Dust Jacket Collector Posted 31 March , 2014 Share Posted 31 March , 2014 I just saw this book on ABE. Its full title is "Home Service : the recollections of a Commanding Officer serving in Great Britain, 1914 - 1918". Published in Scotland in 1920 it sounded intriguing so I ordered it. I can't find any information on the book on the forum so I'm wondering if anyone has read it & if it's any good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 2 April , 2014 Share Posted 2 April , 2014 I have heard of it but must have been put off by the description I once read,= "A badly written and tedious wartime memoir of a Territorial officer of the A&S Highlanders who commanded a Home Service training battalion during the war. It is of interest because the author's attitude to the war and the training of soldiers for active service was probably representative of that generation of officers who were either too old or too inefficient to see active service themselves." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 2 April , 2014 Author Share Posted 2 April , 2014 I should have asked you first! Never mind, it hasn't arrived yet but I'll give it a go. Will post my thoughts here afterwards. If anything looks rare then my finger just hits the 'buy' button. There seems to be no cure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 2 April , 2014 Share Posted 2 April , 2014 I don't blame you, there is nothing worse than deciding not to buy a rare book and then to regret it for a long time afterwards because you will never see another copy for sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 3 April , 2014 Author Share Posted 3 April , 2014 The book arrived this morning & I've spent the day reading it (alongside flatpack furniture construction & painting a study). A competent if not inspiring narrative. There are three distinct phases to his war - setting up a territorial battalion of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, establishing security measures at Leith Harbour & overseeing coastal defences around Sandwich on the South Coast. There are some obervations of counter espionage measures in the dockyards & naval actions in the channel which are worth reading. I suppose it's of interest in that I can't immediately bring to mind a similar work wholly devoted to home service & there are some touchingly naive drawings by the author scattered throughout the book. It turns out to be privately printed which satisfies my rarity criteria. No jacket unfortunately! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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