The Old Contemptibles: The British Expeditionary Force,1914.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn. [Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2.] FINE/FINE. No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,matt,montaged monochrome photographs,illustrated front panel of dw/dj with gilt,brown and black lettering,spine/backstrip with thumbnail photograph detail from front photograph at head of same and with gilt,brown,grey and black lettering,rear panel with narrow,horizontal thumbnail detail from front's photograph to its top edge and with critics' brown+black lettered reviews of author's previous other books to remaining white background; all with negligible shelf-wear, bumping,creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or splits present.Tiniest and gentlest of pushing to foot of spine.Top+fore -edges bright and clean without blemishes,no foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread, other than my own collation.Publisher's bright,crisp, unblemished,sharp-cornered,original plain maroon cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettered spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,vii -xiiipp+1-362pp [paginated] includes separate contents+ illustrations+maps lists/tables,author's Introduction,14 chapters and an Epilogue,16pp contemporary b/w photographs in 2 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp106/7 and pp234/35 respectively,Notes,a 5pp bibliography and an Index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication with blank verso,and b/w map battle plans 1-7.
Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional,and even internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation for a book of it's age It really is an exceptional copy for its cleanliness and brightness.
On 19 August, 1914, the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, wrote a letter to the First Army commander, General von Kluck: 'It is my Royal and Imperial Command that you concentrate your energies and the valour of my soldiers to exterminate the treacherous English and walk over General French's contemptible little army.'

(This book) chronicles that little army, the British Regular Army of 1914: how it came to be in France at all, the long years of intrigue and preparation that preceded its departure, and what happened to it in four short months of total war. Robin Neillands uses a wealth of first-hand accounts, and his great experience in bringing military history alive, to take the reader on a gripping and horrific journey to the battlefields of First World War France.
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