Adding to the Library

Well JY, speaking only for my self, Victoria's Harvest is
long awaited and will be one of the highlights of the year.

Anybody..

I have in my ephemera ' collection ' a teachers guidebook
produced by Shell oil to accompany a wall chart on the AZW.
i have tried to track down this wall chart with no success as
yet, does anybody have this or even seen it?. the front cover
is reproduced below..you might note that it is retained in the
archive in Brecon, numbered and in tube 23..any help would
be most helpful, it would be nice to have the two together.

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JY
I would agree there has been a fare amount of rubbish publish, from linking Sister Janet to RD to Great Grand children 'finding' hidden meanings in their ancestors 'diaries'. There does however seem to some light at the end of the tunnel with a few recent re discoveries that are being explored. And a number of books that Im really, for a change, looking forward to reading. At least two of which I anticipate forming usefull parts of the collection.
Cheers

Les,

There's a Shell poster on EBay at present, it is the one with Lady Butler's Rorke's Drift at the centre of it.

JY

JY, thanks..that's a match for me.

I subscribe to a very useful book cataloguing site called Librarything. Not only does it make the task of cataloguing books very easy, it also allows me to compare my library with those of the other 2 million or so members. Seeing who else has copies of particular AZW titles is very instructive - and one book remains a country mile ahead of the others when it comes to popularity. It sits in five times as many personal libraries as the next most popular - that book is "Washing of the Spears" by Donald Morris. So its a mistake to dismiss dear old Donald, he is still by far the biggest presence when it comes to AZW histories - because, warts and all, he is in 433 personal libraries.

What is the next most popular? - "Zulu War a Pictorial History" by Barthorp at 84 hits. Very few more recent efforts even get into double digits. Notable exceptions are Knight's "Zulu Rising" at 45,  L&Q's "Zulu Victory" at 38  and Snook's "How could man Die Better" at 35.

So, we anoraks may frown a bit on Donald these days, but so far as the masses are concerned Morris still rules!


Steve

Aw c'mon now Steve time to fess up, how many have got a Harry Potter?
By the way as much as I crit Morris I do have a number of copies of his book. One in particular I use to stop the study door from slamming shut.

Cheers

Lol, a doorstop, nice one Frank..i imagine that would do nicely,
i signed up a couple of years ago to the site Steve recommends
but never followed through..i will have to rethink that. i live with
my book's and other related pieces, what do people see when they
look at the photo below..what it does not show are the boxes under
the bed and in the loft..this is my side of the bedroom, not a murmer
of complaint from the missus, if i spun the camera round it would
show the sparse girlie arrangement on my wife's side, she really
puts me to shame. but as you can see i live with this on a daily basis.
and i wont stop till i have to..as i speak several more ' things are on
the way, i guess i'm a collector.



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Excellent Les !
90th

No contest from this side Les.
Gary did you get to see any Drone footage of the battlefield?

Hiya Gary, nice one mate, looking forward to hearing all
about your trip.

JY, many congrats to you and David..Hellion has just informed
me that Victoria's Harvest is available now to buy..fantastic!.

Cheers Frank..drone footage, now that sounds interesting..

Hi Frank
No mate , not yet . I'm aware of having being done , I think the chap who shot it is attempting to edit it . He's also busy with work I believe , so not sure when it will surface .
90th

Looking forward to seeing the low level sweeps, so far the only aerial footage has been the helicopter shots plus one or two from the hot air balloon.

Yes well done JY, book is ordered.

Steve

This book is pleasing to have, i have tried to scan a few
images but they are just to big to fit all in, 1st ltd ed,
there are a few floating about at a reasonable price, the
paintings by Gail Van Linden are very good and the text
has several contributors inc George Chadwick and Laband.

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Some real detail in those images posted. What's the book called.

Les
There is one floating around the Antiquarian Auction site. It pops up every so often with no takers at 40 US. Its being sold by a bookseller at Kalk Bay down the peninsular, I made him an offer last year and keep doing it every time I pop in.

Cheers

Chard
Have a look at the first image, could give you a clue.

Christ! Really didn't see that, that's worrying!

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Battlefields-South-Africa-Chadwick-George-Duxbury/13948570486/bd

Chard, its off to specsavers for you! Frank, it really is a well put
together book, worth having for the paintings alone..but its a big one
elephant folio..no chance of it fitting on a book shelf so it lives in a
box..Frank they say the best time to buy anything is when you first
see it!. i expect it will grow in value in the years to come, it was only
published in 1991 so very modern really.

