[WWI] & [AUSTRALIA]

The Innocents Abroad,

PRINTED AT SEA

and the innocents at home. 8vo. Pink soft wrappers pictorially printed in blue, bound with two metal staples to spine, old horizontal fold with some wear along line on verso, spotting to wrappers, slight rusting to staples, discreet ink gift inscription over title on first page. Good plus. 8pp. Printed at Sea, [SS Port Nicholson], Nov-Dec, 1916.

£450.00

A rare piece of WWI Australian Naval ephemera - printed aboard the SS Port Nicholson, an Australian troopship with a 1000 man capacity. She was sunk by a German mine off the coast of Dunkirk the following year.

“This publication is unique amongst the literary productions of mankind in that it is the first that has been issued upon the good ship Port Nicholson […] We recognise that our pages contain many crudities, that our reading matter, for the most part, is above syntax and indifferent to dignity, and that our illustrations lack a certain artistic touch […] Sent back to Australia it will be to many a treasured memento of that transitory stage of all our military careers, when we merged from ordinary members of the Australian Imperial Force into full-fledged Anzacs”.

The content is a mix of light hearted notices, bon-mots, advertisements, brevities, suggestions, and one somber and sincere obituary for a Pte. Robert Singleton Cameron.

2 copies only on OCLC: Australian War Memorial and National Library of Australia.

Stock No.
229408