Chaucer Auctions
Lot 66
WW1 Rare Battlefields of France and Belgium. My Tour Of The Battlefields, 1921 by John Hall Published by Roberts & Newton Ltd Crouch End London 1921 First (and probably only) Edition signed by the author on the title page and inscribed To J. Butler Esq. with the writer's best wishes Sincerely Yours John Hall 6, 8, 23. This is a very interesting and unusual book. John Hall undertook a tour of The First World War battlefields in October 1921 accompanied by his son in law, Mr S G Wood. This book is his account of his travels and makes very interesting reading (unusually this auction cataloguer made the effort to find the time and read most of this book!). Mr Hall meets all sorts of characters and hires a car (called Henry) to transport him to various battlefield sites in France and Belgium. Mr Hall has a camera with him and takes photographs of the numerous places, people and sites that he visits including the British tank cemetery at Menin Road Ypres, Hell Fire Corner, Arras, Cafe St Pierre, a mine crater at Messines, Hooge Wood, Kemmel cemetery, Hop Store cemetery, Nieuport, Paris etc. Inside the book was a vintage presentation card with a Lest We Forget poem, a JH monogram and the address of Dunelm, 36 Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead, E11. An internet search could not find this book mentioned anywhere but an Estate claim notice in the East London Observer for Friday 28th July 1944 was found that notes John Hall died 3rd July 1944 late of 36 Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead. This is a fascinating and rare (possibly unique) book and measures approx 14cm x 21.5cm, 50 pages, hard back, nicely printed pages containing text and numerous interesting black and white photographs that have not been published elsewhere, no dust jacket, the book shows some light signs of age , wear and has some marks on the front and back covers otherwise is in very good condition (see photographs)Good condition. All autographs are genuine hand signed and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. We combine postage on multiple winning lots and can ship worldwide. UK postage from £5.99, EU from £7.99, Rest of World from £10
