MARK VII [PLOWMAN, Max]. A Subaltern on the Somme. London: J. M. Dent. 1927. 8vo. First edition, first printing. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in red to the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Kenneth Romney Towndrow. An about very good copy overall, the cloth rubbed at the corners, tips, and some edges, with small nick to the front panel centre, and some persistent stains to this front board. Binding tight and gently rolled. Despite some offsetting to endpapers, the contents generally fine throughout, with the author’s real name written in ink below his pseudonym at title page. The dust jacket unclipped (5s net), the spine quite heavily toned and creased, the joints rubbed and toned also, with some rubbing to all corners and edges. Small stains elsewhere, but a largely presentable copy of the scarce first printing.
A pacifist’s journal of ‘the chaos, the terror, the dirt, the unspeakable din’ of the First World War from July 1916 to the end of the Battle of the Somme. Plowman reluctantly volunteered to the Army Medical Corps in 1914, later serving with the 10th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment but becoming increasingly concerned with the morality of warfare. After being treated for shell-shock, he resigned his post but was dismissed by the army, successfully exempting himself as a conscientious objector. The Western Front action described here formed the pacifism that would be instilled in the Adelphi Centre and magazine founded by John Middleton Murry, which brought together the likes of Plowman, George Orwell, D. H. Lawrence, Jack Common, and many others. The dust jacket, by Kenneth Romney Towndrow, represents one of only a small handful of jacket commissions, all of which are captivating. The book sold well with numerous impressions and an American edition. This first printing is scarce.
MARK VII [PLOWMAN, Max]. A Subaltern on the Somme. London: J. M. Dent. 1927. 8vo. First edition, first printing. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in red to the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Kenneth Romney Towndrow. An about very good copy overall, the cloth rubbed at the corners, tips, and some edges, with small nick to the front panel centre, and some persistent stains to this front board. Binding tight and gently rolled. Despite some offsetting to endpapers, the contents generally fine throughout, with the author’s real name written in ink below his pseudonym at title page. The dust jacket unclipped (5s net), the spine quite heavily toned and creased, the joints rubbed and toned also, with some rubbing to all corners and edges. Small stains elsewhere, but a largely presentable copy of the scarce first printing.
A pacifist’s journal of ‘the chaos, the terror, the dirt, the unspeakable din’ of the First World War from July 1916 to the end of the Battle of the Somme. Plowman reluctantly volunteered to the Army Medical Corps in 1914, later serving with the 10th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment but becoming increasingly concerned with the morality of warfare. After being treated for shell-shock, he resigned his post but was dismissed by the army, successfully exempting himself as a conscientious objector. The Western Front action described here formed the pacifism that would be instilled in the Adelphi Centre and magazine founded by John Middleton Murry, which brought together the likes of Plowman, George Orwell, D. H. Lawrence, Jack Common, and many others. The dust jacket, by Kenneth Romney Towndrow, represents one of only a small handful of jacket commissions, all of which are captivating. The book sold well with numerous impressions and an American edition. This first printing is scarce.
