Campaigning with the Fighting 9th. (In and Out of the Line with the 9BN AIF), 1914-1919
Brisbane, Boolarong Publications for the 9th Battalion Association, 1985.
Large octavo, xxvi, 598 pages with several maps (including 2 double-page) and numerous illustrations (from photographs).
Padded full calf lettered in gilt on the spine and front cover; leather lightly indented and a little marked and rubbed, affecting a few letters on the front cover; small light tidemark to the bottom margin of pages 341 to 480; mild signs of use, but overall, an excellent copy.
Number 10 of only 118 copies of the rare deluxe limited presentation (or perhaps subscriber's?) issue, with a bookplate numbered and signed by the author mounted on the front flyleaf. The name 'Edward C. Werda' (QX55210 Sergeant Edward Colin Werda) is stamped in gilt on the front cover, and written in a secretarial hand on the bookplate. (The author has further inscribed and signed the title page 'C.M. Wrench, For an old friend Clary'.) Surrounding the bookplate are another eight signatures, possibly descendants of members of the battalion; decipherable names include W.R. Wrench, Peter Wrench, Christopher John and the surnames Keller and O'Keeffe. The signature on the front pastedown, identified as that of Brigadier John Essex-Clark, Director General of Army Training and the author of the foreword, may be in a hand other than his. 'Clarrie Wrench is now in his 88th year. He served in the ranks and as a Lieutenant with the 9th Battalion in the First World War' (blurb from the dustwrapper of the trade edition, bound in papered boards). He was 'awarded the Military Cross on the 19th July 1918 at Meteren, in one of the Battalion's most brilliant and unrehearsed operations'; this history is a 'comprehensive sequel' to Harvey's 1941 publication (the foreword). Not surprisingly, this is the last First World War battalion history to have been written by a former member. Trigellis-Smith 210 (noting only the trade edition).
Item #129476
Price (AUD):
$550.00