THE IRISH GUARDS IN THE GREAT WAR: The First Battalion and The Second Battalion.

Two volumes. The first volume is the third printing, the second volume is a first printing of this illustrated reissue of Kipling's 1923 work. Original red (Vol. I) and green (Vol. II) cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the illustrated dustwrappers. Illustrated map endpapers showing the itineraries of the first and second battalions of the Irish Guards. A very near fine set, the bindings square and firm, the cloth and gilt sharp, the contents clean throughout. In the unclipped dustwrappers, fine except for a touch of fading to the spine of Vol. II, both volumes priced £24.95 to their front flaps. An attractive set.

Kipling's ambitious regimental history of the Irish Guards, originally published in 1923, is an unusually personal work. In 1914, the author's son, John, then aged seventeen, volunteered for military service, and was rejected (he was under age and suffered from poor eyesight). The following year, through Kipling's friendship with Lord Roberts, Colonel-in-Chief of the Irish Guards, John gained a commission with the regiment, travelling to France where he was killed in the Battle of Loos (he was eighteen). Kipling was haunted by the loss for the rest of his life. When approached about writing a history of the Irish Guards "not on business terms but as a monument of his son's service", he spent over five years researching and writing the work. A substantial and vivid piece of historical scholarship, it is a neglected Kipling masterpiece. This generously illlustrated edition includes a foreword by George Webb, editor of The Kipling Journal, and a biographical sketch of John Kipling, reproduced from the Irish Guards Journal.