The Cossack Post. Journal of B Squadron, Paget\'s Horse, De la Rey\'s Farm, Lichtenberg, Transvaal, February to May, 1901

Demy 8vo; original blue cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, and with gilt device to upper cover; pp. iv + (ii) + 189; line drawings in text. Edges rubbed; spine darkened and somewhat frayed at head and tail; bumps to corners of lower board; binding a bit slack; some foxing to endpapers and outer leaves. (Hackett, p. 162; SABIB I, p. 634) \'The following numbers of a paper, entitled \"The Cossack Post,\" and aspiring to be the \"Journal of \'B\' Squadron, Paget\'s Horse,\" were written chiefly during a sojourn of some five months at De la Rey\'s Farm, Lichtenburg, in the Western Transvaal. For this period we were cut off from all communication with the outside world, except by native \"runners\" from Mafeking, and not the least disagreeable result was the cessation of the newspaper and parcel mails, and a consequent total lack of reading matter. In fact, it was beastly dull. The Boers, of course, we had always with us - we saw them round us every day - but they seldom came near enough for conversation, and their attentions were confined mainly to sniping our pickets and keeping us awake at night. The Cossack Post came into existence to \"supply a long-felt want.\" It was written mostly in a violent hurry, under conditions which many people would be disposed to consider decidedly adverse, and with no thought of subsequent publication. Indeed, so ephemeral was its nature that some of the allusions could not now be explained, even by the writer. And its preservation at all is probably due to the fact that it was written in a book - a ledger - which was the only form of paper procurable. The absence of much reference to the war is explained by the circumstance that that was the last thing anyone desired to hear about. We had some exciting times, but it did not occur to us to describe them to ourselves.\' - From the Preface.