Simonds, Frank H. History of the World War (5 volume set). Garden City: Published for The Review of Reviews, by Doubleday Page & Company, 1917-1920. First Editions. [11765]
Blue cloth bindings decorated in blind & gilt, each 10 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches, top page edges gilt, bindings with light soil and slight shelf-wear. Art deco end papers with biplane and dirigible. xlix, 393; xxiii, 418; xxvi, 408; xxi, 414; xv, 422 clean pp. Color frontispieces, b/w text illustrations. Vol. III. with torn hinges; we reinforced them with pH neutral binder's paste. 1980's black ink date stamp on the final free end paper; previous owner's name stamped in blind to the ffep. Good. Hardcover.
A history begun while the war was still ongoing. An essential set for the student of WWI.
Frank Herbert Simonds (1878-1936), b. Concord, Massachusetts; d. Washington, DC. He was a private in the Spanish-American War, a Harvard graduate, and a journalist with several newspapers before becoming the editor of the New York Evening Sun in 1913. From 1915 to 1918 he was associate editor of the Tribune. He had for years been an avid reader of military history before the advent of WWI, and he threw himself into reporting on the war for his readers.
"[Simonds] strove to be scrupulously honest, and his columns for the Sun and later for the Tribune did much to clarify for readers the confusing news from Europe. His five-volume History of the World War (1917-20) was widely read." - prabook online.
"The Great War gave him his great opportunity. As he followed it day by day, thousands followed him. He made it vivid and as clear as the confused situation on many fronts and the information or misinformation that came through the sieve of censorship permitted. The career determined for him by events he pursued with unflagging curiosity, energy, and intelligence." - New York Times obituary, January 24, 1936. (11765) $65.00
