The First World War (Signed by H H Asquith, David Lloyd George & Field Marshals)

The First World War by Martin Gilbert. London: The Folio Society, 2011. Second printing thus, 2012. Both volumes with tipped-in signed cut-outs from the two UK Prime Ministers who led the United Kingdom during the First World War and the two Field Marshals who commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front throughout the First World War.

2 vols. 252 × 177 × 36–37 mm. Type: Utopia. Printed by Martins of Berwick. Bound by Hunter and Foulis in full green cloth blocked in silver and black with a different design for each volume by Gavin Morris and illustrated by Joe McLaren; dark grey endleaves. Mottled grey two-volume slip case blocked in silver and black with a third image. Contemporary photographs are reproduced in all but one of the plates and copious maps are included, drawn by Tim Aspden from Martin Gilbert’s drafts. The two volumes are as follows:

[1] The First World War: From the Origins of the War to Verdun and the Somme, 1914–1916, Martin Gilbert. With a new introduction by the author. Pp. [i–v] vi–xxviii [xxix–xxxviii], [1] 2–345 [346]: [13] leaves of plates.

This volume with (1) a clipped signature and picture of former UK Prime Minister Herbert Henry (H.H.) Asquith who took the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Empire into the First World War in August 1914; this is affixed to the half-title page; and (2) a cut signature of Field Marshal Sir John French who commanded the British army on the Western Front between August 1914, when World War I began, and December 17, 1915, when he resigned under pressure and was succeeded by Gen. (afterward Field Marshal) Douglas Haig; this is affixed to the title page.

[2] The First World War: The Widening War to Remembrance and Aftermath, 1917–1919, Martin Gilbert. Pp. [i–vii] viii–ix [x–xx], [347] 348–708 [709–710]: [9] leaves of plates.

This volume with (1) a clipped signature on 10 Downing Street headed paper of picture of former British prime minister David Lloyd George (1916–22) who dominated the British political scene in the latter part of World War I and succeeded H.H. Asquith; this is affixed to the half-title page; and (2) a clipped signature of Douglas Haig, British Field Marshal and Commander in Chief of the British forces in France during most of World War I, including the final Hundred Days Offensive which partly led to the armistice of 11 November 1918; this is affixed to the title page.

Condition-wise, both volumes in very good, read condition, with lightest wear to extremities and a few small creases to a couple of pages. In like slipcase with a hint of shelf-wear.

A wonderful set of this work by acclaimed British historian Martin Gilbert incorporating all major fronts-domestic, diplomatic, military; made all-the-more special by its previous owner with signed cut-outs of the main British leaders of the "war to end all wars". Gilbert traces the war's progression, analysing the often disastrous decisions of generals on all sides, and including testimonials from civilians, nurses and pacifists. However, above all, he relates the experience of the soldiers, from the novelist Jules Leroux who 'disappeared' in Artois, to the Private treated for shell-shock and then executed for cowardice. A magnificent history of a terrible conflict. In a New York Times Book Review, Gilbert's work was described as "One of the first books that anyone should read in beginning to try to understand this war and this century." A stunning achievement of research and storytelling.