Description
A first edition, first printing of Alamein to Zem Zem by Keith Douglas, published by Editions Poetry London in 1946. A near fine copy free from internal inscriptions, the gilt titles to the red cloth spine with some tarnishing, rubbing to the spine tips, the grey paper bound front board with bumping to the upper edge, toning to the text block and internals. In a very good unclipped wrapper with chipping to the spine tips, chipping to the knuckles of the front and rear flap folds, toning and rubbing to the spine, a closed tear to the upper edge of the rear panel and two small closed tears to the lower edge, a small open tear to the lower edge of the front panel.
Alamein to Zem Zem by Keith Douglas was published posthumously in 1946, a vivid memoir of service as a tank officer during the North African campaign. Beginning around El Alamein and following the Eighth Army’s advance westward, it records battle with clarity, restraint and visual precision. Douglas avoids heroic sentiment, observing fear, destruction and death with a poet’s eye and a soldier’s detachment. Illustrated with drawings, it is considered a classic of Second World War prose writing.