Hi Les
Without a doubt its a good set of illustrations, BUT, the shop owner and I are trying to see who gives way first. I buy quite a lot from him by the way and we always negotiate, this one hes dug his heels in.
Cheers

Hmm, i wonder which of you will come out on top.. i like
haggling, most transactions today are cold and impersonal.
have fun..

This has been floating around on ebay for a while,
i'm sure most are familiar with the image, it is an
original Tobacco trade label circa 1880's..size in
old money 10" x 10". so iv'e just bought it, it took
just six days to come from California, while i am
still waiting on the book that dares not speak it's
name.

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Well, what a great idea that has given me for Snook's book, a doorstop .

Better still, out in the garden for the shed door, that way it won't be collecting dust at the back of the bookshelf on the inside of the house, yes, great idea

Les mate, so that is just your side of the room is it? You want to see the state of my 'Junk Room' (as the shifter calls it), I have to move stuff to get to other stuff, then move most of that to get what I am looking for, maybe we should have bought a larger house with bigger rooms, or better still, more rooms, LOL!

Hiya Martin, so good to hear you! that well made me laugh.. a couple of
years ago my second son moved out to a big fanfare, so i got a ' Zulu
room ' i stored away his old pink floyd posters and decorated it. great i
could sneak off for hours at a time and just sit there with all my stuff
around me.. it was not destined to last for long, the bugger moved back
in a month later and he's stayed put!!. i put it to him a while later that
his moving out was only a ploy. knowing that i would decorate it using
subtle tasteful shades. he just gave me a condescending superior smirk
and that was that! so i'm just embracing the chaos an older and wiser
man..he must get it off his mothers side.

Hi Les, yes mate, not been on for some time, Mrs Shifter needs extra care now, so my time is taken up looking after her, and I don't get a lot of time now to keep going on my computer.

Ha Ha, yes mate, they know where their bread is buttered don't they, they leave home but keep returning when they need something. My old dad told me when I left home that I had made my bed so I could lay in it, in other words, be a man and stand on your own two feet, but it does make you realise and learn the hard way, it's hard times, but you always cope in the end, but that is what we British do, we cope with things that are thrown at us, and if we get knocked down now and again, we get back up, dust ourselves off and start again, it's the good old British way of looking the world in the eye and getting on with it.

I have been having a good root through the 'junk room' to gather all my books and try to put them all in order, it's surprising how many books you collect over a period of time, some that you have forgotten about, I will have to sort these out and get them in some sort of order on the bookshleves.

I have all sorts of books, many in boxes, I will have to make some more shelves to put them on, so it's out with the screws, plugs, brackets and wood.

Cheers Les mate.

Hi Les, yes mate, not been on for some time, Mrs Shifter needs extra care now, so my time is taken up looking after her, and I don't get a lot of time now to keep going on my computer...

Hiya Mate, so sorry to hear about ' mrs shifter ' it puts all other moans into perspective does it not,
i wish you and your good lady nothing but the best, and i hope she is ' shifting ' again as soon as she
is able..   ..

Yes it can be problematic sorting through stuff, you forget, and unearth things that you forgot about
that seemed important at some point, i think in my case a serious cull is overdue!. i have doubles
and triples of lots of things, i will have to deal with them at some point. good luck to you mate!.

Les.

Yes, the old shifter can't get about the same now, she is struggling at times, however, I will always be there for her, she is, after all, the sweetest love of my life, and I will always care for her.

The pile of books I have acquired over the years will take some sorting out, like you, I may have to have a cull, but I will get them sorted out in the end.

Thanks for your wishes Les mate, much appreciated.

Our long awaited book is now clearly on British soil and at a discounted price! No sign of mine yet.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Road-to-Ulundi-Revisited-The-Zulu-War-Sketches-of-an-Artist-9781928211280-/252441463473?hash=item3ac6af0ab1:g:kZMAAOSwgY9Xcg4~

Steve

Road to Ulundi Revisited has arrived! After a long and arduous seven month  journey from the dark continent, my copy of Ken Gillings book has at last emerged into the sunlit uplands of a disunited Europe. We may have no government, no opposition, a bozo waiting to become PM and the only decent politician in the country north of the border - but I have my book! So all is well. Signed copy number 33. Joy!

