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BENNETT, IAN: : A RAIN OF LEAD: The Siege and Surrender of the British at Potchefstroom

LONDON.GREENHILL BOOKS,2001.

ISBN 1853674370.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dh,1st edn.FINE/FINE-.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip - absence of publisher's price - to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean, glossy laminated,monochrome photographic illustrated front panel of dw/dj with b/w lettering; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - one 1/4" closed tear/nick at top,rear corner of dw/dj - no other nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain dark green cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,5- 256pp [paginated] includes contents list/table, lists of illustrations,drawings and maps,a chronology with a note,25 assorted biographies (English+Boer),a prologue,19 chapters,16pp contemporary+modern b/w photographs and illustration in 1 block,between pp128-145,5 b/w drawings interspersed throughout the text and the book,6 b/w maps between [unpaginated] pp9-15 respectively,an epilogue,a select bibliography, appendices(5) and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title with siege participant quotation to reverse,title page,unpaginated maps with diary entry from Victoria Regina's Journal for 3 July, 1882 to reverse of last map and author's acknowledgements with blank to reverse. 'A Rain of Lead' is the first full-length book about the dramatic 95-day siege of Potchefstroom,which helped to shape a century of South African history. At the end of 1880,some 200 British soldiers and a handful of civilians began the defence of a makeshift fort the size of a tennis court.Most of these men had fought in the Zulu War: some had escaped from Isandlwana,others had defended at Rorke's Drift and been at Ulundi.Although heavily outnumbered,and suffering from lack of food,tremendous heat,the wettest summer for 30 years and no shelter save a few bullet-holed leaking tents,they were to hold out under constant fire for 95 days.When finally forced by starvation to surrender,with more than one third of the garrison killed,wounded or dead of disease,one of the officers remarked 'We can scarcely understand the perfect peace which has so suddenly fallen on us after three months 'rain of lead'.The place was Potchefstroom,the old Boer capital of the Transvaal,which had been annexed and occupied by the British in 1877.The siege marked the start of the first Anglo-Boer War. The original reports and eyewitness accounts give a vivid insight into the day -by-day progress of the siege.Ian Bennett has investigated and evaluated the contemporary evidence to produce this in- depth history of the British and Boers at the siege of Potchefstroom. Please contact seller,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. UK and all overseas buyers please note, stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if item is offered P+p included or postage free. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIR postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. between 1/2 to 2/3rds of standard AIR quote/ rate - sometimes arriving within a week or so,and sometimes before the quoted 42 days - but not always.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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