ID: 2607
The Oxford Books of English Verse 1250-1900
C W Dawson Changi Prison 1942
Category: History
Place/Publisher/Date:
Oxford. Clarendon Press.1924.
Description:
A 1924 edition of "The Oxford Books of English Verse; 8vo; original cloth boards. A relic of the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II. Inscribed in pencil on the flyleaf "C W Dawson Changi Prison 1942" and later inscribed on the other side "This book greatly helped me & Jill to survive internment by the Japanese in Singapore from 1942 to 1945", the title page bearing a Japanese stamp with note beneath "This seal of Japanese military enabled me to have this book in Changi Prison C.W.D", also with pencilled notes in the margins and inside the back covers the numbers of those poems that have been read. Enclosed is a page of research of civilians interred in Changi Prison listing five members of the Dawson family with prisoner ID numbers 1185-1189 including Christopher William and Jill Dawson. Changi Prison was first built in 1936 by the British and was designed to house up to 600 prisoners. After the Fall of Singapore, it became notorious for its role as a prisoner-of-war camp for Allied soldiers captured by the Japanese. Many of these prisoners were subjected to brutal treatment and forced labour, and a significant number died from malnutrition, disease, and mistreatment. The Japanese military also detained approximately 3,000 civilians in Changi Prison. Some wear and foxing.
Price £350.00
