Books

Very Rare, London Published, 1616 Coryate's Traveller for the English Wits

An incredible book for the seasoned explorer-traveller. Written by the first Englishman [and Elizabethan] to do so, simply for the joy of travelling to unvisited parts, and first published in 1616. Tom Coryate is known as only the second Englishman to visit India, and the first ever traveller of the so called Grand Tour. The man, that history accredits, who introduced dinner forks to the English speaking world. This superb tome is entitled 'Greeting from the court of the Great Moghul, and resident in Asmere a town in Eastern India'. By Tom Coliate. A seemingly small book, composed of numerous letters, sent in the early 1600's to his English friends, from India. They were various gentleman of note and standing, including the Master of the Rolles in Chancery Lane and to the "Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen" at the Mermaid Inn. Coriates Traveller for the English Wits; Greetings from the court of the most mighty monarch, the Great Moghul. Publ London 1616. Very rare, original, early 18th century copy. It has many border annotations and quotes, made by an owner, some in ancient Greek, and additions affixed on the inside cover including old bookseller advertisements. The original and first 1616 printing is now so rare that we do not know of another coming on to the market in the last ten years, and today, if one was to appear it would be not unreasonable to attract a likely price of ?20,000. In 1912 another of his published books the earlier Cortyate's Crudities sold for the princely sum of ?45, the equivalent today of the paid employment of a household of servants for one year. Thomas Coriate traveller for the English wits, greeting: from the court of the Great Mogul, resident at the Towne of Asmere, in Easterne India ([London]: 1616), p.27. The remarkable and eccentric Coryate (1577-1617) was only the second Englishman to visit India simply out of curiosity, a journey of some 3,300 miles, most of which he accomplished on foot. In a letter to his mother in England Coryates writes, 'I have rid upon an elephant since I came to this Court, determining one day (by Gods leave) to have my picture expressed in my next Booke, sitting upon an elephant' (p.26). Coryat was born in Crewkerne, Somerset, and lived most of his life in the Somerset village of Odcombe. He was a son of George Coryate (d. 1607). He was educated at Winchester College from 1591, and at Gloucester Hall, Oxford from 1596 to 1599. He was employed by Prince Henry, eldest son of James I as a sort of "court jester" from 1603 to 1607, alongside Ben Jonson, John Donne and Inigo Jones.

From May to October 1608 he undertook a tour of Europe, somewhat less than half of which he walked. He travelled through France and Italy to Venice, and returned via Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. He published his memoirs of the events in a volume entitled Coryat's Crudities hastily gobbled up in Five Months Travels in France, Italy, &c' (1611). In 1611 he published a second volume of travel writings, this one entitled Coryats Crambe, or his Coleworte twice Sodden. Coryat's letters from this time refer to the famous Mermaid Tavern in London, and mention Ben Jonson, John Donne and other members of a drinking club "Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen" that met there.

Ever restless, he set out once again in 1612, this time on a journey that would ultimately lead to Asia, visiting Greece, the eastern Mediterranean including Constantinople by 1614, and walking through Turkey, Persia and eventually Moghul India by 1615, visiting the Emperor Jahangir's court in Ajmer, Rajasthan. From Agra and elsewhere he sent letters describing his experiences; this very book his Greetings from the Court of the Great Mogul was published in London in 1616, and a similar volume of his letters home appeared posthumously in 1618. In September 1617, at the invitation of Sir Thomas Roe, he visited the imperial court at Mandu, Madhya Pradesh. In November 1617 he left for Surat; he died of dysentery there in December of that year, his demise hastened by the consumption of sack. Though his planned account of the journey was never to be, some of his unorganized travel notes have survived and found their way back to England. These were published in the 1625 edition of Samuel Purchas's Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes, contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and others.

