Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Somerset De Chair. The Silver Crescent. The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1943.
Price: US$82.45 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Printed and published by Christopher and Owen Rutter at the golden Cockerel Press, London in 14 pt. Perpetua type on Arnold's mould-made papers, and finished on the 3rd day of September, 1943. The Edition is limited to 500 copies, of which numbers 1-30 are bound in full morocco, numbers 31-500 in quarter morocco. This copy is number 50 .Bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe.Blue/Black morocco spine with raised bands and gilt lettering and cockerel motif with white linen boards. Top edge gilt. 127 pages, Maps on the endpapers from the author's sketch-maps of the Levant-Caspian Front, showing the route of Brigadier Kingstone's Column from Baghdad to Palmyra in June 1941. Illustrated with photographs. 8 X 10 inches. A good copy with small hole caused by insect damage on one side of the spine, some marking to the cloth from cup marks. Inside all very good and sound throughout no foxing .
Seller: Jacques Gander, Fairford, United Kingdom
De Chair (Somerset). THE SILVER CRESCENT. The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1943.
Price: US$128.83 + shipping
Description: LIMITED EDITION NUMBER 323 OF 500 COPIES, 126pp, limitation page, endpapers illustrated with a map of the middle east, illustrated with black & white photos, top edge gilt, illustrated book plate to reverse of front free endpaper, original blue morocco spine and cream cloth boards, banded spine with gilt lettering, a little faded. Cockalorum 157. Size: 10 x 7.75 Inches
Seller: Old Hall Bookshop, ABA ILAB PBFA BA, Brackley, United Kingdom
Price: US$132.59 + shipping
Description: Very good copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth. Spine bands and panel edges somewhat rubbed and dust-toned as with age. Remains quite well-preserved overall: tight, bright, clean and strong. Quarter leather. Limited edition: #91/500. Finely bound. Physical description; 126, [2] p., [4] leaves of plates : ill., front., ports., facsims. ; 26 cm. Subjects; World War, 1939-1945 Personal narratives, British. World War, 1939-1945 Iraq. World War, 1939-1945 Syria. 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: 4to. 126p., [i]. Quarter blue morocco & cream cloth, spines lettered in gilt, raised bands, top edge gilt. Bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Spine slightly faded. His reminiscences of his time as an intelligence officer with the 4th Cavalry Brigade during Anglo-Iraqi War and the Syrian Campaign. Number 366 of 500.
Seller: Bartleby's Books, ABAA, Chevy Chase, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$154.00 + shipping
Description: Very good copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth. Spine bands and panel edges somewhat rubbed and dust-toned as with age. Remains quite well-preserved overall: tight, bright, clean and strong. Quarter leather. Limited edition: #91/500. Finely bound. Physical description; 126, [2] p., [4] leaves of plates : ill., front., ports., facsims. ; 26 cm. Subjects; World War, 1939-1945 Personal narratives, British. World War, 1939-1945 Iraq. World War, 1939-1945 Syria. 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
IRAQ. DE CHAIR, Somerset.. The Silver Crescent.. The Golden Cockerel Press, London., 1943.
Price: US$225.45 + shipping
Description: First edition. Published by Permission of the War Office. Royal octavo. 127 pages. Photographs; endpaper map of the Levant-Caspian Front by the author. One of 500 numbered copies. Quarter blue morocco, raised bands, lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt. A sequel to The Golden Carpet, a description of the British occupation of Baghdad. Some tanning to endpapers from the binder's glue. Very good indeed.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Somerset de Chair. The Golden Carpet. The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1943.
