further fifty. These indicate Brett-James's skill at conveying character in well-executed pencil sketches. The sixty-five black-and-white pencil drawings in this collection are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper with occasional creasing. They consist of: ONE. The original fifteen portrait heads of men of the Fifth Indian Division reproduced as illustrations in RMS.

Typescript of 'Report My Signals', war memoir of Antony Brett-James, 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, exhibiting differences from the version published in 1948; with a copy of the book marked up for a projected second edition, and a signed copy.

Author: 
Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, military historian and Sandhurst lecturer
Publication details: 
Typescript undated. Signed copy of book: Hennel Locke Limited, London & Sydney, 1948. Marked-up copy of book: Hennel Locke and George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd, London, 1948.
£450.00

'Report My Signals' (hereafter RMS) was well received on its publication in 1948, a second impression appearing in the same year. The book's dustwrapper blurb describes the contents as 'the war memoirs of a Signals officer who served for three years with the Fifth Indian Division. He was with this illustrious formation from August 1942 (near El Alamein) until the recapture of Rangoon. | The author writes frankly and sincerely of his experiences with Indian soldiers, for whom he expresses affection and admiration.

[ Postwar Australia: English 'Old Fogies' in Brisbane, 1949. ] Typed Letter Signed from 'Elsie & Bill' in Clayfield, to 'Mabel & Walter' in England, filled with information about the state of Australia.

Author: 
[ Postwar Australia: English 'Old Fogies' in Brisbane, 1949. ]
Publication details: 
"Nydon", Rees Avenue, Clayfield [ Brisbane, Queensland, Australia]. 18 and 25 May 1949.
£120.00

3pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. And interesting and informative letter from a long-established couple of English settlers in Australia, to their kin in England. They have been prompted to write after viewing 'a Fox Short showing Bathing at Southend, Eastbourne, Bognor, Brighton and Blackpool taken during the Easter Holidays when you had a remarkable warm spell. To make it even we had a vicious little cold spell descend at the beginning of April [...]'.

[ Edith Nesbit, children's author. ] Illustrated handbill, signed by her 'E. Nesbit', celebrating 'The Reconstruction of Rheims Cathedral as a Memorial to the Allied Fallen'.

Author: 
E. Nesbit [ Edith Nesbit; Edith Bland ] (1858-1924), Children's author and poet, a founder of the Fabian Society [ Restoration of Rheims [ Reims ] Cathedral, following the First World War ]
Publication details: 
Signed and dated: 'E. Nesbit | 1921'.
£20.00

Printed in black ink on one side of a 14 x 11 cm piece of wove paper. At the foot, in blue ink, is a good firm signature: 'E. Nesbit | 1921.' Above a central engraving of the façade of the Cathedral is written in stylised lettering: 'THE RECONSTRUCTION OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL AS A MEMORIAL TO THE ALLIED FALLEN'. Beneath the illustration is printed, in conventional lettering: 'May France and the British Empire ever walk side by side in the paths of Peace!' Restoration of the cathedral began in 1919, and is still in progress.

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