Coryat's writings were hugely popular at the time. His accounts of inscriptions, many of which are now lost, were valuable; and his accounts of Italian customs and manners?including the use of the table fork?were influential in England at a time when other aspects of Italian culture, such as the madrigal, had already been in vogue for more than twenty years. He is considered by many to have been the first Briton to do a Grand Tour of Europe; a practice which became a mainstay of the education of upper class Englishmen in the 18th century.  read more

Code: 20700

A Most Rare Item Taken From, Hitler’s No. 2, Field Marshal Keital’s Personal Library in Berlin 1946. ‘Briefe Napoleons’ From Field Marshal Keitel's Personal Collection, From His Late Son, an SS Sturmbanfuhrer, Who Was Killed in Combat

Briefe Napoleons des Ersten : in drei Banden ; Auswahl aus der gesamten Korrespondenz des Kaisers. Napoleon the First. Selection from all the correspondence of the emperor. Published in 1910; Napoleon's correspondence from 1809 until his death in 1821. Published in 3 volumes this is volume 3. Taken in 1946 from the family library of Field Marshal Keitel, and one of two books from the library we have acquired, the first one was sold. Bearing the Ex Libris Book Label of his family and eldest son, who he lost in the war, Karl-Heinz Keitel SS-Sturmbannfuhrer of 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, awarded the German Cross in Gold, Iron Cross 1st Class for heroism, Iron Cross IInd class, Close Combat Clasp & Wound Badge in black. Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (22 September 1882 - 16 October 1946) was the most famous German field marshal of WW2 who served as chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) for most of World War II, making him the Chief of Defence for Germany and Hitler's number two after Reichmarshall Goring. At the Allied court at Nuremberg, he was tried, sentenced to death, and hanged as a war criminal. He was the third highest-ranking German officer to be tried at Nuremberg. Karl-Heinz Keitel was born on 2 January 1914, in Wolfenbuttel, the eldest son of Wilhelm Keitel who would rise to become Chief of the OKW, the German Military High Command, during World War II. Karl-Heinz joined the Heer in 1934 and served in various cavalry units following the outbreak of war in 1939. In June 1943 he was assigned to the Kavallerie-Schule in Potsdam-Krampnitz, and served as a battalion commander, and later the regimental commander of the Kavallerie-Regiment Nord. On 5 August 1944, he transferred into the Waffen-SS and served with the 22. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Maria Theresia". On 20 October of that year, he was promoted to command SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Regiment 17 / 22.SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Maria Theresia" in the area of Hungary. In November 1944, combined with the Florian Geyer division, the "Maria Theresia" was assigned to the garrison of Budapest. On 12 December he was wounded in action while defending against Red Army probing attacks into Budapest for which he was awarded the Wound Badge in Black.
In March he transferred to the 37. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Lutzow" as its commander, and led the 2000 strong remnants of the division in heavy fighting around Wiener-Neustadt as part of 6. SS-Panzer Armee. He was reportedly promoted Obersturmbannfuhrer (Lieutenant Colonel) in the closing months of the war. The book's label also bears the label of his wife Dorothee, the daughter of the Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 - 14 March 1946) was a German Generalfeldmarschall, Minister of War, and Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces until January 1938. The marriage of Karl-Heinz and Dorothee was one of the reasons her father, Generalfeldmarschall von Blomberg, was forced to resign by Hitler in 1938 It was in order to avoid a damaging scandal caused by the Generalfeldmarschall's new wife's criminal history as a prostitute that was discovered by Himmler. It was an extraordinary discovery as both Hitler and Goring attended her wedding to Keitel. Another volume that we know of, also originally from Field Marshal Keitel's library, an 1827 first edition of Alexander Pushkin's 'The Robber Brothers' printed in Russian, was apparently given to Keitel in 1941/2, after it's liberation from another but unknown Russian Ex Libris collection during Operation Barbarossa. That volume was given, in its turn in 1945, to Marshal Zhukov, commander of the Army of the USSR, and bears his Red Star stamp, and also Keitel's military stamp. That volume may weel have bee liberated from the Keitel family home library as was this book alongside the other we are offering for sale. Napoleon Bonaparte was General of the French Revolution; the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799 to 18 May 1804; then Emperor of the French (Empereur des Francais) and King of Italy under the name Napoleon I from 18 May 1804 to 6 April 1814; and briefly restored as Emperor from March 20 to June 22 of 1815. This unique piece is exactly the kind of item we are seeking and finding every day, and thus duly offer for sale in our shop and website. Unique, original pieces for the discerning collector, and items that simply cannot be found any where else. We are now the only shop in Britain that offers such pieces, every day, and have done and hopefully will continue to do so  read more

