Search Results: Military from Sumner & Stillman

1903. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1903. Original dark blue cloth. First Edition, first binding (some copies were put up in a green Times Book Club binding). As the Boer War wound down in 1901, Buchan received a two-year appointment to assist Lord Milner in the reconstruction of the Colony. Buchan, who had not been enthusiastic about the war, believing that the British, on balance, 'were only just in the right,' was enthusiastic about the reconstruction and entirely in sympathy with Milner's objectives. [Smith] This is Buchan's survey of the situation in South Africa after the war, with his thoughts about what should be done next. Included are two large foldout color maps -- one of "South Africa" and one of "The New Colonies." The volume is bright and near-fine (very slightly rubbed at the extremities). Blanchard A15 (citing only one foldout map, not two).

1895. A Study of Torpedo Warfare in 189-. Illustrated by the Author. London: Tower Publishing Company, 1895. 2 pp undated ads. Original grey-green cloth pictorially decorated in black and orange. First Edition of the first of Jane's scientific romances -- visions of future war, fought with future ships and aircraft. Not only is the book by Jane, but the action illustrations are too. Subsequent Jane titles, published over the following four years, included THE INCUBATED GIRL, TO VENUS IN FIVE SECONDS and THE VIOLET FLAME ("A Story of Armageddon and After"). Since his death in 1916, Jane has been best-known for the military annuals that bear his name today -- ALL THE WORLD'S FIGHTING SHIPS and ALL THE WORLD'S AIRCRAFT. This is a bright copy, fine except for a little ruffling at the spine ends. Currey p. 264; Bleiler Checklist p. 109.

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… Read More

1900. [the only appearance?] Published Weekly. Vol LII / No. 2713. New York: Thursday, November 29, 1900 ("the last Thanksgiving of the nineteenth century"). 20 pp preliminary ads (paginated i-xx), plus 16 pp terminal ads (paginated xxi-xxxvi). Original white wrappers stamped in yellow-orange. Early appearance (apparently the first outside of several Australian newspapers) of this four-page double-column article on the granting of British officers' commissions, written during the Boer War. Henty reviews the history of how officers' commissions were bought and sold over past centuries (a practice ended in 1871) -- though he says there were benefits to that system, such as a retiring officer being able to sell his commission to someone else, "a sort of bounty to induce him to get out!" [Dartt]. Henty also argues for abolishing the Victoria Cross (or at least limiting it to non-commissioned ranks), because too many officers are dying in heroic but ill-advised efforts to earn it. This is a near-fine… Read More

1916. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1916. [Together, four volumes.] Original light yellow wrappers lettered in green. First Editions, being the American copyright issues -- consisting of only 70 copies each, published separately between October 18th and 30th, 1916. Each volume consists of Kipling's account of specific sea warfare, preceded by an original poem written for the occasion (including Vol I's "Have you news of my boy Jack?"). As with THE FRINGES OF THE FLEET, Kipling wrote these articles with the permission of the British Admiralty, for appearance in British and American newspapers; he ceded copyright so that they could be used for propaganda purposes. Two months later they were all collected in Kipling's book SEA WARFARE. All four volumes are in fine, clean condition (the usual minor rusting of the staples). Richards A287; Stewart 402.

1936. Illustrated. London [etc.]: Thomas Nelson and Sons, (1936). Original blue-grey cloth, with dust jacket. First Edition. This volume is a selection of extracts from Buchan's monumental A HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR (four volumes, 1921-1922) -- published at a time when Britain was bracing for the next war. Included are eight maps, plus nine plates containing numerous photographs. Two years later this volume was followed up with a companion volume, NAVAL EPISODES OF THE GREAT WAR. This is a fine copy in a near-fine pictorial jacket (unnecessarily reinforced inside at some edges). Blanchard A117.

1883. Illustrated. London: Griffith & Farran, 1883. 32 pp ads dated Sept 1883. Original pictorial brown cloth. First Edition of this early Henty boys' tale taking place during the English Civil War. According to Newbolt (and to the printer's code on the title verso), 3000 copies were initially printed (in August 1882, though dated 1883); this copy has one of the earliest states of the ad catalogue (dated Sept 1883 -- there are some copies with ads dated May 1882, though that was several months before actual publication). This copy does have the early binding state -- without beveled edges on the boards or gilt edges on the leaves. It also has the p. 118 illustration in the first state -- located at that page, rather than where it belongs opposite p. 106; according to Newbolt, most copies with the 1883 ads have this illustration properly relocated. Condition is close to fine, with scarcely any wear, and with the original peach endpapers still intact. The book is a little askew, which is typically the… Read More

