The Great War Medal Collectors Companion

[Guest]

It could be an appreciating asset... my Amazon is showing a new copy of the 1st Edition being advertised at £165....

You could sell your first editions and reinvest the proceeds in the new edition and have money over. Bargain.

MG

[yelob]

Could someone please post a link to where we can buy it,I see outwood mentioned,is this an online shop?

Thanks,Liam

[Seadog]

Link below:

Medal Book

Norman

[auchonvillerssomme]

Liam, Outwood is a medal fair held on the first Sunday of every month.

At

Outwood Memorial Hall

Victoria St,

Wakefield

WF1 2NE

[Seadog]

I see that Liam is in Ireland, seems to me the best way to get the book is through the post.

Norman

[yelob]

Thanks very much to you both.......

[Jonathan Saunders]

My wife and I will be in London for a visit next month. Is the book available through any retail outlets in the city? It would be nice to save a bit on shipping and have something to read on the plane back to the states.

Dave

Dave - what are the dates of your visit? I work in Bishopsgate in the City of London. If you can arrange payment to Howard you can have the book sent to my address and pick up from me during the day. I believe it is only available via Howard (via ebay).

Await to hear from you.

Regards,

Jonathan S

[Terry_Reeves]

It is also available from token publishing:

http://www.tokenpublishing.com/shop.asp?pid=7773

TR

[scuber1122]

and a certain auction site

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-WWI-MEDAL-BOOK-Buy-direct-Author-/150636643224?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item2312a4c398

Bob

[WilliamRev]

..........It is worth mentioning that any profit from the book is going towards the production costs of the MM Roll due in 2014.Currently I have spent over £30,000 of my own money so far on conserving the original cards and producing the Roll for all to use in the future.

............Remember this is actually only half the book ,Vol 2 is on its way.Final point,if you feel its overpriced,and not worth it,return it for a full refund inc.postage.best w, Howard

I arrived home from work at 5pm to find that my copy had arrived in the post. I had just LOADS of things to do this evening, but made the mistake of starting to read it, and have only just now (at 7.45pm) put it down and tried to get on with my life, supper etc., my early-evening ruined.

This really is a superb book - much bigger and heavier than I was expecting, beautifully printed and bound, and absolutely packed with fascinating items: the section on interpretting medal-cards answers most of the questions raised daily on the forum, and likewise the problems surrounding citations of MMs and MCs etc.

I would urge everyone with even the slightest interest in collecting WW1 medals and militaria to seriously consider buying a copy. And with such a limited print-run the book itself will be a good investment anyway.

William

[squirrel]

This really is a superb book - much bigger and heavier than I was expecting, beautifully printed and bound, and absolutely packed with fascinating items: the section on interpreting medal-cards answers most of the questions raised daily on the forum, and likewise the problems surrounding citations of MMs and MCs etc.

I would urge everyone with even the slightest interest in collecting WW1 medals and militaria to seriously consider buying a copy. And with such a limited print-run the book itself will be a good investment anyway.

William

My copy arrived last week and I can but agree with William's comments.

[trenchtrotter]

Well have taken the plunge and ordered myself a copy. Should take a day or so to arrive but looking forward to the day!

TT

[Howard Chamberlain]

You will not be disappointed in this book, and you will find it worth every penny.

Cheers

:poppy:Howard

[trenchtrotter]

Book arrived today less than 24 hours after order (courtesy Dixons medals!). Initial impression is that it is superb and worth the money. Buy before stocks run out as it will disappear. Many congrats to Howard for this fine work of reference.

TT

[Lyndon]

I saw the said book in the National Archives book shop last week and mightily impressed I was too, as I was waiting up to 40 minutes for my files I ended up purchasing the book and reading it in the cafeteria. Well done Howard!! It's a fantasic book, worth every penny and I look forward to Vol 2 being published.

[PhilB]

Book arrived from NA Bookshop - £50 inc P&P. (£60 + £10 P&P elsewhere).

[stu]

Looking at the positive comments regarding this book I'm very tempted to order it.

However I already have both volumes of Howard's previous collectors guides, and as my main collecting interest is now ephemera, trench maps, panoramas and aerials and no longer medals, the question I would like answered is, is it worth me buying it ?

Thanks

Stuart

[Ken Lees]

No. Or perhaps, yes.

[Guest exuser1]

Picked up mine this weekend fro Howard at the Oddsey on Friday saw a medal dealer and he said look if you have the first why this one ? on the Saturday same medal dealer bought 2 copies ! said to me have now seen it you need to buy a copy ,and will admit he was right ,and yes vol 2 is soon .

[mattp]

Well done Howard on a wonderful and much needed book. As a collector of Great War Medals, albeit on a small scale, Howards book has added even more interest to my enjoyment and research of my collection. Its not until I started reading The Collectors Companion that I realised the massive task of documentaion, manufacturing, naming, distribution, etc of the medals. I have had my copy for a couple of weeks now and I have looked at it most days and it has helped clear up some questions I haven't been able to find out anywhere else. I can see this book being in regular use over the next weeks, months and years. Thanks again Howard, its well worth the money!!

Matt

[trajan]

Haven't seen the book and medals are not my area of interest. But a simple fact of life is that if you don't buy a book that you might just find useful (i.e., in this case, if you are interested in WW1 medals) simply because of the cost, you'll find it a real b*gg** to find a copy when in years to come you find that you really do need a copy of said book! Specialist books are usually printed in limited numbers and rarely reprinted - and when they do come up for sale 2nd hand they can be for sale at a darn sight more than the original sale price. And as all the reviews of this one have been very positive, my advice for those worrying about the cost is go for it now!