Code: 19643

History of United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent

To the twelve years truce - 1609. by John Lothrop Motley. New Edition with portraits. 4 volumes, all in fine bindings with clean and polished calf in red, two gilted leather title labels on the spines of each, 5 raised bands. Marble cover and interior pages. Marbled edges. Published 1875/6 by John Murray Albemarle St. London. Motley, who served as United States ambassador to Austria during the Civil War and later as ambassador to Great Britain, said of his affinity for the Netherlands: "I had not first made up my mind to write a history and then cast about to take up a subject. My subject had taken me up, drawn me on, and absorbed me into itself." Although he spent much of his life abroad, Motley was a member of the Boston literary circle that included Hawthorne, Lowell, Longfellow, and Motley's future biographer, Oliver Wendell Holmes. William I, Prince of Orange (24 April 1533 ? 10 July 1584), also known as William the Silent or William the Taciturn (translated from Dutch: Willem de Zwijger), or more commonly known as William of Orange, was the main leader of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years' War (1568?1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581. He was born in the House of Nassau as Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the branch House of Orange-Nassau and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. Within the Netherlands he is also known as Father of the Fatherland (Dutch: Vader des Vaderlands).

A wealthy nobleman, William originally served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Unhappy with the centralisation of political power away from the local estates and with the Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants, William joined the Dutch uprising and turned against his former masters. The most influential and politically capable of the rebels, he led the Dutch to several successes in the fight against the Spanish. Declared an outlaw by the Spanish king in 1580, he was assassinated by Balthasar G?rard (also written as "Gerardts") in Delft in 1584. A fine set, very collectable and much sought by collectors. Philip II of Spain berating William the Silent Prince of Orange by Cornelis Kruseman.  read more

Code: 22358

A Magnificent & Fantastic Presentation Limited Edition Leather & Gilt Bound Huge Volume Of Lucien Rousselot's Uniforms of Royal and Imperial French Army From the 18th century Ancien Regime, to the First Empire of The Emperor Napoleon

An exceptional leather bound in gold tooled bright red and cream calf leather, and a considerably weighty tome of 18 pounds, or 8.15 kilos, that any Ancien Regime & Imperial French Armee collector or historian would be thrilled to own and enjoy. Likely printed around 50 years ago.

The uniform plates of the famous military painter Lucien Rousselot, is an indispensable source for the ancien Regime and Napoleonic era. We have never seen such a fabulous example of this very rarely seen, deluxe, especially published edition. We have only ever seen one other, decades ago, and that had many plates removed in order to have them framed.

Lucien Rousselot, was the official painter of the French Army, created plates on the Napoleonic period between 1943 and 1971, drawing on his painstaking research in the military archives. Some 60 plates {numbered I to XXX x 2} in this hefty tome are devoted to the Ancien Régime, & the First Empire. All are highly detailed, meticulously researched and stunningly coloured. The master combed every source he could find for uniform details and exceptions.
It comes in a handsome slipcase, that has taken the external wear, that will undoubtedly take pride of place in any library of a French Napoleonic collector.

