[Australian Army Medical Corps]. [NICHOLAS, A.S., editor]

AAMC 'Patches'. Adelaide 1938 [cover title]. Australian Army Medical Corps AIF Interstate Reunion, Adelaide, April 25, 1938. Also including British, New Zealand Expeditionary Force Field Ambulances and other Dominion Army Medical Corps

Adelaide, [AAMC Reunion Committee], 1938.

Oblong octavo, [ii] (title page, verso blank), 201 pages (plus 19a and its printed verso, numbered 21a) with some illustrations (all produced in brown ink from processed typescript) plus 47 pages of plates and 8 unnumbered sectional title leaves (all versos blank); all but 6 of the first 30 (and 2 later) pages are printed rectos only.

Flush-cut pictorial wrappers with light wear to the extremities and a few trifling surface blemishes; occasional light foxing and mild signs of handling; a very good copy of a rare and unusual item.

'Ever since the cessation of hostilities of the Great War, 1914-1918, it has been the wish of Australian Army Medical Corps AIF ex-servicemen in South Australia, that we should have some permanent record of our Fallen Comrades, and to those who have "Passed On" since returning to Australia. The following pages are the expression of that wish' (foreword). The Honor Rolls run to 18 pages. Other contents include the reunion programme with a list of guests, Digger songs, 'War and Other Verses', and a lengthy section of war statistics and related items of interest. We have previously handled a copy in which was loosely inserted a 'Critique [of the book] by the Editor, "Rising Sun"', dated Adelaide, 31 March 1938. The information contained in our catalogue note at the time is worth repeating: 'Presumably, the reference is to "The Rising Sun. A Journal of the AIF in France. (With which is incorporated 'The Honk')"; nineteen numbers were issued between 25 December 1916 and 24 March 1917 (see Fielding and O'Neill, page 264). The anonymous critic is not only onside; his intimate remarks about the compilation and production of the book suggest he was very much inside as well. He writes the following about the AAMC Orderly Room in Adelaide, where the work was done: "the well remembered atmosphere of a dug-out was warmly recaptured. On the walls were Leyshon White pictures, crisp of technique, and so faithfully capturing the spirit that existed 'over there'. War-time quips were bandied freely; each chic female helper may well have been the ghost of Mam'selle herself; each flurry of sound from passing traffic may well have been the whine of more sinister objects"'.

Dornbusch (addenda) 535; Fielding and O'Neill, page 233 (supplying the name of the editor); Trigellis-Smith 316.

Item #108443

Price (AUD): $800.00
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