Title: [Allies Bible in Khaki, 1914] Holy Bible ...
Publisher: Bryce, David & Son. Glasgow.
Publication Date: 1914
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition thus.
15, 876 printed pages. Additional title, "Four National Anthems [God Save the King, La Marseillaise, La Brabanconne, and Russian National Anthem]. Recessional, by Rudyard Kipling. Evening Prayer of a People, by Neil Munro". 28 full-page line-illustrations, reduced from designs by Charles Bell Birch, A.R.A. (1832-93). A reduced facsimile of the Oxford Nonpareil 16mo edition. All edges red. Original cream endpapers. 30 x 46 mm. Original khaki buckram (some light soiling; spine slightly twisted and gatherings minutely sprung out of perfect alignment; inner hinges cracked but firm). Holy Bible stamped in gilt on spine (faded). Original magnifier in a pocket at the back. Originally retailed for a shilling. This copy has been used and more likely than not, been taken to France or Belgium during the First world War. The hard-wearing dull coloured buckram was deliberately selected for camouflage and to last the length of a campaign - this miniature bible weighs one ounce and was perfectly sized to be carried in a soldier's pocket. The binding was not used on any other Bryce edition, to my knowledge. Bondy described the Allies Bible as much rarer than the other variants. Bondy, 110. Garbett, 22. Welsh, 564. OCLC, 84968988. WorldCat locates one copy worldwide (University of Cambridge). Seller Inventory # 5441