QUIET JUNGLE ANGRY SEA: My Escapes from the Japanese.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip (£14.95) to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated, colour pictorial artwork illustrated front panel+spine of dw/dj with black lettering,montage'd monochrome autobiographical photographic rear panel of dw/dj; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top edges with minimal,sporadic foxing/spotting but generally bright and clean otherwise,fore-edges brighter and cleaner and without foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners, appears unread - apart from my own collation.Minimal and faint superficial scoring/indentations to both panels but without penetration or affecting concomitant spots to boards beneath.Bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain dark green cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,1- 196pp [paginated] includes 39 chapters and a postscript, 8pp contemporary b/w auto+biographical photographs in 1 block,between pp84/5,plus [unpaginated] half-title with dedication to its reverse,title page with copyright details etc.,to its reverse,contents list/table, chronology of book's historical events,foreword by author's brother-in-law with b/w illustrated Regimental crest to its verso,and a brothers-in-arms list.
Possibly the last great tale of endeavour and heroism to come out of WW2,Denis Gavin's autobiographical account of his three escapes from the Japanese make thrilling reading.Fighting in Malaya,he was captured with most of his regiment (East Surrey) at the fall of Singapore. Imprisoned in a work camp with three of his best friends he endured appalling disease and deprivation.Dysentry was inescapable,food was unavailable and Gavin movingly records coping with everyday life, brutality,and the terrible sadness of the death of friends.A will to survive led him to plan,with a group of friends,an escape and their successful breakout led to a heart-stopping chase through the jungle.But if the natural dangers of the rain forest and predatory animals,untrusting villagers and precipitous rapids,were one thing,the next stage in this escape was worse.Reaching the coast the survivors constructed a ten foot boat and they sailed to Sumatra,a hundred miles to the West, through seas infested both by shark and Japanese shipping.Sumatra was in the hands of the Dutch,but his freedom proved short-lived.The Dutch properties in the East surrendered in 1942 and all too soon Gavin was again a POW,but he escaped once more again crossing the ocean, this time in a native out-rigger canoe.Sixty-four days and two thousand miles later only eight survived to be recaptured and sent to a worse prison in Rangoon.As indomitable as ever,Gavin escaped alone and managed to find his way back to the advancing British line.No man has escaped so many times; no one has written of their own adventures so excitingly. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices, weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too!
So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!