Price: US$360.71 + shipping
Description: The first edition of this first-hand account of a World War II campaign in the desert, a signed edition, limited to five hundred copies. The first edition of this work, offering a personal account of a British desert campaign during World War II to relieve Habbaniya and capture Baghdad, and of the subsequent and equally vital campaign in Syria. The campaign saved Iraq from German domination. A remarkable first-hand account of the hardships of the desert war.By Somerset de Chair, published by permission of the War Office.An edition limited to five hundred copies, of which thirty are bound in full leather and the remainder in quarter morocco bindings. The present copy is bound in quarter morocco and numbered one hundred and seventeen. Signed by the author to the limitation page, dated 1943.Illustrated with a frontispiece, with maps to the endpapers. With a publisher's slip loosely inserted announcing the publication of a sequel. In the original publisher's quarter morocco binding over cloth covered boards. Externally very smart with only minor shelf wear and a minor sunning to the spine. The front board very slightly warped. Signed by the author to the limitation page. With a publisher's slip loosely inserted announcing the publication of a sequel, 'The Silver Crescent.' Internally, firmly bound. The pages are bright and clean. Illustrated with a frontispiece. Very Good Indeed
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Price: US$418.69 + shipping
Description: First edition. Small quarto. 128 pages. Frontispiece of a bronze bust of the author by Lanyi. Endpaper map of the Levant-Caspian Front by the author. Quarter green morocco, raised bands, lettered in gilt, cream linen boards. Top edge gilt. An account of the advance of the British Column from the Mediterranean to Baghdad, 1941. Also contains poems written during the advance. Laid in is the publisher's Announcement, a single sheet giving details of the sequel to this book, The Silver Crescent.One of 500 copies, this one being signed by the author, as well as Tessa de Chair (who worked as a model under the name Sylvia Shelly), Lord Bristol, Paul Getty, Francesca Ruspoli and Anna Zinkeisen. Under all the signatures on the limitation page the author has written, ''luncheon at Carlton Club 7 December 1967''. Quite a gathering.Spine a little rubbed and, as usual, faded. Covers a bit dusty and bowed. Very good.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$450.89 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Description: London: The Golden Cockerel Press, 1943. Single volume quarto. Full blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, titles gilt to spines, gilt edge-roll, single fillet gilt to the turn-ins, top edges gilt, the others uncut. In the white linen slipcase as issued. Spine sunned, board edges chipped and worn to the board in places, but overall very good. Photogravure portrait frontispiece and numerous similar illustrations to the text, the majority full-page, maps to the endpapers. First edition, signed edition limited of 300 copies of which just 30 were in the full binding as here, copy 9 of 30. Silver Crescent is signed at the rear of the volume. Somerset de Chair was Intelligence Officer with "Kingcol", a Flying Column of less than 1,500 men under the Command of Brigadier General Kingstone. This tiny force was sent from Palestine to Baghdad to deal with the effects of the "Golden Square" coup amongst pro-Nazi Iraqi Military Officers. Despite the air support extended to the Iraqis by the German and Italian air forces, the operation was a complete success, Baghdad falling on 30th May 1941, the books cover this and subsequent operations in Syria. Reviewed in the Spectator on the issue of the composite trade edition in 1944 as "a fascinating and well-told story in the tradition of T. E. Lawrence, and one worthy to take its place in the history of British soldiers' heroic campaigns in the Near East". Condition Report Externally Spine good condition sun faded slightly with the odd small nick to the leather see photos. Joints very good condition solid and strong. Corners fair to good condition worn through to the board and bumped. Boards good condition nice patina. Page edges very good condition. Slipcase slightly grubby and bumped to the corners. See above and photos. Internally Hinges very good condition solid. Front paste down very good condition maps. Front end paper very good condition maps. Title very good condition clean. Pages good condition. Binding good condition, solid. See photos Publisher: see above. Publication Date: 1943 Binding: Hardback
Seller: Louis88Books (Members of the PBFA), Andover, United Kingdom
De Chair, Somerset. THE SILVER CRESCENT. The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1943.
Price: US$604.62 + shipping
Description: Published by Permission of the War Office. Pp. 126+[2](colophon, verso blank), frontispiece portrait plus 8 plates and 3 text illustrations (2 full page), endpaper map printed in red & black; cr. 4to; qr. blue morocco, the spine lettered in gilt between raised bands, cream cloth boards, the spine faintly faded; t.e.g., others uncut; within plain card slipcase, edges worn and split; endpapers slightly offset, edges of leaves foxed; Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1943. Edition limited to 500 numbered copies on mould-made paper. Cockalorum l57. *War journal of an intelligence officer in the Near East; a sequel to The Golden Carpet.
