RAF_Louvert 101 Posted February 17, 2011 . Greetings All, Good fortune came my way last week in the form of the following: Erich Ludedorff's war memoirs, 1919 1st edition two-volume set complete with all maps. And, Flight Lt. Harold Rosher's personal letters home, 1916 1st edition. Both are in outstanding condition and were dirt cheap, ($60 for all). With these my Great War book shelf now looks like this: Personal Narratives and Biographies: "A Flying Fighter", E.M. Roberts, (1918 1st Edition) "Airmen O' War", Boyd Cable, (1918 1st Edition) "An Airman Marches", Harold Balfour, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition) "An Aviator’s Field-Book", Oswald Bolcke, English Translation, (1917 1st Edition) "A Rattle Of Pebbles: The First World War Diaries Of Two Canadian Airmen", Brereton Greenhous, (1987 1st Edition) “Beyond the Tumult”, Barry Winchester, (1971 1st Edition) "Cavalry of the Clouds", Alan ‘Contact’ Bott, (1918 1st Edition) "Cloud Country", Jimmie Mattern, (1936 Pure Oil 1st Edition) 3-volume set "Days on the Wing", Willy Coppens, English Translation, (1931 1st Edition) "Death in the Air", William Heinemann, (1933 Edition) (famous faked aerial photos) "Double-Decker C.666", Haupt Heydemarck, English Translation, (1931 1st Edition) "En L’air!", Bert Hall, (1918 1st Edition) "Fighting the Flying Circus", Edward Rickenbacker, (1919 1st Edition) "Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps", James McCudden, (1918 1st Edition) "Flying for France", James McConnell, (1917 1st Edition) "Go Get 'Em!", William Wellman, (1918 1st Edition) "Guynemer, Knight of the Air", Henry Bordeaux, English Translation, (1918 1st Edition) "Heaven High, Hell Deep", Norman Archibald, (1935 Signed 1st Edition) "High Adventure", James Norman Hall, (1918 1st Edition) "Immelmann: The Eagle of Lille", Franz Immelmann, English Translation, (1930 1st Edition) "In The Clouds Above Bagdad", J.E. Tennant, (1920 1st Edition) "Kitchener's Mob", James Norman Hall, (1916 1st Edition) "Letters From a Flying Officer", Rothsay Stuart Wortlrey, (1928 1st Edition) "Memories of World War 1", William Mitchell, (1960 Edition) "Night Bombing with the Bedouins", Robert Reece, (Battery Press Edition) "Nocturne Militaire", Elliot White Springs, (1934 Edition) “No Parachute”, Arthur Gould Lee, (1970 1st US printing) "Rovers of the Night Sky", W.J. ‘Night-Hawk’ Harvey, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition) "Sagittarius Rising", Cecil Lewis, (1936 Edition, 1st US printing) "Stepchild Pilot", Joseph Doerflinger, (1959 1st Edition) "The Flying Poilu", Marcel Nadaud, English Translation (1918 1st Edition) "The Red Knight of Germany", Floyd Gibbons, (1927 1st Edition) "The Way of the Eagle", Charles Biddle, (1919 1st Edition) "True Stories of the Great War", (1918 1st Edition) 6-volume set "Up And At 'Em", Harold Hartney, (1940 1st Edition) "War Birds; Diary of an Unknown Aviator", Elliot White Springs, (1926 1st Edition) "Whom The Gods Love", Lewis C. Merrill, (1953 1st Edition) "Wind in the Wires", Duncan Grinnell-Milne, (1918 1st Edition) "Winged Warfare", William Bishop, (1918 1st Edition) "Winged Peace", William Bishop, (1940 1st Edition) "With the Earth Beneath", A.R. Kingsford, (1936 1st Edition) “With the Flying Squadron”, Harold Rosher, (1916 1st Edition) History, Reference, and General Interest Books: "Air Aces of the 1914-1918 War", Bruce Robertson, (1964 Edition) "Aircraft of Today", Charles Turner, (1917 1st Edition) "Aviation in Canada 1917-18", Alan Sullivan, (1919 1st Edition) "Colliers New Photographic History of the World War", (1917 Edition) "Decisive Air Battles of the First World War", Arch Whitehouse, (1963 1st Edition) "Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1964 Edition) "Flying The Old Planes", Frank Tallman, (1973 Edition) "Fragments From France", Bruce Bairnsfather, (1917 1st Edition) (Great War cartoons by the master of the genre) "Heros of Aviation", Laurence La Tourette Driggs, (1919 1st Edition) "Historic Airships", Rupert Holland, (1928 1st Edition) "History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion", L.C. McCollum, (1929 Edition) "History of the World War", Francis March, (1918 1st Edition) "History of the Great World War", Rolt-Wheeler and Drinker, (1919 1st Edition) "Land and Water" Magazine, (entire April through September 1917 series, hard bound, ex-library copy) “Ludendorff’s Own Story”, Erich Ludendorff, (1919 1st Edition) "National Geographic" Magazine, (entire 1918 series, hard bound, ex-library copy) "Reconnaissance & Bomber Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1962 Edition) "Source Records of the Great War", (1923 1st Edition) 7-volume set "The First War Planes", William Barrett, (1960 Edition) (the one that started it all for me) "The Great Air War", Aaron Norman, (1968 Edition) "The Great War", George H. Allen, (1919 1st Edition) 5-volume set "The Great War in the Air", Edgar Middleton, (1920 1st Edition) 4-volume set "The Lafayette Flying Corps", by James Hall and Charles Nordhoff, (1964 Kennikat Press limited edition two-volume set) "The United States in the Great War", Willis Abbot, (1919 1st Edition) "The U.S. Air Service in World War I", Maurer Maurer, (1978 1st Edition) 4-volume set "True Stories of the Great War", (1918 1st Edition) 6-volume set "U.S. Official Pictures of the World War", Moore and Russell, (1924 1st Edition) 4-volume set 1920 World Book Encyclopedia, (entire set with addendums, great for cross-referencing in an historical context) "Time-Life Epic of