INSCRIBED Shell-Backs and Beachcombers

S Bradford; Gordon Campbell [Basil Clarke]

Published by London Skeffington and Son 1933, 1933

About this Item

Maritime memoir inscribed to the First World War correspondent and British government spin-doctor, Basil Clarke. Blue cloth, fading to spine. Bradford has inscribed the front flyleaf: 'To Sir Basil Clarke with the author's best wishes S. Bradford Feb 1934.' Internally very clean, a very good plus copy. Bradford was Chaplain to the RNR Officers' Club, Liverpool. Provenance: this book was acquired from a descendant of the First World War correspondent Basil Clarke (1879-1947) who was born in Altrincham, worked on the Manchester Guardian under C P Scott; witnessed the first Briton to die in an air crash (Sir Charles Rolls) before reporting clandestinely on the First World War at Ypres, then being accredited for the Battle of the Somme and subsequently writing a memoir of his war experiences, My Round of War. He reported on the Easter Rising, being the first British journalist to get independent reports out of Dublin but his subsequent time in Ireland from August 1920 when he moved to Dublin to head the British government's propaganda unit, the Public Information Department in Dublin Castle was more controversial. Clarke worked closely with the head of Special Branch in London, Basil Thomson and was accused by the Irish goverment of trying to discredit Sinn Fein and the IRA. Please contact Christian White Rare Books Ltd for more information or images of this item. Seller Inventory # 8300

Bibliographic Details

Title: INSCRIBED Shell-Backs and Beachcombers

Publisher: London Skeffington and Son 1933

Publication Date: 1933

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition