What Every Young Man Should Know About War.

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, pp. 135, crown 8vo, original pink cloth, lettered in dark blue to upper board and backstrip, spine slightly cocked, textblock edges a little toned with some very faint spotting to endpapers, dustjacket with sunned backstrip panel, slightly nicked and chipped with some light handlign and a couple of small spots, very good. A scarce instructional book on the eve of war, written by a New York lawyer whose experience of World War One had taught him of the disparity between the actual experience of conflict and the way it has been presented. The blurb assures readers that the book 'is no pacifist manifesto. Nor is it a treatise on war' - but its veracity limited its success, and the author consented to withdraw it from circulation so that it didn't discourage people from enlisting. Written in question-and-answer format, its sections include 'Mental Reactions' ('What may happen to me after I bayonet my enemy in the face?'), 'Poison Gas' ('How long would it take for mustard vapour to irritate my scrotum?'), 'Sex in Wartime' ('Is there any other way against damaging my genitals against which I should be warned?'), and 'When I Die' ('What if my body should be found in a state of cataleptic rigor?').…