ID: 1638
Letters From Mesopotamia: In 1915 and January, 1916, From Robert Palmer, who was killed in the Battle of Um El Hannah, Jan 21, 1916 Aged 27 years.
PALMER, Robert.

Place/Publisher/Date:
No Place, Privately Printed. [1919].

Description: Printed for private circulation only; 8vo; contemporary vellum binding, with gilt decoration, leather panels inset for title and author; top edge trimmed, others untrimmed. Presentation copy from the author's mother to the author's younger brother. Inscribed 'W.J.L. Palmer from his mother July 1919.' Robert Palmer was the second son of William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, who served in several Liberal administrations before the First World War. He returned to government during War in the coalition of Asquith, becoming President of the Board of Agriculture. Robert, was a Captain in the Hampshire Regiment and a published war poet. His poem 'How Long, O Lord' was first published in London in November 1917 and reprinted in February 1918 in The Muse in Arms edited by E. B. Osborne. The letters are to his parents and friends and give a detailed account of the British campaign in Iraq. Also reproduced are a number of hand drawn maps he included with letters. Palmer was killed in a futile attack on a well defended Turkish position during an attempt to relieve British forces at Kut-al-Amara. Very good, boards slightly splayed and foxing to the endpapers. Book plate of William Jocelyn Lewis Palmer to the front pastedown.

Price £1,250.00