Gallantry: Its Public Recognition and Reward in Peace and in War at Home and Abroad [provenance: Alexander Duckham]

London: Oxford University Press, 1939. Hardcover. Very Good. xvi, [2], 498, [2] p.; 25 cm. Brown cloth with gilt-stamped spine title. Lacking dust jacket. Top page edges red. Includes appendices and indexes. First Edition. Tipped in on the front free endpaper is a typed letter to "Jackson" from Duckham House, 16, Cannon Street, London E.C. 4, dated "Xmas 1939" and signed by A. Duckham (Alexander Duckham (1878-1945) who established Alexander Duckham and Company, oil and chemical manufacturers, specializing in lubricating oils). One of the authors, Sir Arnold Wilson (1884-1940), was a Member of Pariliament in 1939 when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was killed in action in northern France in May 1940 when his Vickers Wellington bomber crash landed. Contents: British Orders of Military Gallantry; Foreign Orders of Military Gallantry; Awards for Civil Gallantry in Foreign Countries; Awards for Civil Gallantry in Great Britain and the Empire On Land and At Sea; The Carnegie Hero Fund; A Municipal Valhalla; The Albert and Edward and King's Police Medals; Awards of the Albert Medal, 1877-1938; Awards of the Edward Medal, 1908-1938; Medal of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division and Civil Division, for Gallantry; Awards of the Albert Medal, for Sea Service (Admiralty), 1868-1938; Awards of the Albert Medal, for Civilian Sea Service (Board of Trade), 1866-1938; Awards of Board of Trade Medals for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, 1954-1938. In Very Good Condition: lightly rubbed and soiled; ends of spine frayed; pencilled notations on front fixed endpaper; one marginal notation in text; light diagonal crease in first few leaves; otherwise clean and tight and unmarked.