A painter and illustrator of military subjects, and during his illustrious career, he produced an iconography dealing with the uniforms worn within the French Army over a vast period ranging from the 16th century to the end of the 19th century . From the 1920s he worked as an illustrator and uniformologist for the magazine Le Passepoil directed by Eugène-Louis Bucquoy, for whom he also illustrated some of the series of cards devoted to the uniforms of the First Empire. A member of the company La Sabretache, he also collaborated for the company's magazine Le Carnet de la Sabretache until the 1990s. His work, considered major, is the series of 106 uniformological plates dealing, for more than half of them, French uniforms worn during the First Empire The French Army, its uniforms, its armament, its equipment that he produced from 1943 to 1970.
To create his paintings and plates he used articulated mannequins of soldiers and miniature horses that he had made on a 1/7 scale , accompanied by accessories. He is buried in Marles en Brie (Seine et Marne).

The honours that were awarded to him were;

Knight of the Legion of Honour
Officer of Arts and Letters,
&
Knight of the Academic Palms

The printing house, Les Procedes Dorel, Paris

48 cm x 40 cm x 8 cm or 19 inches x 16 inches x 3 inches.

Each picture, on every page, is frame mounted, individually, and is 30.5 cm x 22.5 cm  read more

Code: 25239

A Beautiful and Rare Set Of The Original 8 Book Bindings, 'The Strand Magazine', That Famously Contains the First Bound Volumes of Sherlock Holmes Adventures

The Strand Magazine July 1891 till Dec. 1893 bound in 8 Volumes } Vol. I to VIII}

First editions in bound book form . . the originals were published as a monthly magazine.

The first appearance of the 24 Sherlock Holmes adventures preceeding the first publishing of the books "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (according A10 and A14 Green/Gibson). Including many of the famous original illustrations of Sidney Paget which help form the popular image of Holmes. Also very interesting is the article in Vol. IV about the daily life of Dr. Doyle with photos of him, his wife and his home. Volume II (July - Dec. 1891) Adventure I. - A Scandal in Bohemia Adventure II. - The Red-Headed League Adventure III. - A Case of Idendity Adventure IV. - The Boscombe Valley Mystery Adventure V. - The Five Orange Pips Adventure VI. - The Man With The Twisted Lip Volume III (Jan.- June 1892) Adventure VII. - The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle Adventure VIII. - The Adventure Of The Speckled Band Adventure IX. - The Adventure Of The Engineer's Thumb Adventure X. - The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor Adventure XI. - The Adventure Of The Beryl Coronet Adventure XII. - The Adventure Of The Copper Beeches Volume IV (July to Dec. 1892) Article 'A Day with Dr. Conan Doyle' with Photos of him, his wife, his house and his study Adventure XIII. - The Adventure Of Silver Blaze Volume V (Jan. to June 1893) Adventure XIV - The Adventure Of The Cardboard Box Adventure XV. - The Adventure Of The Yellow Face Adventure XVI. - The Adventure Of The Stockbroker'Clerk Adventure XVII. - The Adventure Of The "GLORIA SCOTT" Adventure XVIII. - The Adventure Of The Musgrave Ritual Adventure XIX. - The Adventure Of The Reigate Squire Volume VI (July to Dec. 1893) Adventure XX. - The Adventure Of The Crooked Man Adventure XXI. - The Adventure Of The Resident Patient Adventure XXII. - The Adventure Of The Greek Interpreter Adventure XXIII. - The Adventure Of The Naval Treaty Adventure XXIV. - The Adventure Of The Final Problem There are many other interesting factual articles in addition to fictional short stories and series of different authors in these books. One example: "Towards The North Pole" by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.

Plus, Volume III contains the first publication of Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Lost Legion." Volume IV contains the first English translation of Jules Verne's short horror story "Frritt-Flacc" as "Dr. Trifulgas."

If one wanted experience and read of the Victorian way of life in England, this is by far the best way to uncover it. The Sherlock Holmes stories are just a fraction of what they contain. Hundreds of wonderful stories and details of exploration, by dozens of highly rated Victorian authors, thus, thousands of unrivalled hours of pleasure awaits the next owner/s of these incredible books.

