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SMITH, DAVID JAMES: : ONE MORNING IN SARAJEVO - 28 JUNE 1914

LONDON.WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON,2008.

ISBN 9780297851448.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn. [Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2.] FINE/FINE. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,matt,monochrome contemporary photographic illustrated dw/dj with capitalised, brown-lettered part+sub-title and capitalised off-white lettered author's name to front of dw/dj; spine/backstrip with capitalised,matt brown lettered part+sub-title and author's name too,and publisher’s capitalised,black initials to foot of same,rear panel of dw/dj with background monochrome photograph of Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophie,lying in state,with a superimposed thumbnail b/w portrait photograph of Gavrilo Princip.Negligible shelf-wear to edges and corners – no nicks,tears or splits present.Top+fore-edges with age-acquired but light toning with minimal,sporadic foxing/ spotting; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound – no dog-ear reading creases to any pages’ corner tips – appears unread,apart from my own collation.Publisher’s bright,crisp,clean/ unblemished,sharp-cornered,original plain burgundy cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettering to spine/backstrip,and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj, illustrated,1st edn,2-326pp[paginated] includes 27 chapters,16pp historically contemporary and modern day b/w photographs in 2 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp86/87 and pp230/31 respectively,sources,Selected Books,Papers and Articles,Endnotes,Acknowledgements and an Index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication,a Contents list/table, and a Who's Who and How to Pronounce Them pages. Visually the exterior appearance is more than acceptable and even internally,is in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation,for a book of its 15+ year-old age. It is only the faults described that prevents a slightly higher grading.Despite them,it really is still an exceptional copy for its cleanliness,brightness and lack of other detracting faults.                                This historical account of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is every bit as gripping as The Day of the Jackal.Using newly available sources and older material,David James Smith brilliantly reinvestigates and reconstructs the events which subsequently determined the shape of the twentieth century.    Young Gavrilo Princip arrived at the Vlajnic pastry shop in Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the morning of 28th June,1914. He was greeted by his fellow conspirators in the plot to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand.The Archduke, next in the Habsburg line to succeed his elderly uncle, Franz Joseph, as Emperor of Austria, was beginning a state visit to Sarajevo later that morning with his wife Sophie. Ferdinand was not a very popular character,not even in Austria, not even at his own court where he was widely thought of as bad-tempered and arrogant and perhaps even deranged.  To the young students he embodied everything they loathed about imperial oppression.They planned to kill him at about 11 o'clock as he paraded down Appel Quay to the town hall in his open top car.Weighed down by its historical burden,buried under mounds of analysis and portentous commentary, the story of the assassins and the assassination has been lost.   David James Smith creates a narrative that takes place in one day, interweaved with the build-up to the assassination,focusing for the first time on the fine detail of the plot and the characters of those involved.What happened in those few hours - leading as it did to the First and Second World Wars - is as compelling as any thriller.                                  Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!          N.B. ALL 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/FREE.    ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL 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. 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,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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