WARFARE

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[ 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?

Secret British government (Ministry of Defence?) file containing Autograph Notes [by John F. Milson] on forty-four post-Second World War Canadian tanks, with further text on typed slips, and a printed booklet for the Canadair Dynatrac.

Author: 
John F. Milsom, military historian and analyst, authority on tank warfare and author of 'Russian Tanks 1900-1970' [Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, London]
Publication details: 
[Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, London.] The earliest reference to 1947, the latest to 1968.
£280.00

53pp., crown 8vo, comprising separate entries on 44 types of tank, on numbered leaves of government paper, held together with brass screw clips within boards of blue cloth and grey paper, stamped 'SECRET'. Milson is not named, but the item is in his hand. The notes consist of specifications and design history. Six typed notes are attached to the leaves, together with a booklet for the Canadair Dynatrac, dated April 1963. The typed notes include 2pp., 4to, on 'CANADIAN RAM CRUISER TANK Mks I and II (M-3)'. In good condition, lightly aged and worn.

[National Salvage Council, First World War.] Typed 'Urgent Memorandum' regarding the collection of fruit stones for 'an urgent war purpose' [i.e. for use in gas masks], addressed to councils and the Corporation of the City of London.

Author: 
London Government Board, Whitehall [National Salvage Council Caxton House, Tothill Street, London; First World War]
Publication details: 
London Government Board, Whitehall, S.W.1. 8 July 1918. ['Any enquiries should be addressed to the Director General of National Salvage, Caxton House, Tothill Street, S.W.1. [London]]
£56.00

1p., folio. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Duplicated typescript. Headed 'Urgent. | MEMORANDUM.' and 'Town Councils. | Councils of Metropolitan Boroughs. | Corporation of the City of London. | Urban and Rural District Councils.' The twenty-eight line text begins: 'All fruit stones including date stones and hard nut shells are immediately required for an urgent war purpose.

[The Army of Peru in the nineteenth century.] Printed handbill with tables and text, headed 'Cuadro Que manifiesta la organizacion del Ejército permanente, los cuerpos que lo forman, el número de sus companias y la fuerza efectiva de cada uno.'

Author: 
The Army of Peru [Ejército del Perú] [South American military history; nineteenth-century warfare]
Publication details: 
'Núm. 2.' [Peru. 1860s?]
£200.00

Attractively printed on one side of a piece of 37 x 41 cm wove paper, with decorative rules and borders. 'Núm. 2.' in top right-hand corner. Four tables, on 'Artilleria' (600 men and 280 horses), 'Infanteria' (1860 men), 'Caballeria' (comprising 'Rejimiento Húzares de Junin', 'Idem Lanceros de Torata' and 'Idem Escolta del Gobierno') and 'Resumon por clases de todas armas' (3000 men and 1040 horses). Five lines of text in small type at foot.

['Restricted' Royal Army Medical Corps publication on the use of poison gas.] R.A.M.C. School of Instruction (C.W.) [i.e. Chemical Warfare]. Lecture Notes. July, 1944.

Author: 
[Royal Army Medical Corps, Boyce Barracks, Crookham, Aldershot] [Second World War; poison gas; chemical warfare]
Publication details: 
[Royal Army Medical Corps.] Boyce Barracks, Crookham, Aldershot. [July, 1944.]
£135.00

63pp., small 4to. Stapled. In brown card printed wraps. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Ownership inscription of Daphne Kayton at head of front cover, with a few internal notes in the same hand.

[British civil defence, 1950.] Autograph Notebook, with 'G. Reeves Atom' on cover, containing notes made at civil defence meetings (Home Office, Army or Fire Brigade?) in preparation for nuclear and biological warfare.

Author: 
G. Reeves [Home Secretary Planning Committee, Regional Office, Div, S/DO; Fire Services; British 1950s civil defence; nuclear war; atom bomb; biological warfare; atomic warfare]
Publication details: 
[London.] Notes made at meetings between 30 March to 25 June 1951.
£420.00

37pp., 12mo (including two irrelevant pages at the rear), of pencil notes, with some diagrams. In a spiral-bound 'No. 430 Reporter's Note Book' by Brown Knight & Truscott, Ltd, London. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. On cover: 'G. Reeves Atom'. The notes were made at meetings or lectures held at roughly fortnightly intervals. (The last page records 'No meetings' on 9 and 23 June.) Topics include: 'Types of Shelter', 'Refuge Room', 'Long range rocket', 'Antipersonnel Bomb' ('When a bomb is found a red flag in a stick is to be placed 3 paces to the North so that B[omb].

[Lieutenant-General Sir George Thomas Napier.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Napier') to Daniel Flexney, concerning the loss of some bonds, written with his left hand following the loss of his right arm during the Peninsular War.

