Book from Hitler's Library?

[Paul D]

A facinating discussion Gentlemen

[sandgroper]

This is a great thread, what an interesting subject!

[Jerry B]

In the meantime, maybe we can pool our resources and help Jerry (Bond) find out who Karl was and what the beef was between him and Brigadier Durnford-Slater. Dwight

Hi Dwight, I'm glad to see that more people are responding on this topic and that all seem to think you have good original book.

I started to reread the Brigadiers book which is about the formation of the first Army Commando unit set up during the war and he was the first ever army commando, as the founder member of No.3 commando -no.1 & no.2 were formed later- and I'll inform those who are interested if and when I find any mention of an incident that leads to our discovery of Karl. Just for the record, here is the dedication.

[drmessimer]

Jerry: We will be watching for your updates. In the meantime, I will see if I can come up with something on the mysterious Karl. There must have been a considerable amount of ink used regarding Brigadier John Durnford-Slater, so there is a chance that whatever prompted the comment regarding Karl might have been at least mentioned if not seriously discussed. On the other hand, whatever the tiff was about might have been something relatively minor between the two men who were otherwise good friends. If that's the case we will probably never know the answer. Thanks for posting the scan of actual dedication, that helps. And could you please tell us (again) when and where you found the book? Dwight

[Jerry B]

Hi Dwight,

It was purchased from a charity shop on Wellfield road in Cardiff, Wales, UK, in the mid 1990's for the sum of 50 pence. the book itself is a paper back reprint of the original, which was first published in 1953 by William Kimber and Co. Ltd which was reprinted four times, then was republished by Universal Tandem Publishing Co. Ltd in 1973 and then was republished by Tandem Publishing Ltd in December 1975, which is the edition in question and was signed one month after its release, so I assume he might have been engaged in a book signing tour at this time.

The book itself is not valuable, with or without the dedication and signature, though the history behind the dedication has always fascinated me and it would be great to discover its meaning and the events that led up to it.

I am sorry to have partly highjacked your thread Dwight and I am glad to see it has interested you, rather than annoyed you as some might have been.

[sargetom]

Well your probably right! That's one of the good things about this forum I've learned much about what is and has been reproduced and/or faked and how!

[drmessimer]

Jerry: I love a mystery. As for hijacking the thread, my take on your post was that it melded perfectly with the sub-topic which was/is the interesting historical books one often finds being sold for little money by people who are not really in the book business. Yours was a thrift shop purchase, mine was basically a flea market find, and I'm certain the same thing has happened at garage and estate sales. But back to this Karl thing for a moment. I think that the fact he made the dedication in a paperback might be a clue. If the tiff, or whatever it was, had been really serious, and had happened as a part of his wartime experience, my thinking is that the dedication would have been in one of the originally published hardbacks. The fact that it was written in a paperback published 22 years later causes me to believe that the tiff--if there was one--was probably a "civilian" matter (a neighbor or friend?) that occurred during the 22-year interval between the book releases. If that's the case we will probably never know what it is all about, short of tracking down the names of all his neighbors and obtaining a list of all his friends. It's a daunting assignment. Dwight

[Jerry B]

Hi Dwight,

My take on the matter has always been that Karl was a German that was somehow impacted upon by the Brigadier during his war time exploits, or vice versa and it was only many years after the war that they met and the dedication was made.

[drmessimer]

Jerry: That's a good theory, and if your suggestion that the dedication was written during a book-signing is correct, it would probably mean that Karl was actually there at the time of signing. I wonder, if that were the case, would there have been something about the meeting of former enemies in a local paper? I know that when that sort of thing happens here, the press always jumps on it. We have online, pay-for-use newspaper and other media search sites, which I imagine you do too, so that might be a profitable avenue to take. If you do take that approach, it would be a good start to find out where the Brigadier was living at the time. And if you are seriously interested in pursuing the matter, you might contact the paperback publisher (assuming they are still in business) and ask if there was a book-signing and where it took place. That would tell you the media area to search for any stories on the event. Hopefully some of our other associates in this thread, and those just joining will, will give us their ideas and opinions on this issue. Dwight

[Jerry B]

An interesting development and something I should have checked previously, but according to Google, the Brigadier died in February 1972, some four years before the date on the signature and three years before this edition of the book was published, so it must be a fake. Obviously someone at some time had tried to pimp the book without checking the facts. I feel somewhat stupid now.