Signed Books: Show 'Em If You Got 'Em!

[Gunny Hartmann]

OK - last one.....it's aviation, but with a difference.

Richard Hillary's 'The Last Enemy' was one of the first memoirs of the Battle of Britain and is today regarded as a literary classic which has never been out of print. Baling out in flames from his Spitfire, he faced a long struggle to overcome his burns as one of the first plastic surgery 'guinea pigs'.

This is a part-leather bound, first-edition presentation copy which I found in the 1980s in the basement of a London bookshop.





I did some research on this - 'Rosie' was a woman called Rosie Carr whose face was destroyed in a car accident and who befriended Hillary in the same hospital. She died in London in the 1980s and I guess the book must have come from her effects.

Richard Hillary was killed on 7 January 1943 - unwisely trying to return to operational flying.

For me, this is a unique piece of Battle of Britain memorabilia.

( I paid £3 for it...................)

3 quid that's a real bargain.

[Paul D]

OK - last one.....it's aviation, but with a difference.

Richard Hillary's 'The Last Enemy' was one of the first memoirs of the Battle of Britain and is today regarded as a literary classic which has never been out of print. Baling out in flames from his Spitfire, he faced a long struggle to overcome his burns as one of the first plastic surgery 'guinea pigs'.

This is a part-leather bound, first-edition presentation copy which I found in the 1980s in the basement of a London bookshop.





I did some research on this - 'Rosie' was a woman called Rosie Carr whose face was destroyed in a car accident and who befriended Hillary in the same hospital. She died in London in the 1980s and I guess the book must have come from her effects.

Richard Hillary was killed on 7 January 1943 - unwisely trying to return to operational flying.

For me, this is a unique piece of Battle of Britain memorabilia.

( I paid £3 for it...................)

Wonderful Martin a one off !!

[rogge16]

Great find, Martin. It was good that you were able to research the previous owner. That was one heck of a deal!

Luke

[drmessimer]

Martin: That's a terrific copy to have. Hillary's account of being shot down and bailing out is among the essays that were published in Ernest Hemingway's anthology, Men at War, New York: Crown, 1942. In the anthology, Hillary's piece is titled, "Falling Through Space," which is apparently taken from a book with the same title, published in 1943 by Reynal & Hitchcock. The copy you have is a definite keeper! Dwight

[Glenn66]

Some real close brushs with history you guys have here! Great work!

[stuka f]

Here is a other one, I just got in!
Sorry about the flash!
;-)

[rogge16]

Here's one I got signed by the author.

Luke

[rogge16]

This book has mixed reviews. Anyone read it?

Luke

[drmessimer]

Luke: I haven't read this book, but I did read the reviews of the book on Amazon. As I see it, the basic problem with the book is that Helmut Junge supposedly was drafted into the German Army in 1943 when he was 16, which was impossible to have happened.
The basic German draft law in effect throughout WWII was spelled out in the Gesetz für den Aufbau der Wehrmacht, 16 März 1935, and amended for wartime in Das Wehrgesetz vom 21. Mai 1935. The draft age was set at 18 to 45 and remained in effect throughout the war, even through several changes were embodied in Das Gesetz vom 26. Juni 1936 (RGBl. I. S. 518); Erlaß vom 4. Februar 1938 (RGBl. I. S. 111); Verordnung vom 17. August 1938 (RGBl. 1939 I. S. 1455); Verordnung vom 1. September 1939 (RGBl. I. S. 1656); Gesetz vom 20. August 1940 (RGBl. I. 1161); and Gesetz vom 24. September 1944 (RGBl. I. S. 317).
In October 1944, Die Verordnung vom 6. Oktober 1944 ordered all males from 16 to 60 to join the Volksturm under the overall command of Heinrich Himmler. The same order also placed the Hitler Youth in the Volkssturm. This new law was not related to the basic 1935 Wehrgesetz and its several amendments, concerning itself only with the expansion of the Volkssturm. It was this 1944 order that created the situation of having boys as young as 12 in front line units, not the 1935 national draft law.
Thus, Helmut Jung could not have been drafted in 1943, nor at any other time during WWII. The only way he could have entered active service was to have been a Hitler Youth member called up after October 1944, or by entering the Volkssturm under the order directing all males 16-60 to join. But neither of those options would have sent him to the Eastern Front. In order to have fought on the Eastern Front, he would have had to voluntarily enlisted in the Wehrmacht when he turned 17, which appears to have been 1944 in his case. Dwight

[rogge16]

Thank you, Dwight. I've had it for a long time and still haven't read it yet. One of the reasons why was because of some of the reviews I had read. Unfortunately after I got the book.

Luke