Books are in very good condition. Some light wear The bindings are very nice and some areas of foxing on the paper. A very rare collectable set of the first appearance of these famous stories. Hard to find in this nice condition. All articles are richly illustrated  read more

Code: 25194

A Fabulous Victorian Set of 24 of Charles Dickens Works, Superbly Bound In 17 Volumes By Chapman And Hall

If you wanted a stunning set to enjoy or as an heirloom for future generations you would likely never see a better set of this type. Very good condition indeed, 17 beautiful volumes octavo, finest calf leather with marbled boards, five raised bands across each spine, with titles, in gilt on red leather with green leather title labels, and gilt decoratio. Marbled edges, with marbled end papers original illustrations, all contents clean and bright and bindings firm.
Charles Dickens
TWENTY-FOUR Works in Seventeen Volumes
COMPLETE
Sketches by Boz.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

The Adventures of Oliver Twist & A Tale of Two Cities.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

The Old Curiosity Shop.

Barnaby Rudge.

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit.

Christmas Books & Hard Times. Including A Christmas Carol

Dombey and Son.

The Personal History of David Copperfield.

Bleak House.

Little Dorrit.

Great Expectations & The Uncommercial Traveller.

Our Mutual Friend.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood & Reprinted Pieces.

American Notes for General Circulation & Pictures from Italy & A Child's History of England.

Christmas Stories & Master Humphrey's Clock.  read more

Code: 25195

A 1st Edition, Ist Impression Charles Dickens Bleak House Printed 1853 Leather Bound in Light Brown Calf and Black Title With Gilding & Marbled End Boards

Bradbury & Evans, first edition, with Ist impression imperfections and plates as called for ( pages with expected age foxing/staining), leather bound with marbled end boards.

A chance to own a rare first edition, and Ist Impression, of one of the great classics of English literature. Printed and first read before the Crimean War in Russia, and before the 'Charge of the Light Brigade' became infamous in British military history.
Original printing imperfections and flaws are detailed in Walter E. Smith and his wonderful work 'Charles Dickens in the Original Cloth'. Smith's comprehensive bibliography of each of Dickens's works enabled all to describe the flaws in the first impression.
The first edition of Bleak House is highly desirable. We have encountered a fair number of examples over the past 50 to around 100 years, in both the original cloth and bound in various bindings. Most of these bindings date from near the time of publication and most are before around 1880.

The edition points required for the first impression of the first edition are fairly definitive. The edition points are as follows to qualify as the 1st impression:

1) "elgble" misspelling for "eligible" on pp.19 line 6

2) "chair" misspelling for "hair" on pp.209 line 23

3) "counsinship" misspelling for "cousinship" on pp.275 line 22

There are also another issue present, in only a few of the first impression copies, namely pp.230 with the "2" in the page number complete. This copy has that scarce point

Basic premise: Jarndyce vs Jarndyce is a suit which has being going through the Court of Chancery for decades and decades and decades. Chancery is this old court to do with contested wills which has long since been reformed because it was impossibly incompetent and once you were in Chancery there was no getting out of Chancery and all costs are taken from the estates being contested, meaning that the Court benefited from drawing out proceedings. The young wards of Jarndyce are Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, young cousins. They are sent to live with their cousin Mr John Jarndyce and with them goes the orphan Esther Summerson, an orphan with a mysterious past. Mr Jarndyce advises them all to forget the suit, particularly as Richard and Ada fall in love, yet Richard struggles to settle to any profession with the suit still undecided. Simultaneous to this, the sinster lawyer Mr Tulkinghorn serves Sir Leicester Dedlock, Baronet and his wife Lady Dedlock, a woman desperately bored with her life. She also has a claim in the Jarndyce suit and faints dead away when Mr Tulkinghorn shows her a piece of legal writing written in a strangely familiar hand … cue much to-ing and fro-ing and the occasional untimely death. Nobody does tragic death scenes quite like Dickens, you end up really feeling the tragedy. Subtle he is not. Bleak House shows us a world where kindness is hard to find. Mr John Jarndyce tries to protect those he loves, but even he cannot prevent them being drawn in to the fogs of London. As usual, Dickens preaches against the workhouses and the ineffectiveness of charity, Mr Jarndyce is the sole positive charitable figure in the novel, his is a doctrine of love. It is the day to day cruelties that people inflict on each other that grind people down. The unrelenting legal profession, the way in which young men can be educated about poetry but not in how to work, that children can run wild on the streets and never really know that they are loved, this is a world where a man who has lost everything can die and barely be missed. Esther makes it clear that she feels herself to have been saved by the love of those around her – but Ada’s love could not save Richard, nor could Sir Leicester’s love save his Lady. All they can do is keep loving them still, no matter what the world may say. The bleakness of the title goes much deeper than the name of the house. 8.75 inches x 6 inches x 2 inches.  read more