1915. I & II. The Auxiliary Fleet. / III & IV. Submarines. / V & VI. Patrols. [Together, six volumes.] Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1915. Original light yellow wrappers lettered in green. First Editions, being the American copyright issues, limited (according to DP&Co's annotated copy) to 75 copies each. These six articles, written at the instance of the Ministry of Information, were issued separately from November 19th through December 1st, 1915. The English and American book editions were then published sometime in December; a year later, they were collected in Kipling's book SEA WARFARE (December 1916). Each of the six volumes leads off with an original poem written by Kipling for the occasion. The Vol VI poem reads "(Twelve verses omitted.)" between the third verse and the last verse: this "was only a little joke of Kipling's to indicate that it would, of course, take a very lengthy poem to give any idea of the dangers and tribulations incurred by the [North Sea] patrol"… Read More

1901. Sloan, John. Illustrated by John Sloan. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1901. Original red cloth decorated in silver and gilt. First Edition. Crane dreamed up the idea of dramatizing great battles as a money-making scheme: "such sure quick money," he wrote his agent Pinker. Crane was very familiar with recent battles: since 1895 he had been a war correspondent in Cuba and in Greece, and had just begun reporting on the Boer War when he died of consumption in mid-1900 (in the Black Forest, where he had gone to seek the cure). He chose battles for their "picturesque and theatric qualities." Kate Frederic, common-law wife of the writer Harold Frederic, actually did most of the research and much of the writing; she "felt indebted to the Cranes for providing a home for her children; she expected [and received] no acknowledgement for writing GREAT BATTLES" [Stallman]. The book was not published until after Crane's death, from consumption, in June 1900. This copy is in red cloth, with crossed… Read More

1877. Verne, Jules. MICHAEL STROGOFF. Translated by W.H.G. Kingston. Revised by Julius Chambers. With Ninety Full-Page Illustrations. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1877. 6 pp undated ads. Original green cloth pictorially decorated in black and gilt, beveled. First American Edition of this historical tale of adventure taking place during a Siberian revolt by the Tartars. The czar must get a message to his brother the arch-duke, in Irkutsk, for which he chooses his best courier, Michael Strogoff. The first publication in English, in October 1876, was in a wrappered American edition by Frank Leslie; Sampson Low's U.K. edition came out two months later (in December 1876, despite the 1877 date on the title page). This Scribner Armstrong edition came out a few weeks later, in January 1877; it sold so well that by February a third edition was being advertised. This is a near-fine copy, with minor rubbing at the extremities but otherwise scarcely any external wear or soil (a few leaves stand… Read More

1888. With Numerous Illustrations. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1888. Original blue-grey cloth pictorially decorated in black and red, all page edges gilt. First British Edition of this adventure tale taking place during the American Civil War. This is the tale of the antagonism between Burbank (an anti-slavery Northerner now living near Jacksonville, Florida) and Texar (a pro-slavery Southerner); Texar winds up kidnapping Burbank's daughter and hiding her in the Everglades, and Burbank heads off in search of his daughter -- all as the Civil War rages around them. NORD CONTRE SUD came out in France in 1887, and by the end of the summer of that year the American pirate publisher George Munro came out with TEXAR'S VENGEANCE in his wrappered Seaside Library. In November 1887, Rand McNally published a hardbound American edition (a different translation) titled TEXAR'S REVENGE. Then this British edition, hardbound and illustrated and the same translation as Rand McNally's, came out… Read More

1933. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. Original green cloth lettered in gilt, with dust jacket. First Edition. In this novel the hero, Adam Melfort, is convicted of forgery, is drummed out of his regiment, and is sentenced to two years in prison -- for a crime his wife actually had committed. Upon release he embarks upon a series of adventurous causes in an effort to regain his reputation -- taking him into the secret service in the Great War, to the Greenland ice-cap, to the industrial Midlands and ultimately to Germany, where after the Great War he foils the attempts by a German faction to bring down the country's leader. (This was published, of course, just before one Adolf Hitler became that country's leader.) Though based on a curious premise, the tale is full of typically thrilling Buchan adventure -- climaxing in a man-hunt in the Italian Alps in which Melfort brings down his enemies with a rockslide. This copy is in the primary binding (there are several secondary bindings, including this… Read More

1919. London: Printed for Private Circulation [by Thomas J. Wise], 1919. Original dark red wrappers. First Edition, consisting of only 25 copies (so stated). This is Conrad's reminiscence of the day he heard of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand ("I was barely aware that such a man existed"), and the ensuing "shock of war" in his native land of Poland. This piece had originally appeared in the 29 March 1915 issue of the London Daily News & Leader; here, it is the sixth of the twenty very-limited-issue pamphlets that Conrad and Thomas J. Wise produced (as instant-collectibles to raise cash for Conrad) during the twelve months between February 1919 and January 1920. (Preceding these twenty in collaboration with Wise, there were six in collaboration with Clement J. Shorter.) In 1921 "The Shock of War" would be collected (as Section I of "Poland Revisited") in the Conrad volume NOTES ON LIFE & LETTERS. It is in just-about-fine condition (a hint of cracking of the fragile spine, a few short… Read More

1915. London: Central Committee for National Patriotic Organizations, n.d. [1915]. Original light brown wrappers. First Edition. This propaganda pamphlet, describing the Germans' treatment of British prisoners of war, was circulated in an effort to win over countries remaining neutral. Included are many specific examples. Doyle observes in his Foreword, Never again in our time will a German visitor be welcome to our country... A deep fissure will divide the two races, and this fissure will be kept open by our abiding remembrance of the foul methods by which the Germans have conducted the war... These methods can only be characterised as methods of systematic murder. This copy is near-fine (a trace of wear along the spine, and as usual a vertical crease that reflects its original mailing). Green & Gibson C19.