Author: 
Lieutenant-General Sir George Thomas Napier (1784-1855), British army officer who served in the Peninsular War, and was Commander-In-Chief of the army in the Cape Colony, 1839-1843
Publication details: 
Upminster [Middlesex]. 30 July [1818].
£65.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Mr. Danl. Flexney | Westborne Place | Bayswater | near London', with two postmarks in red ink, one round and the other oval (the second in two parts), both giving year 1818. Docketed and with the following note above the text of the letter: 'From Lieut Col George Napier | To Mr. Danl.

[Printed 'RESTRICTED' British Civil Defence pamphlet with enamel 'I.C.D.S.' (Instructor Civil Defence School) badge.] Civil Defence. Notes for Volunteers. [With sections on 'Atomic Warfare', 'Chemical Warfare' and 'Biological Warfare'.]

Author: 
[I.C.D.S.; British Civil Defence, 1955; Civil Defence School; Atomic Warfare; Biological Warfare; Chemical weapons; nuclear war]
Publication details: 
At foot of final page: '(1204) WT. 39620. [number of copies:] 22,500 [date of publication, i.e. July 1955:] 7/55 [printer:] D & G Ltd.'
£80.00

39pp., small 4to. Stud-bound in brown card printed wraps. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with crease to front cover, to which the enamel badge is also attached, beside the ownership signature of 'E J Sayer' (Downing Street secretary Elizabeth Sayer, later Cooper.). First page dated in pencil '8th Sept', and pencil note in text of the 'permitted dose' of radiation.

[Richard Caton Woodville, English military artist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Caton Woodville') to 'Mr. Copley', reserving three double rooms in a hotel for his party, requesting a coach for the luggage and 'a great many dry Champagnes & Soda'.

Author: 
Richard Caton Woodville (1856-1927), English military artist and illustrator [Copley; Sports Club, St James's Square]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Sports Club, St James's Square, SW. 25 July 1919.
£35.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, aged and with spike hole through the two leaves. According to Woodville's entry in the Oxford DNB he 'had expensive tastes, moved with a fast bohemian and sporting set, and enjoyed big-game hunting, pig-sticking, fishing, and, it is said, many extramarital affairs', and the present item supports that evaluation. After requesting the three double rooms he states: 'Our party is: Ourselfs. [sic] Mr. & Mrs. A. Broadwood Col. & Mrs. Holman'. He asks to be informed 'if it is allright [sic]' at his London address of 107 Queen's Gate, SW.

Two variant publications of Chinese Communist propaganda pamphlet, 'The Case Against the U.S. Germ Warfare Criminals'.

Author: 
Lyn Ta-kuang [The Chinese People's Committee for World Peace and Against American Agression; Germ Warfare; Biological Weapons]
Publication details: 
[Place of publication not given in either copy.] Copy 1: 'The Chinese People's Committee for World Peace and against American Aggression'. Copy 2: 'Special Supplement | Daily News Release | 20 March, 1952'.
£120.00

Both copies 16pp., 12mo, and both stapled in white wraps. Copy 1: Published by the Chinese People's Committee for World Peace and Against American Aggression. Title printed in red. Name of author given at foot of last page: '---- By LIN TA-KUANG.' In fair condition, aged, and on browned high-acidity newsprint, in creased wraps. Copy 2: 'Daily News Release' copy. Title given in black. Apparently identical in its typesetting to Copy 1, but without the author's name. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with short pencil notes on cover and elsewhere.

Copy of typewritten 'Rahsia-Secret' Malaysian intelligence document, titled 'Report on a Visit to Taiwan (Formosa) By Head, Psychological Warfare Section, Ministry of Home Affairs'.

Author: 
Head, Psychological Warfare Section, Ministry of Home Affairs, Malaysia [C. A. A. Nicol (1921-2012), OBE, CPM, AMN, Special Branch, Malayan Union Police Force and Royal Malaysian Police; Taiwan]
Publication details: 
[Psychological Warfare Section, Ministry of Home Affairs, Malaysia.] PWS/SEC/187/65. Kuala Lumpur. 2 November 1965.
£220.00

[2] + 14pp., foolscap 8vo. Very good, on lightly-aged paper.

Material mainly relating to the Second World War and the Battle of Britain, from the papers of Flying Office Robert French Helm, Royal Air Force, including autograph material, photographs, tables.