Code: 25198

A Stunningly Bound Complete 25 Volume Set Of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley Novels. Published in Edinburgh in 1871

These bound volumes would elegantly grace any bookcase, library or study. They are a truly truly beautiful collection.

Scott, Sir Walter - Waverley Novels; the Centenary
Edition, 25 vols. pictorial engraved titles, num. plates and some other illus.; contemp fine calf leather and marbled boards, gilt decorated panelled spines with green leather and tan leather Published in Edinburgh, 1871

The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe.
Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the series takes its name from Waverley, the first novel of the series, released in 1814. The later books bore the words "by the author of Waverley" on their title pages.
The Tales of my Landlord sub-series was not advertised as "by the author of Waverley" and thus is not always included as part of the Waverley Novels series.

Scott’s early Waverley books deal with several different phases of Scottish history and were noted for their characterizations of ordinary people and their use of regional Scottish dialect. These novels often concern the clash between heroic traditions of the past and practical visions of the future. Waverley, for example, treats the tensions between the Jacobites and the Hanoverians in the mid-18th century, while The Heart of Midlothian addresses the social conflict following the Porteous Riots of 1736 over the execution of a smuggler. Scott set his other novels in historical periods dating to the Middle Ages in locales such as England, France, Palestine, and the Orkney Islands.


Chronological order, by settingedit
1097: Count Robert of Paris
1187–94: The Betrothed, The Talisman, Ivanhoe (3)
1307: Castle Dangerous
1396: The Fair Maid of Perth
1468–77: Quentin Durward, Anne of Geierstein (2)
1547–75: The Monastery, The Siege of Malta, The Abbot, Kenilworth (4)
1616–18: The Fortunes of Nigel
1644–89: A Legend of Montrose, Woodstock, Peveril of the Peak, The Tale of Old Mortality, The Pirate (5)
1700–99: The Black Dwarf, The Bride of Lammermoor, Rob Roy, Heart of Midlothian, Waverley, Guy Mannering, Redgauntlet, The Antiquary (8)
19th century: St. Ronan's Well

They are beautiful bindings in super condition. We have only ever seen the Zaehnsdorf bindings as equal to or possibly better than these.  read more

Code: 25199

This Week Had The Privilege To Acquire The Entire Country House Library of a Late Author & Bibliophile. A Collection of Over 700 Volumes, Antique and Vintage, Accumulated Over 40 Years

We were more than delighted to acquire this most eclectic of libraries, lovingly selected over decades, mostly comprising of historical and contemporary novels of fiction, and also books on military based subjects, both ancient and modern

We were most happy to sell, on the first day of their arrival here, to one collector, a selection of over 350 of the former author’s book collection.

We have also selected around 100 to add to our own reference library of over 1000 volumes we have accumulated over the past century  read more

Code: 25200

T.E.Lawrence. Two Signed, Special US Editions, Published in 1938, Published in America. Lawrence, T.E - To His Biographer Robert Graves & To His Biographer Liddell Hart

Lawrence, T.E - To His Biographer Robert Graves; To His biographer Liddell Hart, 1938, in 2 vols, original buckram hardcover bindings, each 1 of 500 US copies, signed by Graves and Liddell Hart respectively, frontispieces, t.e.g., some leaves uncut, Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. New York, 1938. The special signed editions were 1 of 1,000 but 500 for America and 500 for the UK.