Trajan

PS: Absolutely no connection to the author - and still looking for reasonably-priced copies of any of Carter's books on bayonets, long sold-out and never re-printed...

[Muerrisch]

It is about time someone was Grumpy, so here goes.

I am not a medal collector, so the book is strictly none of my business. I was indeed a collector, and have all eight sets of family medals going back to the Zulu war, and I have a dozen pairs and trios collected when Doncaster Market had trios plus QSA and KSA for £20. I gave up when prices became silly because by that time I had begun collecting Military Manuals, which sold for similar or cheaper prices and can be read and read and read. A medal, once the thrill of ownership ["custodianship"!] has subsided, is a medal, despite researching the recipient and collecting his ephemera.

So I bought the book, copy 577, because it is a book with Great War in the title, not because of collecting medals.

Before I bang on, may I say that I am a published author, and indeed the next sacrifice is being prepared for the critics, so I do understand the pangs of authorship and indeed self-publishing, and being damned.

First, the look of the thing. I was surprised by the lack of a dust-wrapper, but pleased by the design of the cover until I saw the unpunctuated "Collectors", and this from an educated man, a headmaster no less. This in the day of spellcheckers, not to mention proof-readers.

Secondly, the typeface and presentation. I found it cluttered, messy, shouty and disorganised. I started to count fonts, use of boxes, use of BOLD, use of CAPITALS, italics, [inset boxes], underlinings,

tabulation, line-spacing, bullet points ....... and gave up. I was reminded of the description of a camel: "a horse designed by a committee". As an example, take page 43. [box]. Italics. At least four font sizes. Occasional use of CAPITALS for whole words, some bold, some not. Underlinings elsewhere. Perhaps there was an overall scheme but, if so, it is too

complicated for my taste.

Thirdly, the illustrations. The best part, although some of the colour rendering is weird and made me wonder if I have a rogue copy, which I doubt. Difficult, I would have thought, to make a BWM look bronze [118 for example], but this is achieved. We are warned that a DSO should have the right reign monarch, but we are not shown what is "wrong" ...... QVC and Queen's crown I suppose.

Fourthly, content. This is E & OE because I have not had a deep read, and I stand to be corrected, as ever.

As I said above, I am not a collector but have a great interest in the by-ways of the Great War. I looked in vain for information on the following:

1. some substantial mention of posthumous awards of gallantry medals, how some qualify, most do not, but some seem to have slipped through.

2. the difficulty of recognition of medals and ribbons on old orthochromatic photographs, not resolved until mid 1920s in most cases.

3. the process, if any, whereby Warrant Officers were awarded the MC rather than the MM. How was the award to a WO II decided?

4. the award of the DSO to junior officers.

Finally, a few random errata or queries, identified by page number. Just as faith in a newspaper is undermined if one knows the TRUTH about a story which distorts matters, so one is entitled to wonder about a definitive book which has been re-written and proof-read to death and yet still contains such as:

27. Dr Dunn was DSO, MC and bar, DCM ...... a medallist should probably know and acknowledge this, not only the MC.

45. the 1914 star certainly was awarded singly ..... until the BWM and VM were promulgated, the 1914 star ribbon was worn, and I have photos of soldiers in 1919 with star only. 'Singly' is true only in hindsight.

49. The description of the clasp to 1914 star has the dates lower case as ..th and ..nd. The clasp itself is capitalised.

53. 1st RWF were entitled to the clasp, most certainly. Shot to pieces twice in October 1914 counts as under fire! I think a later amendment to the AO was issued. In any case, the Medal Roll has many 1st RWF men on it receiving the clasp.

222. Good Conduct Badges are inadequately explained, 18, 23, 28 could each be reduced by 2 years on some conditions.

261. * does not mean temporary tank ....... it does not even mean temporary rank [although it did in 1914], it means temporary commission or rank see Nov 1918.

270. Wound badge was not for each separate wound, but each separate occasion ......... an officer that I know of received 15 bullet wounds in one action, none fatal, and one badge.

285. cascabol [correct cascabel on other pages]

323. WO I and II created 1915.

464.is not the AFM ribbon wrong: given the King's head on the obverse .........?

571. misquotes Binyon in heading, gets him right later.

I know that the author is now a contributor to this forum, but I do wonder if his book might have been improved by earlier participation. But then this is the GWF, not the Medal Collectors' Forum, so perhaps not.

You will note that, hitherto, I have not mentioned price. I don't think this comes into it: to a medal collector, the investment is peanuts, and very well worth it.

To a GWF member interested in the GW, a fascinating compendium, albeit with some errors, which would grace any bookshelf or coffee table, but don't try to read it in bed or drop it on your foot.

Not sure how this will look when posted so will pop back later to edit if necessary. Done so.

[Chris Boonzaier]

But a simple fact of life is that if you don't buy a book that you might just find useful (i.e., in this case, if you are interested in WW1 medals) simply because of the cost, you'll find it a real b*gg** to find a copy when in years to come you find that you really do need a copy of said book!

Indeed... many books become colectors items in their own right.

I tossed a few books I no longer needed onto ebay and got EUR200 apiece for a couple of them!!!!

[Muerrisch]

Disappointed that my post 47 has not drawn comment from those who have had a chance to read both it and the book.

My bottom line: it is flawed [like any other publication] but never likely to be surpassed.

Owners may come to value any errata that this forum can pinpoint and highlight here.

Please contribute.

[Muerrisch]

I would be grateful for feedback from readers regarding any errata discovered, please.