1917. An Account of the Historic Surrender of Santiago to General Shafter, July 17, 1898. San Francisco: Paul Elder and Company, 1917. Original tan wrappers pictorially decorated in black and orange. First Edition in book form (having originally appeared in The Sun); included is a frontispiece portrait of "Pecos Bill" Shafter, with his printed facsimile signature. Norris had gone to Cuba in 1898 to report on the Spanish-American War, where he covered the Siege of Santiago; this wrappered volume was issued during the next war, to benefit the Red Cross Funds. Fine condition. Blanck 15047; also see Gaer, p. 9.

1915. [in light brown boards] Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1915. 2 pp undated ads. Original light brown paper-covered boards with yapped edges, printed in black. First (Colonial) Edition of Buchan's best-known book, the classic mystery that has withstood the test of time both as a book and as a film. It features a British mining engineer from the southern Africa colonies, bored on vacation in London, who inadvertently learns too much about a German plot, and flees to his homeland of Scotland to avoid his pursuers. This was the first of Buchan's five mysteries to feature the Richard Hannay (the others being GREENMANTLE, MR. STANDFAST, THE THREE HOSTAGES and THE ISLAND OF SHEEP). The tale was of course the basis for one of Alfred Hitchcock's most highly-regarded early films, released in 1935; there have been three other releases, the most recent (2008) for TV. This was a cheaply-produced wartime book (price one shilling), printed on cheap paper that has always browned, with the… Read More

1914. With Preface by the Right Hon. F.E. Smith, K.C., M.P. London: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d. [September 1914]. Original self-wrappered 32-page booklet. First Edition. "This article, stating the British case [just weeks after the outbreak of war], was issued as a recruiting pamphlet in Great Britain, but was used abroad as a simple explanation which would enable neutrals to understand the true facts" [from Doyle's THE GERMAN WAR published three months later, quoted in G&G]. Thus there were editions in Dutch and in Danish, and it appeared in the U.S. as well. This is a near-fine copy, with little soil or wear -- remarkable for such a fragile piece, not intended to survive the moment. This original edition is so scarce that in 1999, a 400-copy facsimile edition was printed up. Green & Gibson B14.

1880. [a dazzling set] London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1880. Original red cloth pictorially decorated in black. First Edition of one of Hardy's least-known novels. Written during the year 1879 and serialized in the magazine Good Words (where it was bowdlerized by its Scottish clergyman editor), it is a tale in which Hardy combined the three separate strands which at that time most affected his life. One strand was his own Dorset background, and in particular the idea of a family reminiscence; another is the strand of historical study, and in particular the concentration he was then giving to the years 1804-1805 and the effect of the then-recent French Revolution. These two strands... are firmly woven into the construction of the novel, and give it remarkable unity and a steady sense of reality. Hardy was determined that the charges of unreality, brought against The Return of the Native, should not be repeated. [quotes from Gittings] The third strand, natural in that Hardy was then writing with an idea… Read More

1902. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1902. Original white wrappers. First Edition of Doyle's third piece of nonfiction, published two months before THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. He wrote this piece, drawing considerably from his THE GREAT BOER WAR (of 1900), in an effort "to stem the extraordinary outbreak of defamation" against Britain; it was issued in substantial numbers and was immediately translated into many languages, as a publicity campaign for Britain's purpose in the war. It is nonetheless scarce in desirable condition today, due to its fragility. This copy is remarkably near-fine, with very little soil or wear. One can see, at the top of the front wrapper, the erased signature of "L. Ropner" and the date "27.1.02" -- eleven days after publication. This was likely a member of the German-British shipbuilding / shipowner family (originally Röpner) in the UK, later elevated to the peerage. Green & Gibson B3a.

1908. And particularly how Mr. Bert Smallways fared while it lasted. With Illustrations by A.C. Michael. London: George Bell and Sons, 1908. 2 pp undated ads. Original blue cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition of this extraordinary tale of a Cockney cycle mechanic who is carried off by a drifting balloon and is then caught up in a surprise German air attack on New York City -- which in turn precipitates the collapse of civilization. Though this book typifies Wells's fantastic "fiction about the future" (and includes a remarkable forecast of aerial warfare), it is perhaps more noteworthy as one of his earliest warnings about "the German menace" -- a topic to which he would devote increased attention over the coming years. This copy is in Currey's binding "A" (with lettering in gilt on both the front cover and the spine, and with no mounted color plate). This is a very good-plus copy (general minor rubbing at the edges, spine slightly faded); atypically, the original endpapers are intact. Wells Soc.… Read More