Annals of An Active Life - Nevil Macready

[Guest]

Hllo

If anyone is familiar with this 2 volume book, I would appreciate your thoughts. I am contemplating buying it but the price is quite steep. Here is the blurb from one of the booksellers:

Hutchinson & Co., London. First Edition. Hardbacks. Nd but 1924. A very good two volume set in blue cloth lettered in gilt. No ownership inscription or other marking. Moderate edge foxing. 694 pages (continuously paginated). 32 illustrations. Macready was a senior British Army officer who saw active service in the Second Boer War and who held senior staff appointments in the First World War. The book's principal interest, however, lies in the fact that he was the last British military commander in Ireland prior to independence. He was sent to command British troops in Ireland in April 1920 to carry out a counter-insurgency role against the Irish Republican Army in the Irish War of Independence. He had already expressed his view of Ireland in writing as follows: "I loathe the country--and its people with a depth deeper than the sea and more violent than that which I feel against the Boche." He believed that Ireland could be suppressed in the Summer of 1921 but following instructions from his political masters negotiated a truce in July 1921 and withdrew his troops from Ireland the following year. This is a scarce and interesting book which has not been reprinted.

My interest in the book is driven by the fact that he was the BEF's first Adjutant General. Does anyone out there own it? MG

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Sorry Martin, but like eveyone else here this is a new one to me. From a collecting point of view it seems to be a trifle dear to say the least. I think the dealer is pushing his luck especially as there are 2 unsold copies for sale.