A few weeks ago I was chortling about the £6 second-hand book I bought online which turned out to have been the property of Charlie Wesencraft, as evidenced by a personal library plate on the front end-papers..
Since Charlie was a great friend of the late David Chandler, and it was one of Chandler's books, I made joking references to the fact that I had fleeting hopes that I might have got a signed copy for my £6, but it wasn't to be.
In fact it turns out that it is a signed copy - I was just too stupid to spot it. Here you go - front title page:
I have to say I feel a little awkward about this, bearing in mind that Charlie is still going strong, and wargaming regularly. I imagine that, like all of us, he has thinned down his library from time to time, so the book I bought recently would have been in circulation for perfectly legitimate reasons, and I'm just lucky to have chanced upon it. However, if it were all a mistake, and he would really like to have it back, I'm open to approaches. Mind you, Charlie would have to sign a few books from my own collection as part of the agreement...
This discovery is cool! A lucky purchase for you to get your hands on a great book with a real Wargaming provenance.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed! It probably makes up a little for the tons of rubbish I've bought through similar channels! You are bound to find a nugget now and then...
DeleteAgreed! Very cool.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
A bit of a long shot, I think!
DeleteIn a second hand bookshop in Bath I was browsing and discovered he had two copies of Rommel's Krieg ohne hass (in English I hasten to add), both same price, but one had Frau Rommel's signature (on a pasted in piece of paper - I suspect she must have signed a whole stack at once).
ReplyDeleteAs both were the same price, I picked the one with her signature. I mentioned this to the proprietor when he opened a conversation about the book.
From the look on his face, I suspect he had not noticed the signature.....
Excellent - did Frau Rommel go on tour? Waterstones?
DeleteYou'll understand that I'm keeping very quiet about my copy of Mein Kampf.
As your book seems to have some scribble on the title page I’m quite happy to swap it for my clean copy. I don’t look at mine as much as you do so it will probably irritate you to see it.
ReplyDeleteThat is selfless and altogether admirable - it's marvellous to come across such kindness in these difficult times. Let me think about this for a while... No thanks.
DeleteIn another context, I must email you to see how you are getting on with the Brereton book. I'll get round to it shortly.
You jammy so and so. I will have to bollock Charlie when he is allowed out of incarceration. I still havent forgiven him for throwing his entire Wargamers Newsletter collection on his rubbish fire.Mind he did very kindly sign all his books for me.
ReplyDeleteHow brilliant is that!
ReplyDeleteNot bad at all, Ray - that may be all my good luck for the year used up in one go, though.
DeleteA very lucky purchase. I can boast that I got David to sign a couple of books for me when they used to run a small Wargames show at the Culloden visitor centre.
ReplyDeleteAn absolute gentleman and whilst I’ve thinned down my book collection signed copies remain in my possession.
I once bought a second hand book which had previously been signed by me, as a former owner, but I try not to talk about that. I'm envious that you met Dr Chandler - seems to have been a lovely chap.
DeleteThis may sound like showing off but I met Dr Chandler once. He was by then a v elderly man. I was invited to a passing out at Sandhurst by one of the staff there and we had lunch in one of the lovely messes and I spotted him. I asked my host to introduce me. I had a brief chat with him but he wasn't 100% there and he died shortly after. Nothing to do with me I hasten to add.
ReplyDeleteGuy
Excellent - this idea of being two handshakes from history is precious and must be sustained and encouraged, even if it becomes elbow-bumps in future.
DeleteI still listen to the old "Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast" shows that Cameron O'Reilly and J David Markham did quite a few years ago now - they are entertaining and informative, if frequently chaotic and dominated by the fact that Markham is a man without a pause button. I mention this because David Chandler gets a lot of mentions, having been a great friend and sparring partner of JDM. Chandler (who was dead by then) gets a fair amount of affectionate banter, mostly because he wasn't the stereotypical Napoleon fan-boy which seems to dominate that generation of US historians. (Bless them)