Adventure, with a gift inscription made in the month of publication that connects two significant figures involved in deployment of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1930. First edition. Hardcover. This jacketed first edition features a compelling contemporary gift inscription from Sir Lionel Fletcher to the officer who served as French Military Attache in London during the First World War. Both were significant figures involved in the logistical and diplomatic planning for First World War deployment of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), in which the author served, holding various commands and earning mention in the dispatches five times. The inscription, inked in four lines in black on the front pastedown, reads: “To | Le General Vicomte de la Panouse | in remembrance of strenuous times | Lionel Fletcher 18 2/30”. The inscription date of 18 February 1930 is in the month of publication.
Condition is very good in a good plus dust jacket. The red cloth binding is clean, bright, tight, and square, with sharp corners and bright spine gilt. There is light soiling along the bottom edges, a touch of sunning at the upper right spine head, corresponding to dust jacket losses, and some wrinkling to the spine ends. The contents show no appreciable age toning and no previous ownership marks other than the original gift inscription. Spotting is the only appreciable defect, substantial to the text block edges, pastedowns, and first and final leaves, light and intermittent within the text. The scarce original dust jacket features Sir William Orpen’s portrait of the author on the front face. The jacket is unfaded, the red print on the spine still bright, but is soiled and spotted with trivial losses to the flap fold ends and lower joints and with irregular loss at the spine head to a maximum depth of one inch, consuming the “R” in the title and part of the adjacent “U” and E”, as well as strip loss at the top left of the front face 1.75 inches wide to a maximum depth of .5 inch. The dust jacket is fitted with a clear, removable, archival cover.
The recipient
A cavalry officer who rose to the rank of Général de Brigade, General Louis, Vicomte de la Panouse (1863–1945) served as the French Military Attaché in London during the First World War. He was a vital conduit between the French War Office and the British War Department during mobilization, coordinating Anglo-French intelligence and logistics, and facilitating allied cooperation. He lived long enough to see the liberation of France during the Second World War.
Lionel Fletcher
Sir Edward Lionel Fletcher, CBE (1876–1968), a commodore in the Royal Naval Reserve, and manager of the White Star Shipping Line, was tapped to secretly investigate challenges to landing the BEF on the European mainland during the First World War. Fletcher reconnoitered French Channel ports and worked closely with French military staff – including, of course, General Louis, Vicomte de la Panouse. As mentioned at pages 140-141 in this book, to fulfill his charge Fletcher gave up all other work “for many months”. For his services, Fletcher was knighted in June 1915.
The author
This memoir’s author, Major-General The Rt. Hon. John Edward Bernard "Jack" Seely, would become 1st Baron Mottistone, CB, CMG, DSO, PC, TD, PC, JP, DL. Along with his friend Winston S. Churchill, Seely was one of only two people to serve both in the British Cabinet and in uniform at the Front during the First World War. The Seely-Churchill parallels were exceptional. Both earned distinction during the Boer War, parlayed war records into election to Parliament in 1900, left the Conservative Party to become a Liberal in 1904, and joined the Liberal Government Cabinet in 1908. Both were forced out of Cabinet posts – Seely in 1914, Churchill in 1915 - and subsequently served on the Western Front, Seely with notable distinction. Along with Churchill, Seely rejoined the Conservative Party in the mid-1920s. There, their trajectories parted. Seely chaired the National Savings Commission from 1926-1943. During the 1930s, after this volume was published, Seely urged appeasement of Hitler, but eventually denounced Hitler and led the National Savings Committee as a vital part of the national war effort under Churchill’s wartime premiership. Item #008916
Price: $350.00