Steve

Mine arrived monday, initial reaction..disappointing!.
great matt cover, illustrations ill defined looking
rather washed out. photographs..A for effort but not
of sufficient quality to really stand out. standard text.
from an initial outlay of £73.00 discounted to £35.00
in total.it now resides in a box with its more illustrious
predecessor's..Still dipping into David and John's book
which i find deeply satisfying on many level's..the
format i feel is the way forward, copious illustration's
complimenting the text in a way which is informative
and easy on the eye and brain which in turn gives this
reader the opportunity to study the whole as i read each
page..much better as someone else pointed out than the
standard insert of illustrations in in a couple of designated
sections. and having David's earlier work on the irish vc's
i feel JY has yet again supplied some superb illustrations
which the Irish vc's lacked..heavily recommended!.

Les,

My copy finally arrived yesterday, after seven months missing in action.

I have to concur with you about the lack of definition of some of the Crealock paintings.

Ken follows the same path of comparative views as used by the Then and Now series, and by the late David Rattray in his A Soldier-Artist in Zululand.

My eyes were drawn to the passing of the years on Plate 19 where Crealock's grazing animals are replaced in the photograph by a parked combo. I have no idea whether it was Ken's intention.

If I have one major moan it is the fact Ken has fallen into the trap set for him by previous authors, notably the late Donald Morris, and in doing so he has misidentified the subject of his book. In the group photograph on the acknowledgements page John North Crealock is standing on the left of the group as you look at it, and Matthew Gosset is seated on the right.

The problem is Ken's book is a limited edition and so that error perpetuates as it cannot be corrected in a second edition.

I am glad that you are still enjoying Victoria's Harvest, hopefully it is the first in a number of co-authored works between David and myself.

John Y.

Thank you JY..nothing it appears escapes your analytical eye, i think in the
case of certain photographs the printers are as much at fault as anyone..
but someone had the final say, it was a long drawn out saga which makes
me wonder at your patience re publishing houses..

So i believe its the I.M. for you at the moment, lots to tell i'm sure, Cawnpore,
Delhi Gate ect. i remember reading accounts of the mutiny even before i had
really heard of the zulu, it must have been in primary school in the very early
sixty's. below is a standard work i have had for many years. you stay well.

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Les,

Yes the Indian Mutiny is first one on the list, but we will be returning to South Africa for the period 1877 to 1881 for one of the planned projects.

Like yourself in the early 1960's prior to the Zulu War explosion it was the Indian Mutiny that held my attention. The first serious book I can recall reading was my father's copy of James Leasor's The Red Fort.

John Y.

Hmm, interesting date span there! i wont mither you, knowing you
will reveal all in good time, your a bad influence JY, i have just
ordered The Red Fort An Account Of The Siege Of Delhi In 1857, its
a 1st with the dj, just what i need really as i'm really short of books.

Hi Guys
Just got back from my UK sojourn. What a time to visit as well, Brexit vote, Cameron out, Boris stabbed in the back, the rise of Ms May. Oh yes caught summer as well, it was on a Wednesday. One of the first things I looked at on my return was my copy of Kens book. It sounds most definitely that you chaps have got a second print run. Mine is exceptionally clean and crisp repro.
Moving on.
I spent 2 days in the archives at Brecon. Richard, the curator, and Sylvia his assistant were nothing short of incredible. I shall be sharing the results of their largess on the forum over the next couple of weeks, hopefully I will also be able to demonstrate the difference then between Source and non source documents as well as some photos of original items that the forum will have heard of but never seen, the Bassage diary and the original Brickhill statement plus a few unexplained oddities.
Les if your going to get into the Indian mutiny you have to start with the ultimate authority, young Harry of course. Was it the "Great Game"?

Cheers

Frank "Brickhill statement" is it different from what's all ready on the forum, or does he give other information.

Hi SAS
I photographed the original handwritten statement itself, when it was transcribed there were quite a few errors, those were perpetuated in further copies. Although nothing earth shattering it does show how things degenerate with history. Its a point Julian has frequently made and so I thought by posting three separate 'editions', from the original handwritten to the current copy it would show exactly how that degeneration occurs, and its effect.
All to follow during the next few days.

Cheers

Hi Frank

Not sure whether to say welcome back or goodbye! Glad we made the trip interesting for you. I must say if no one had mentioned the graphics in Ken's book I wouldn't have noticed anything amiss. I think watercolour always looks washed out when it is put alongside photographs. Looking forward to the fruits of your research at Brecon and particularly good to hear how helpful the folks there were.

