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WORSLEY, JOHN and GIGGAL, KENNETH: : JOHN WORSLEY'S WAR: An Official War Artist in World War II

UK.SHREWSBURY,SALOP.AIRLIFE PUBLISHING LTD.,1993.

ISBN 1853102571.

UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp, clean,glossy laminated, colour pictorial artwork by John Worsley, illustrated upper panel of dw/dj,with white,blue and yellow lettering,with original b/w photographic portrait of dummy used in escape attempt and subsequent roll-calls; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Head of spine/backstrip of dw/dj minisculely bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+fore- edges bright and clean; contents bright, tight,clean,solid and sound - virtually 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 blue cloth boards with bright,crisp, blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK, slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn,7-116pp [paginated] includes 11 chapters,12pp artist's colour illustrations interspersed throughout the text and the book along with artist's profuse b/w illustrations similarly interspersed,an index,plus [unpaginated] half-title page,b/w line illustrated double-page title page,and a contents list/table with photograph credits to it's reverse. John Worsley was one of the very few active service artists of WW2,and in this book he recalls his experiences both in active sea warfare and later as a prisoner of war. At the outbreak of war the twenty-year- old John Worsley joined up as a Midshipman and during off duty moments sketched his fellow sailors and incidental scenes of life at sea.Having survived the sinking of his first ship,HMS Laurentic,destroyer service on Atlantic convoys and,during 1942,troop convoys from the Red Sea to Australia in the cruiser HMS Devonshire,in 1943 he was made an Official Naval War Artist on the Commander-in-Chief's staff, Malta.After covering the first Italian landing in the Straits of Messina at Reggio and later the landing at Salerno,he moved on to cover some of the nefarious activities opening up the Naval front in the Adriatic and there was captured by the Germans. As a prisoner he continued depicting the PoW life arund him and helped to produce forged indentity papers and,most ingenious of all,he created 'Albert',the successful dummy Naval Officer escape device used both for the initial escape of one prisoner,and also as his stand-in on three roll calls a day for four days after.The celebrated film 'Albert RN' is based on this episode. 'John Worsley's War' captures the sense of immediacy and intimacy that comes from an on-the-spot artist depicting his own world. Please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. UK,buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included or FREE. Available UK only,unless indicated otherwise. ** N.B. US customers please be aware: US Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to USA can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

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

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