Each volume is, most rarely, un-numbered, and some pages remain uncut, on hand made paper, with the signed Robert Graves edition bearing publisher's printed red highlights on some text.

T.E. Lawrence (born August 16, 1888, Tremadoc, Caernarvonshire, Wales—died May 19, 1935, Clouds Hill, Dorset, England) was a British archaeological scholar, military strategist, and author best known for his legendary war activities in the Middle East during World War I and for his account of those activities in The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926).

The month the war began, Lawrence became a civilian employee of the Map Department of the War Office in London, charged with preparing a militarily useful map of Sinai. By December 1914 he was a lieutenant in Cairo. Experts on Arab affairs—especially those who had travelled in the Turkish-held Arab lands—were rare, and he was assigned to intelligence, where he spent more than a year, mostly interviewing prisoners, drawing maps, receiving and processing data from agents behind enemy lines, and producing a handbook on the Turkish Army. When in mid-1915 his brothers Will and Frank were killed in action in France, T.E. was reminded cruelly of the more active front in the West. Egypt at the time was the staging area for Middle Eastern military operations of prodigious inefficiency; a trip to Arabia convinced Lawrence of an alternative method of undermining Germany’s Turkish ally. In October 1916 he had accompanied the diplomat Sir Ronald Storrs on a mission to Arabia, where Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, amīr of Mecca, had the previous June proclaimed a revolt against the Turks. Storrs and Lawrence consulted with Ḥusayn’s son Abdullah, and Lawrence received permission to go on to consult further with another son, Fayṣal, then commanding an Arab force southwest of Medina.

Lawrence was not the only officer to become involved in the incipient Arab rising, but from his own small corner of the Arabian Peninsula he quickly became—especially from his own accounts—its brains, its organizing force, its liaison with Cairo, and its military technician. His small but irritating second front behind the Turkish lines was a hit-and-run guerrilla operation, focussing upon the mining of bridges and supply trains and the appearance of Arab units first in one place and then another, tying down enemy forces that otherwise would have been deployed elsewhere, and keeping the Damascus-to-Medina railway largely inoperable, with potential Turkish reinforcements thus helpless to crush the uprising. In such fashion Lawrence—“Amīr Dynamite” to the admiring Bedouins—committed the cynical, self-serving shaykhs for the moment to his king-maker’s vision of an Arab nation, goaded them with examples of his own self-punishing personal valour when their spirits flagged, bribed them with promises of enemy booty and English gold sovereigns.

Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985)12 was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celticists and students of Irish mythology.

Robert Graves produced more than 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, his translations and innovative analysis of the Greek myths, his memoir of his early life—including his role in World War I—Good-Bye to All That (1929), and his speculative study of poetic inspiration The White Goddess have never been out of print. He is also a renowned short story writer, with stories such as "The Tenement" still being popular today.

He earned his living from writing, particularly popular historical novels such as I, Claudius; King Jesus; The Golden Fleece; and Count Belisarius. He also was a prominent translator of Classical Latin and Ancient Greek texts; his versions of The Twelve Caesars and The Golden Ass remain popular for their clarity and entertaining style. Graves was awarded the 1934 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for both I, Claudius and Claudius the God.

Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart (31 October 1895 – 29 January 1970), commonly known throughout most of his career as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was a British soldier, military historian, and military theorist. He wrote a series of military histories that proved influential among strategists. Arguing that frontal assault was bound to fail at great cost in lives, as proven in World War I, he recommended the "indirect approach" and reliance on fast-moving armoured formations.

His pre-war publications are known to have influenced German World War II strategy, though he was accused of prompting captured generals to exaggerate his part in the development of blitzkrieg tactics. He also helped promote the Rommel myth and the "clean Wehrmacht" argument for political purposes, when the Cold War necessitated the recruitment of a new West German army.  read more

Code: 25196