Between the Covers

Hardcover. Oblong quarto. String-tied blue leather album with "photographs" stamped in gilt on the front cover measuring 12" x 14" and housed in a brown cardboard box with some tears. A collection of 163 sepia toned photographs measuring between 2" x 3" and 4" x 6.5" affixed to stiff black paper all with extensive captions as well as newspaper clippings laid. The album and photographs are near fine or better with some remnants of tape on the first glassine page. Contained within are a large accumulation of photographs from a British soldier's year in Korea and Japan during the Korean war from 1953 until 1954. The album begins with photos from the 28 day boat journey on the troopship, the S.S. *Asturiasin* in February of 1953. These include images of the Suez Canal, Port Said, and the islands off Singapore before heading to Hong Kong and making their way to the war zone in Korea which opens with multiple pictures of British grave sites. Beginning his tour of duty at Hill 355 the photos show "a fire caused by an enemy shell burning near our H.Q.," "a 'defender of the faith': a centurion tank by our A.P.," "'fire': a 4-2" mortar of 'h top' in action." One group of pictures shows "an American ambulance blown off the road by an enemy shell." There are numerous images of the landscape including "no man's land" and various famous hills where major battles were fought including Gloster Hill. After the ceasefire the soldier traveled to Japan where he kept up his album starting with monuments in Miya Jima followed by the hot springs, bridges, temples, and mountains of Japan which are beautifully captured here. The British involvement in Korea tends to go largely unnoticed. Historian, Andrew Salmon said of the war effort, "‘British soldiers went into action at a week’s notice. Undermanned and under equipped, they lacked armor, artillery, transport and winter clothing. Yet in a barren, alien land, they undertook some of the war’s most critical missions..." A comprehensive account view into a British soldier's tour of duty near the end of the Korean war.

Item #395285