Soldiers (Multi-signed first edition)

Signed by Philip Ziegler and four Chelsea Pensioners featured in the book

Author

Philip Ziegler

Publisher

Chatto & Windus, London, 2001

Printing Details

First edition, first printing. Hardback in dustwrapper. 24 × 16cm, 352pp.

This copy has been signed by Philip Ziegler and four of the veterans featured in the book: Archibald Harrington, Alwyn Holmes (as Ron Holmes), Fernley Small, and the last I can't quite make out but think it is James Fergus. There is also a handwritten dedication to the top of the page in an unknown hand.

Philip Ziegler's book is a series of in-depth interviews and biographical portraits of nine Chelsea Pensioners living at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Through their combined service, the narratives span the full breadth of 20th-century British military conflict—from the trenches of Passchendaele in World War I, through World War II campaigns like Anzio, to post-war colonial and Cold War conflicts including the Malayan Emergency, the Mau Mau Uprising, Aden, and Indonesia. Ziegler uses these nine lives to examine what draws men to enlist (whether out of patriotism, a sense of adventure, or simply escaping poverty), how military culture shapes character, and the values inculcated by army life. He explores camaraderie, self-discipline, and physical endurance alongside the darker or more rigid aspects of traditional service life, such as institutional bigotry and narrow-mindedness.

Condition

This copy is in very good condition, though with a little light wear to the wrapper's edges and some age-related tanning to the page edges and margins.