two by four press (2 results)

Published by Oxford University Press, in association with The Pilgrims Trust, 1946-49, 1st editions. Each has red cloth boards with silver lettering to spines, no dustwrappers. Each 10ins x 7.75ins. Volume one, 1946 : xi, (i), 224pp containing 105 full page illustrations. Volume two, 1947 : ix, (i), 219pp with 104 illustrations. Volume three, 1948 : ix, (i), 227pp with 104 illustrations. Volume four, 1949 : ix, (i), 238pp with 104 illustrations. The purpose of the project was to record the changing face of Britain - in particular buildings or views which the artists felt were likely to disappear, either from the effects of war or from the changes in lifestyle. 95 artists provided illustrations for these four volumes. Amongst them were John Piper, Barbara Jones, S.R. Badmin, Kenneth Rowntree, Clifford Ellis, Thomas Hennell, Michael Rothenstein, Rowland Suddably, Stanley Anderson, Martin Hardie and Sir William Russell Flint. The illustrations are grouped geographically by counties. Each illustration is faced by a page of text written by Arnold Palmer. Slight colour fading to the spines otherwise a VG set. Nb combined weight is over 4kg pre-packing - please enquire for postage cost.

First and only editions. These journals, with their typical mixture of topical material - sports, socials, promotions - local colour, facetious humour, and a smattering of war news, cover a period when the battalion, sent to relieve regular troops for war service, was living a peripatetic existence, as evidenced by the varied places of publication. In early 1916 it was with the Nowshera Brigade undergoing mountain warfare training, before transferring to Murree; June-November to Galis Brigade, with one company detached to guard Attock Fort; November returned to Jhelum Brigade; February 1917 to 43rd Indian Brigade in 16th Indian Division, a reserve division for the North West Frontier; March 1917 to Ambala Brigade in 3rd Lahore Divisional Area (the 3rd (Lahore) Division being absent, serving in Mesopotamia). Here, the battalion received a large draft from the 7th Reserve Battalion and from the Essex Regiment, which partly restored its strength after years of losing men to sickness and supplying so many drafts and specialists. Finally, in October 1917, the 9th Bn was selected to be the British battalion in a new 53rd Indian Brigade being sent to the Mesopotamian Front. Among the most appealing articles there is an account of the battalion's journey out from mustering at Sittingbourne, at sea on the transports Dilwara and Dongola, to their final arrival at camps in Dinapore and Dum Dum, offering some insight into the experience for new recruits. In the second volume, the more enquiring mind of V.R.J.N. contributes short pieces on local history and culture, "Delhi: The Art of Aristocracies", "Agra: The Monuments of Two Queens", "Kashmir: The Domestic Art of the People", and a series of articles on the remains at Taxila where Sir John Marshall had begun excavations in 1913. Two vols octavo. Original pale green cloth-backed paper-covered boards - Vol. I yellowish grey, Vol. II greenish grey - lettered in black to the spines, and to front covers with embossed regimental crest in vivid reddish orange, Fourteen plates and 10 full-page illustrations in all. Externally rubbed, soiled and damp-spotted, but lettering legible and bindings tight; variably moderate browning internally, but inner hinges and blocks entirely sound: about very good.