Seller: Kay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Price: US$605.00 + shipping
Description: Number 18 of 30 specially bound copies, from an overall limitation 500 signed by the author; small 4to (250 x 185 mm.); photographic frontispiece and numerous illustrations, map endpapers; original full dark blue crushed morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, gilt-edged, spine lettered in gilt within raised bands, top edge gilt, others uncut, spine very slightly lightened, overall a very good copy. A specially-bound edition of these further memoirs of a brilliant World War II desert campaigner, recounting his experiences on the Levant-Caspian front.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Edition limited to 500 copies, of which numbers 1-30 are bound in full morocco; this is no. 25. 126 p. 26 cm. 14 b&w illustrations and the author's endpaper sketch-maps of the Levant-Caspian Front, showing the route of Brigadier Kingstone's Column from Baghdad to Palmyra in June 1941. Spine a little faded. The slightest of wear to lower edges. Somerset De Chair (1911-1995) was Intelligence Officer with "Kingcol," a Flying Column of fewer than 1,500 men under the command of Brig.-Gen. John Joseph Kingstone. This tiny force was sent from Palestine to Baghdad to deal with the effects of the "Golden Square" coup among pro-Nazi Iraqi military officers. Despite the air support extended to the Iraqis by the German and Italian air forces, the operation was a complete success for the British column, Baghdad falling on May 30, 1941. The author's poignant poem appears on a front leaf.
Seller: Attic Books (ABAC, ILAB), London, ON, Canada
De Chair, Somerset. THE GOLDEN CARPET. The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1943.
Price: US$806.16 + shipping
Description: Published by permission of the War Office. Pp. 128, frontispiece (reproduction of a bronze bust of the author by Lanyi), endpaper map; cr. 4to; qr. green morocco, spine lettered in gilt, cream art-canvas boards, faintly marked; t.e.g., others uncut; the endpapers a trifle offset, a little light foxing; The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1943. Edition limited to 500 numbered copies, on Arnold's mould-made paper. Pertelote 155. *Loosely inserted in this copy is the small broadside Golden Cockerel Press Announcement, describing The Golden Carpet and the forthcoming publication of its sequel, The Silver Crescent. The broadside, which features a floriated initial by Eric Gill, is very slightly foxed. Cock-a-Hoop LXXI. Also inserted is the small printed With Compliments slip of the Secretary R.A.F. Benevolent Fund, Hove, Sussex (which has been typed on); and a small newscutting (review of the book).
Seller: Kay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Somerset De Chair. The Silver Crescent; The Golden Carpet. The Golden Cockerel Press,, 1943.
Price: US$1602.09 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Published by The Golden Cockerel Press, 1943. Two Volumes. First editions, each in a signed edition limited to 300 copies of which 30 were in full leather binding. These copies are Nos. 27 and 26 respectively. 2 volumes, quarto. Full green and full blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, titles gilt to spines, gilt edge-roll, single fillet gilt to the turn-ins, top edges gilt, the others uncut. Each in the white linen slipcase as issued. Photogravure portrait frontispiece to each and numerous similar illustrations to the text and full-page maps to the endpapers. Both copies signed by Somerset De Chair. No further markings on either volume. De Chair was Intelligence Officer with "Kingcol", a Flying Column of less than 1,500 men under the Command of Brig.-Gen. Kingstone. This tiny force was sent from Palestine to Baghdad to deal with the effects of the "Golden Square" coup amongst pro-Nazi Iraqi military officers. Despite the air support extended to the Iraqis by the German and Italian air forces, the operation was a complete success, Baghdad falling on 30 May 1941; the books cover this and subsequent operations in Syria. The books were reviewed in the Spectator on the issue of the composite trade edition in 1944 as "a fascinating and well-told story in the tradition of T. E. Lawrence, and one worthy to take its place in the history of British soldiers' heroic campaigns in the Near East". Rare Collector's Items. Beautiful First Editions.
Seller: first editions, Dublin, Ireland