Stalky's Reminiscences
by L. C. Dunsterville
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Good
- Seller
-
Leigh-On-Sea, Essex, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London : Jonathan Cape , 1930. Hardcover. Good. Autobiography of Lionel Charles Dunsterville, the inspiration for Kipling's character Stalky. Rubbing and slight fraying to edges. previous owner's name to ffep. Mild marking to covers, slight spotting to fore-edge. Contents clean and sound, Good.
Reviews
On Sep 5 2011, Feeney said:
Why would an ageing American like me, with no military service, be eager to read a 1928 book named STALKY'S REMINISCENSES by a British Major-General named Lionel Charles Dunsterville (1865 - 1946)? Because Dunsterville was the fictional Stalky in STALKY & CO., Rudyard Kipling's tales of his school days as the 1870s turned into the 1880s spent at United Services College (USC), at Westward Ho! on the North Devon Coast. And STALKY & CO. is one of my very favorites by Kipling. *** Dunsterville is close to invaluable for recollected background on then recently founded (1874) USC; for his own and Kipling's days and merry pranks there; for the poor crop of entering students uncritically harvested by an inexpensive school with no waiting list; for that school's inevitable lack of tradition and the unruly confusion caused by its collection of masters from a variety of schools with clashing traditions; and for the greatness, seconded by Kipling and others, of founding Headmaster Cormell Price. *** Dunsterville wrote of Kipling's portrayal of Dunsterville: "Stalky himself was never quite so clever as portrayed in the book. ... But he represents ... one of the prevailing spirits of this most untypical school." *** Of both George Beresford (the third inseparable member of STALKY & CO.) and Rudyard Kipling the author said: "Beresford and I had our fair share of brains, but Kipling had a good deal more than his fair share, and added to it the enormous asset of knowledge -- intuitive and acquired" (Ch. 1, 'Childhood'). *** I began STALKY'S REMINISCENCES for nothing more than Kipling. I continued reading for Dunsterville, for his humor, his avoidance of name dropping (not even wife and children are named) and for the author's impressive way of framing through humor and under-statement a long and distinguished career soldiering in the Indian Army. Dunsterville followed in the steps of his grandfather (who served in the East India Company's formations) and father, both Major-Generals in the Indian Army. *** From STALKY'S REMINISCENCES I learned that Queen Victoria studied Urdu to communicate with her beloved Indian domestics and guards (Ch. 6, 'The Die-Hards'). A prodigious linguist (11 certified languages under his belt), Lionel Dunsterville is worth listening to on what makes a language unique: "Every language has its own peculiar little song in quarters of semi-tones; and correct grammar, idiom, and pronunuciation help one very little towards perfection if one has not caught the song" (Ch. 10, 'Germany and Russia'). Running an allied railroad line near Peking during the Boxer Rebellion, Dunsterville cleverly foiled without violence a German attempt to annex a small British plot of ground near the railroad station. "The matter got as far as being mentioned in Reuter's telegrams, and THE MORNING POST of Delhi referred to it under the heading 'Stalky Holds Up The Germans'" (Ch. 13, 'Railway Work'). *** STALKY'S REMINISCENCES is a minor classic of low-key humor and depiction of very human Britons, East Indians and others in times of war and peace. No wonder the book has recently been reprinted. -OOO-
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Details
- Bookseller
- AJ Scruffles (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 007675
- Title
- Stalky's Reminiscences
- Author
- L. C. Dunsterville
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Jonathan Cape
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1930
- Keywords
- biography, india, british empire, school, military, empire, private school,
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
AJ Scruffles
Biblio member since 2010
Leigh-On-Sea, Essex
About AJ Scruffles
AJ Scruffles is an online bookseller, based between Epping and Harlow. Our website also hosts an online magazine with reviews, articles and humour
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- FFEP
- A common abbreviation for Front Free End Paper. Generally, it is the first page of a book and is part of a single sheet that...