CAMPS AND QUARTERS. Military Sketches and Stories

1889. [a Henty rarity] By Archibald Forbes, George Henty and Charles Williams. New York: Ward, Lock and Co., 1889. Printed light brown wrappers.

First Edition (American issue) of "probably the rarest of all Henty items" (quote from Sotheby's, February 1972, when the last copy appeared at auction -- it sold for 380 pounds, or about $1,000). When Farmer did his account of Henty books decades ago, he noted that "We have been unable to secure a copy of this book, nor personally to inspect one. The British Museum copy was destroyed in the bombing of London." (Farmer ultimately gleaned information from a rebound copy in Scotland.) According to Henty's own copy (now at the Lilly Library), Henty wrote the Introduction plus four of the ten tales: "A Passing Face," "Faithful to the Death," "Turning the Tables" and "Out with the Redshirts." (Henty is also believed to have written the brief interludes that connect the ten tales.) One reason CAMPS AND QUARTERS is so sought-after, in addition to its inherent rarity, is that none of these Henty tales has since been reprinted (except in 50 facsimile copies of this book, once created from this very original). This wrappered volume was advertised as an "annual," but no further years' volumes were issued. The British and American issues differ only in their wrappers and title pages (the British version indicates this was to be "An Annual"; also it has a different Ward Lock imprint, has some leaves of inserted ads, and of course has a sterling price and different ads on the wrapper). Condition is very good-plus (spine wrapper replaced with archival paper, a few small chips in the edge of the front and rear wrappers, professional repair to a wrapper corner and the inner front hinge). Newbolt 138.1 (U.K. issue); Dartt pp 31-32 (U.S. issue). Provenance: this copy previously belonged to the U.S. Library of Congress: on the title page is a purple ink-stamp "Library of Congress | Copyright | May 18, 1889 | Washington", over which is a black ink-stamp "Library of Congress - 4 | Surplus Duplicate"; along with these is their penciled file number 14004 U2 (also appearing on the front wrapper). We don't often use the word "rarity," but it applies in this instance.