Word came over the news wires a few weeks back that the last combat veteran of World War I has died. Claude Choules joined the British Navy at the age of 16, serving for a year before the war ended. He later moved to Australia, where he spent most of his life. Choules was 110 years old.
There remains one surviving veteran, 110-year-old Florence Green of England, but she was involved in food preparation, not combat. The last American veteran, Frank Buckles, died earlier this year.
Choules was reportedly a good-natured man. His secret to long life was to "keep breathing." He also recommended cod liver oil, though having to consume that for 110 years sounds like a fate worse than death. His daughter commented, "It's going to be sad to think of him not being here any longer, but that's the way things go." The daughter is 84 years old.
Despite being a humorous man, Claude Choules had a serious side. He became something of a pacifist, and refused to participate in parades celebrating military service. "He didn't believe in war," his daughter said. One can understand the attitude. After all, the First World War was "the war to end all wars." It didn't turn out that way.
This may not sound like a story for a book site. Oh, there is one obvious connection. Choules was an author. He wrote an autobiography, The Last of the Last, published when he was a mere 108. I have no proof of this, but I think he must have been the oldest person to publish his first book. He recalls when the first automobile drove through his town, and when cigarettes were a penny a pack. However, there is another connection between Choules and the printed word. No, the last book has not yet passed on, though the role of the printed word is fading, being replaced by a new generation of technology. The more apt connection to the older technology is that Mr. Choules' war was the last to be brought home primarily by the printed word. A generation of technology, like that generation of soldiers, has been replaced.
In the nineteen-teens, news of the war reached people through newspapers and books. Our record of that conflict is found almost entirely in printed words. Sure there are photographs, but those offer no words of explanation. There are some grainy black and white soundless movies, a few with captions, and perhaps some people saw these in newsreels at the theater. You might think people were glued to their radios to hear the latest news, but radio broadcasting did not begin until 1920. Mr. Choules went off to war at the apex of the printed word.
By the Second World War, people were still getting much of their news from newspapers, but the most recent news flashes were now coming to them via radio. Newsreels with sound brought vivid images to their theater screens. By the Korean War, many homes had televisions. The Vietnam War became the first war, quite literally, "broadcast into America's living rooms." Newspaper circulation was declining. People watched the evening news, not the evening newspaper. Now, the seemingly endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq reach people through television and the internet. Newspapers, fading away, are barely relevant as they publish yesterday's news to a generation that wants to know what is happening now. We see, hear, and read off of electronic screens. Paper and print are virtually irrelevant to news. Many newspapers will soon join Mr. Choules as pleasant memories of days gone by.
However, the printed word remains the primary source of collectible information from that age. I have no idea what people will collect should they ever collect the current wars. Most information was generated in electronic impulses, ephemeral but not collectible ephemera. However, for those who want to collect the First World War, and all of those previous conflicts through contemporary material, printed works will always be the primary source. All wars have their ephemera, but the news of those battles, and everything else that went on in the world from 1455 to around 1920, came via the printed word. Old books and printed works will always hold a place for those interested in those times, even if it is unclear what their relationship will be to events taking place in the world today.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE Le Neptune Oriental
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSAS Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSINI DE THURY Carte générale et particulière de la France.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: JOUY; GARNERAY Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LA PÉROUSE Voyage autour du monde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LICENT Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY Panorama d’Athènes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PEETERS Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PÉRON; FREYCINET Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: STACKELBERG La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: VALENTINER Atlas des Sonnensystems.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
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Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
Freeman’s | Hindman Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana November 14
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.