"War Memorial" by Clive Aslet

[Moonraker]

Clive Aslet's book tells of twenty-two men and one woman named on the village memorial at Lydford, the Dartmoor village famous for its gorge. Half the book is devoted to the Great War.

 

It describes the mobilisation in August 1914 of the Royal North Devon Hussars, who travelled via Winchester to Essex and then to Gallipoli. One villager served with the 4th Worcestershire Regiment, also at Gallipoli, and then with its 3rd Battalion at the Somme. Two others  had emigrated before the war to Canada and joined the dominion's Expeditionary Force, dying at Thiepval.  Another became a bombing officer.

 

One private served in the 816th Employment Company in Salonika. At the battle of Lake Dorian, several men became detached and resorted to eating a camel's liver. All vomited and remained well – save for the Lydford man, who developed an anthrax-like disease; he went blind and his skin rotted away, before dying in the Devon Mental Hospital.

 

War Memorial is a well-researched book, and provides very readable descriptions of the campaigns in which Lydford men took part.

 

First published by Viking in 2012 and then by Penguin in 2013.

 

[The Scorer]

I agree, it's very good, and I would recommend it.

[The Scorer]

I was surprised a couple of days ago to see a copy of this in a spiral bound format.

 

It was in (I think) the Waterstones in Dorchester (or possibly Yeovil), and looked new, although I didn't check what date it was published.  I thought at first that it was to enable updates to be inserted, but this wasn't the case. It also looked as if it wasn't totally complete, as it didn't seem to start at the same place as the original, hardcover, version which I read some while ago.

 

Has anyone come across one of these and / or can offer any reason for it's publication in this form, please? 

 

Thanks.