Steve

Hey Frank, second print run..yeah that makes sense to me, but is still useful to
compare with the original, i guess i was more pissed off with the publishers, but
its on to other things now!. i have yet to be persuaded to ' turn Indian '. i'm still
trying to collect more material on the Native Rebellion of 1906..

I sense you were pleased with your trip to blighty, i have not heard much about
the new curator at Brecon, sounds like you was made most welcome..i too will be
very interested to read the various accounts, i've heard the curator is not really an
AZW buff, what was your impressions any changes to the old place?.

Politics, there now making it up as they go along, its all change from day to day! i
now call parliament ' Fort Funk '. god knows where it will all end.

I got rid of most of my Fraser books in the early eighty's, i should of kept them, harry
would know what to do with these weak lily livered pale imitations that are our current
crop of potential leaders most certainly are..hope you enjoyed a bit of the old country.

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Hi Guys
Steve it was a really great trip, over twenty years since the last time and thirty since I did any amount of travel. I drove from London to Cumbria to Edinburgh to Wrexham to Brecon and back to London. A really good trip in particular driving through the centre of Wales and seeing a lot of my old training grounds.
Les, really pleased, a lots changed over the years. I cannot praise Richard enough, the phrase going the extra mile doesn't begin to cover it. One particular document he promised to scan and e mail, it arrived in Cape Town before I did. Your right the Zulu Wars are not his main interest but he was still more than prepared to talk. I mentioned that a particular file on Jesse Mayor had been compiled by Martin Everett and Lee Stevenson in response to an enquiry from Australia, Lee and I last year managed to put a firm ID onto Jesse with documentation, Richard requested I forward that for inclusion in the file. That's first job tomorrow.
Again its thirty years ago since I was at Brecon and the changes are huge, memories possibly a bit hazy but Im sure the Zulu room was what is now the admin office. The new Zulu room deserves praise for its layout and content. I was particularly please that two of my photo montages were in prominent place over the entrance.
Probably my most interesting 'find' was the original hand drawn map of iSandlwana field by Mainwaring, it has some measurements that place the exact position of the road crossing the donga. In addition in the Mainwaring box some notes on a later trip that describes two or three circumstances. Sorry to leave that as a tantalising finish, but give me a few days.

Cheers

PS hows about this for a touch of Hell, Virgin leaves Johanesburg 2.5 hours late with no food drinks coffee etc on board. So an 11 hour flight from hell with 30 hungry crying Children on board. Still waiting for a response from them.

Frank
Glad your UK trip was successful. We'd decided long in advance to be away at that time - not because of you, but to avoid hearing all the endless Referendum chat. Granada and Seville were much better options and I'm more tanned as a result. It a pity though because I would have liked to have met you in person. Ah well, next time perhaps.

I thought this was well cheap when i spotted it months ago'
looking this evening i was shocked to see reduced so much,
so i bought it, i don't need it, but i was'nt leaving it there at
that price..

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Bargain!

Yes it was JY, and another nice development is
that the pm facility has been restored to me..

Good get Les , well done that man !
90th

Thanks Gary..i think i will just pass it along, i have
no need for two. i can feel a swap in the offing?..

Yet another miscarriage of justice by calling the swb the 24th foot (something that they NEVER were).

The last regiment to have the line number of the 24th foot was the 2nd Warwickshire regiment, line numbers were officially abolished in 1881, the swb were just the swb and therefor were NEVER the 24th foot.

I wish that some of these authors would get it right, or maybe they do it deliberately to keep the Baker myth alive, then again, they could well be Welsh authors, either way, they are just plain ignorant.

I suppose it must be the heat. Christopher Thomas Atkinson (1875-1964) was a fellow of Exeter College Oxford. His history of The South Wales Borderers 24th Foot was published in 1937 by the Regimental History Committee at the University Press Cambridge. Atkinson was born in Frimley Surrey and served in the Great War. He was not Welsh and he was a bit before Stanley Baker and the film. I won't encourage debate again on the 24th "thing" because it's flogging a dead horse. But there is no conspiracy and ignorant he was not!

Steve

Martin,

I believe the good people of Monmouthshire are encouraging a campaign on the same lines of your own.

The previous battle honours of the 43rd Light Infantry - Old Monmouth - are being claimed by the Ox & Bucks.  

John Y.