THE FRENCH ARMY FROM WITHIN.

UK,12mo HB,no dw/dj,1st edn.VG+.No owner inscrptn.Bright,crisp, reasonably clean and generally sharp-cornered,publisher's original green cloth bds with black ink tooled bordered edge to front cover with blocked black ink lettered title+author,a rectangular colour pictorial, paper onlay to both front+spine/ backstrip,pictorial colour onlay illustration of mounted cavalryman slightly sunned/faded,and with it's rear gutter edges chipped with minimal loss - a ubiquitous fault - to either one or to both vertical edges of onlay,spine/backstrip slightly sunned/faded with blocked black ink edges border and blocked black ink letters,a lightly and minimally grubbed,plain and undecorated rear board/cover.With negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears,splits or fraying present,and plain white eps with off-set shadowing from opposing pastedowns to verso and recto of front +rear free endpapers respectively,both hinges solid and sound without any splits,tears or cracking.Top edges very lightly toned from light dust-soiling,but without foxing/spotting,fore-edges brighter and lightly toned with some minimal,and very faint sporadic foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean - text body virtually foxing-free - no intentional dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - though consecutive top corners of pp139/42 with accidental,tiny creases,else appears unread - apart from my own collation.Any discolouring or other imperfections are commensurate with book's age and therefore with some minimal foxing/spotting,mainly to page edges.UK,12mo HB, no dw/dj,1st edn,foxed/spoted contents list/table,7-186pp [paginated] includes XIV (14) chapters,5 contemporary b/w photographs interspersed throughout the text and the book - excludes separate frntis,plus [unpaginated] b/w photographic frntis,foxed title page,and 2pp blank with printer to verso and blank recto,at the rear. Another very presentable item,this example has survived exceptionally well,particularly without any dw/dj protection - and particularly in respect to the book overall, and unusually,without the usual major discolouration and other imperfections usually encountered or expected in a book of this age. At the time under French law -'every citizen a soldier'. From the age of 20 to 45,every able-bodied Frenchman is a soldier.The citizen is expected to give 25 years of service to his country; 3 years,under the law passed on the initiative of the Ministry of M. Viviani just before the outbreak of the war,are to be spent in active service,and another 11 years in the reserve of the active Army. During this period men are called back to the colours - to service with the active Army - for two periods of a month at a time.At the end of this first thirteen years of service,men pass automatically to the Territorial Army,which is supposed to serve for purposes of home defence only.Service in the Territorials last 6 years,after which the soldier passes to 6 years in the reserve of the Territorial Army.After this,the French citizen is exempt from any further military obligation. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!