Author: 
Flying Officer Robert French Helm (1913-1995), Royal Air Force [The Battle of Britain]
Publication details: 
The photographs date from the 1940s; the rest of the material circa 1960.
£400.00

Helm's promotion on 3 September 1940 to the rank of Flying Officer (41020) is recorded in the London Gazette, 15 October 1940. After the war he joined the International Civil Aviation Authority, working in Iran and Zambia, and was elected to the Membership of the Institute of Navigation, Royal Geological Society, in 1971. A total of 59pp., 8vo, of pencil notes and tables by Helm, relating to the RAF in the Second World War, with 6 original photographs.

Manuscript groundplan of a castle in Flanders, made in 1753: 'Plan en Kelders van het Kasteel tot Sluÿs [in Vlaanderen]'. With copious manuscript notes in Dutch.

Author: 
[Fortifications in Flanders, 1753; Archives Hollandaises; Archief van Oorlog; eighteenth-century Holland; Dutch; Belgium; Belgian castles]
Publication details: 
'No. 2. Dit Plan den 8 janu: 1753'.
£280.00

On two pieces of laid paper, joined together to make a piece 30.5 x 68 cm, the lower part with watermark of 'D & C BLAUW'. In fair condition, clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper. Headed 'PLAN EN KELDERS | van het Casteel | tot | Sluÿs.' In another hand, in top left-hand corner: 'Archives Hollandaises'. Bearing three stamps: the first, circular in red ink, 'ARCHIEF VAN OORLOG'; the second, oval in red ink, 'DEPOT GENERAL DES <...>'; the third, in black ink, 'ARCHIVES HOLLANDAISES'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Sir William Russell to George, Duke of Cambridge, containing a long detailed account, written on the spot with keyed plan, of the 1849 Siege of Comorn [Komárno, Slovakia], which ended the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

Author: 
Sir William Russell (1822-1892), army officer, Liberal MP and author [Prince George (1819-1904), Duke of Cambridge; Hungarian Revolution of 1848; Siege of Comorn [Komárno, Slovakia]]
Publication details: 
20 September 1849; Acs [Ács], Hungary.
£1,250.00
Account of the 1849 Siege of Comorn

LETTER: 4to, 4 pp. 81 lines of closely-written text. Written on the spot, and posted in England, with redirection address from Dublin to Gedling Lodge, Nottingham in another hand. Two penny red stamps, and four English postmarks, with Russell's small seal in red wax. PLAN: Folio (42.5 x 27.5 cm), 1 p. Clearly drawn and keyed to the letter, showing Comorn and environs, the rivers Danube and Waag, and the positions of the various parties. Captions include 'hills strongly entrenched by Rebels' and 'High Ground old French Entrenchments where the Troops are now posted in Tents & Huts'.

Manuscript, on paper watermarked 1810, a detailed table titled 'Present <Stat>ement of His Majesty the King of Prussia's Army'.

Author: 
[The Prussian Army (Königlich Preußische Armee), 1810]
Publication details: 
[Circa 1810.]
£325.00
Present <Stat>ement of His Majesty the King of Prussia's Army

Landscape folio leaf (32.5 x 40.5 cm), 1 p. On paper watermarked 'JOHN HALL | 1810'. Neatly ruled to make a complex, detailed table, in three columns of 31 rows each. The table has a central vertical fold, with the left hand side of the reverse mounted on a leaf removed from an autograph album. In poor condition, with around an eighth of the total area of the paper and text lacking, mostly from the bottom right-hand corner. Despite the loss the table (presumably prepared for the British War Office) contains a mass of valuable information.

[three pamphlets by the Chinese People's Committee for World Peace] Stop U.S. Germ Warfare! Part II. [III., IV.] Chronological Account of the Germ Warfare and Editorials from the People's Daily, Peking, and Commentaries Issued by Hsinhua News Agency.

Author: 
The Chinese People's Committee for World Peace [Germ Warface; biological weapons; arms race]
Publication details: 
Peking: 1952. The Chinese People's Committee for World Peace.
£180.00
Stop U.S. Germ Warfare!

The three items uniform 12mo: Part II: 33 pp; Part III: 33 pp; Part IV: 41 pp, with twelve more pages carrying twenty-eight photographs. All three items in original red and black printed wraps. Texts and images of all three items clear and complete. On worn and browned brittle high-acidity paper, with slight loss to some corners of Part IV. Parts III and IV with a little ink annotation in margins. Five parts were published. Scarce: Apart from full sets at the British Library and LSE, COPAC only lists parts 2, 4 and 5 at Glasgow.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Stanley Buckmaster') to [F.] Meade[, Secretary, Official Press Bureau].