Flight", 23-volume set, (not old and not strictly WWI but still a lot of good info and photos) "The War in the Air", Raleigh and Jones, (1st Edition) 9-volume set including map cases, (originally in the military library at Whitehall; my personal Jewel of the Crown) Instructional Books: "Aeroplane Construction and Operation", John Rathbun, (1918 1st Edition) "English-French War Guide for Americans in France", Eugene Maloubier, (1918 Edition) "Learning to Fly in the U.S. Army", E.N. Fales, (1917 1st Edition) "Lewis Machine Gun ‘Airplane Type’ Service and Operation Manual", (1918 Edition) "Manual Of Rigging Notes Technical Data", (1918, possible reprint) "Practical Flying", W.G. Minnies, (1918 1st Edition) "The Art of Reconnaissance", David Henderson, (1916 1st Edition) "Science of Pre-Flight Aeronautics", (1942 Edition) "Self-Help for the Citizen Soldier", Moss and Stewart, (1915 1st Edition) Cheers! Lou . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted February 17, 2011 You could open up a WW1 Library with all that stuff, Lou, but I bet, Lester Prairie wouldn't have as many readers as you have books! Congrats to Ludendorff - I guess it is rather rare to find? Funny - I just came across that passage in Kilduff's "The Red Baron", where MvR is invited to Bad Kreuznach by the Kaiser. He is first received by Ludendorff - after waiting for a very long time - but he finds the General very busy, and totally occupied with his maps and strategies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hasse Wind 46 Posted February 17, 2011 Have fun reading them, Lou. Ludendorff's book is not exactly rare or expensive compared to many other old books (like Neumann's history of German aviation in WW1), at least not in the original language. Don't know about English translations. Be prepared to read Ludendorff's memoirs with a very critical attitude. I personally prefer Hindenburg's memoirs. The old marshal was a better writer and not as obsessed with details as his former right hand man. I guess I'm somewhat more sympathetic towards Hindenburg in general, because he wasn't best friends with Hitler and the Nazis, unlike Ludendorff, who supported them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted February 17, 2011 . Quite right about keeping a critical eye when reading Ludendorff's work, Hasse Wind. However, his is still an excellent firsthand historical source concerning the War from the German command perspective. And the details and maps are outstanding. Also, while this set is not considered "rare" even in the English translation, it is still hard to locate in this kind of condition, in a 1st edition, and with all the maps still intact, for anything less than $100. Rosher's collection in a 1st edition is nearly impossible to find, in any condition, and is worth far more then the $30 I paid for it. Olham, there might be a few more residents of Lester Prairie than the number of books in my library. I believe at last count we had 1,712. But then that did include, men, women, children, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, cows, horses, sheep, goats, shoats, sows, hogs, dogs, cats, rats, hamsters, badgers, beavers, bears, deer, moose, mice, moles, voles, minks, lynx, and llamas. . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hasse Wind 46 Posted February 17, 2011 Llamas in Minnesota? I suppose you also have polar bears and elephants? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted February 17, 2011 . Oh, but we do have llamas in Minnesota, HW. In fact, there is a llama farm not but three miles from my house. No polar bears, however an occasional elephant will make the odd appearance after a particularly hard night of drinking, though they do tend to be pink in color. . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted February 17, 2011 Yeah, the Creator in his great wisdom made the elephants of the heavy drinking people pink, so that they can see them better, when they suddenly jump around in horror from the mice, which the delirius people also tend to see a lot. The mice are white, to ensure the alcoholic doesn't get them confused with the elephants. Llamas are en vogue, Hasse Wind - we even have them in Ostfriesland. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hasse Wind 46 Posted February 17, 2011 Llamas are en vogue? I haven't seen them here. I guess reindeer have better chances of survival in our climate. We've been having temperatures of -40°C this week. Combine that with a strong wind, and you have a nice winter weather. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted February 17, 2011 . Hey, that's about how cold we were here in Minnesota a week ago Hasse Wind, -30°F. And we had strong winds as well. Brisk! Now this week, it's about +50°F. That's an 80°F swing in seven days! Hard to know how to dress. . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hasse Wind 46 Posted February 17, 2011 We haven't yet reached that point here in the north. No trouble at all choosing proper clothing, just put on everything you have and then some before going outside. Brisk indeed! Well, at least the sun's back, though it stays pretty low still. But it's getting higher every day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted February 17, 2011 . Time to start working on that tan, eh? . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted February 17, 2011 Cold here in Berlin, too. Well, it's not as cold as you have it, Lou and Hasse Wind. Only -2° Celsius. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
