THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS - A Record of Secret Service (A later 27th impression of the reset Sidgwick & Jackson edition - in the uncommon dustwrapper)

Descripción:

A later twenty-seventh impression of the reset Sidgwick & Jackson edition, published in 1950. The book was originally published by Smith, Elder & Co. in May 1903, and was first republished by Sidgwick & Jackson in March 1927. With an extending fold-out map as the frontispiece, and three further printed illustrations within the text. ***Very good in light beige cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The gilt is still quite bright, and the boards are clean and virtually unmarked - just some light marks at the bottom edges and some fading at the bottom corner of the front board. No bumps or creases apart from the corner tips slightly creased. No reading lean to the binding. Spine tight. Fore-edge of the page block just very lightly foxed. Internally also near fine with a neat ownership name in ink at the top of the front free endpaper and bookseller's stamp at the bottom of the rear free endpaper. Pages clean. No creases or tears. ***In a very good colour illustrated dustwrapper, which has been corner price-clipped. The dustwrapper is largely complete, but with some loss at the top and tail of the spine, extending a bit to the lower edge of the front panel. There is also some rubbing and small nicks to the extremities, and a light vertical crease to the back panel. No serious chips or tears. No fading although the spine is slightly browned. Dustwrapper illustration bright. ***289 pages plus a publisher's advert at the back of the book. 192mm x 135mm. ***'Robert Erskine Childers DSC (25 June 1870 - 24 November 1922), usually known as Erskine Childers, was an English-born Irish nationalist who established himself as a writer with accounts of the Second Boer War, the novel "The Riddle of the Sands" about German preparations for a sea-borne invasion of England, and proposals for achieving Irish independence. As a firm believer in the British Empire, Childers served as a volunteer in the army expeditionary force in the Second Boer War in South Africa, but his experiences there began a gradual process of disillusionment with British imperialism. He was adopted as a candidate in British parliamentary elections, standing for the Liberal Party at a time when the party supported a treaty to establish Irish home rule, but he later became an advocate of Irish republicanism and the severance of all ties with Britain. On behalf of the Irish Volunteers, he smuggled guns into Ireland later used against British soldiers in the Easter Rebellion. He had a significant role in the negotiations between Ireland and Britain that culminated in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, but was elected as an anti-Treaty member of the first Irish parliament. He sought an active role in the Irish Civil War (over the acceptance of the terms of the treaty) that followed and was executed by the Irish Free State. As an author, his most significant work was the novel "The Riddle of the Sands", published eleven years before the start of the First World War. Its depiction of a secret German invasion fleet directed against England influenced Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, into strengthening the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy.' (Wiki) ***A later 27th impression of the Sidgwick & Jackson edition of this famous spy novel, in the original and very fragile dustwrapper, in very good condition. Copies of the book from this period complete with their thin dustwrappers are seldom found now. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. N° de ref. del artículo 1729

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