Author: 
Stanley Owen Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster (1861-1934), Liberal politician and Lord Chancellor [the Official Press Bureau; Great War; censorship]
Publication details: 
12 April 1915; on embossed government letterhead of the Official Press Bureau, Whitehall.
£35.00

12mo, 3 pp, 26 lines. Good, with tiny pin holes at head and foot of both leaves of the bifolium, and one corner roughened by removal of mount. Buckmaster has learnt that Meade is 'contemplating leaving [his] work in this Office', and would 'greatly regret any such step' as Meade's work is 'of great assistance and is much appreciated by all of us in this room'. While Buckmaster realises that there is little opportunity for advancement, he feels that 'we all do render considerable service to the state'.

[Drop-head title:] LETTER, No. 1. To the Editor of the Naval & Military Gazette. [LETTER, No. 2. To the Editor of the Naval & MIlitary Gazette. "The Duke and the Storming of Towns."] [LETTER, No. 3. (Confidential.) 26th August, 1839.]

Author: 
W. D. B. [Naval and Military Gazette; Duke of Wellington; Birmingham Riots of 1839]
Publication details: 
Dated 'W. D. B. | 4th September, 1839.' Printer not stated.
£120.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 22.5 x 14 cm): 12 pp paginated [3] to 14. Lacking (presumed) title-leaf. Unstitched, and consisting of one sheet of paper, 45 x 28 cm, folded twice to make four leaves; and one half sheet, 22.5 x 28 cm, folded to make two leaves. Text clear and entire, on heavily aged and spotted paper chipped at extremities. In an attempt to defend a perceived attack on his honour, W. D. B. prints, with commentary, three letters written by him to the editor of the Naval and Military Gazette, only the first of which was published (6 August 1839).

Seven original aerial propaganda leaflets dropped by Bomber Command (six over Germany; one over France), 1939-1945; with copies of a further two (in German). All nine items with accompanying contemporary typewritten translations by W. A. Green.

Author: 
British propaganda leaflets dropped on Germany and France by Bomber Command, 1939-1945 [World War Two; Psywar; Political Warfare Executive]
Publication details: 
1939 to 1945.
£220.00

Seven scarce examples of English Second World War propaganda, six aimed at Germany and the last at France. Ephemeral and scarce. The seven are clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper with occasional minor rust spotting. Each consists of two pages printed on a leaf 21 x 13.5 cm, except for Five, the dimensions of which are 21 x 13 cm. Five (red and black) is the only item not printed simply in black and white. All seven in German, except Seven, which is in French. All translations in typescript and on A4 leaves.

Promotional booklet in English, with photographic illustrations: 'From Industrial Sweden. Aktiebolaget Bofors. Bofors, Sweden.

Author: 
Bofors Steel Works, Gothenburg, Sweden [Bofors anti-aircraft gun; armaments; warfare; military]
Publication details: 
Gothenburg: 1923. ['Wald. Zachrissons Boktr. A.-B., Göteborg 1923'.]
£100.00

4to (28.5 x 21.5 cm): 8 pp. In original buff printed wraps. Printed on shiny art paper. Text complete and clear. Lightly spotted, with central vertical fold, grubby wraps, rusted staples. Twelve photographs, ranging in size from half- to quarter-page: 'General View of the Bofors Works', 'Erecting shop', 'Fitting shop', '15 cm. Guns', 'Hardening tower', '15 cm. (6 inch.) double gun-carriage M/12', 'Rolling Mill housing, weight 33 tons', 'Runner for water turbine', 'Ore Crusher', 'Exterior of the Bofors Steel Works', 'Screw Automatics' and 'Details'.

Typed Letter Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, together with unsigned carbon copy of the secretary's reply.

Author: 
Captain Basil Rupert Willett [MARCONI; RADAR]
Publication details: 
Letter: 9 July 1947, on letterhead of 'MARCONI'S WIRELESS TELEGRAPH COMPANY LIMITED'; carbon copy: 10 July 1947, no place.
£65.00

Willett (died 1966) and C. E. Horton were the two Royal Navy representatives to whom, in the autumn of 1940, it was demonstrated that the 10cm ground-based, experimental radar equipment could track ships. LETTER (one page, octavo, creased and grubby, with staple holes to one corner, stamped and docketed): Acknowledges a letter of 4 July, and is 'honoured to accept the invitation of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts to seek election as a Fellow of the Society'. Encloses a 'Form of Proposal' and a cheque (neither present) and suggests the setting up of a banker's order.

Autograph Letter Signed "Taprell Dorling" to [Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Captain Taprell Dorling (" Taffrail ")
Publication details: 
Marlings, Woking, Surrey, 17 May 1937
£75.00

Author. One page, 8vo, fold mark, good condition. "in your letter of November 2nd last, you were kind enough to say that you would take the necessary steps for my election to the Royal Society of Arts if I decided to reconsider my original inability to accept your Council's invitation. / I should be pleased now to join in due course if you would put my name forward."

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