Demy 8vo; original blue cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, and with gilt crest to upper cover; dustwrapper; pp. xix + (i) + 355, incl. index; folding maps; some plates. Dustwrapper (a remarkable survival) sunned and edgeworn, with trace of soiling to lower panel; corners very slightly bumped; earlier owner\'s signed name and discreet book label to front pastedown; some spotting. Very good condition. \"This is a Journal, written day by day and kept throughout the Peninsular War. The writer, Lt.-Col. D\'Urban, landed with Sir David Baird\'s Army at Corunna, in October, 1808. Immediately sent on extensive reconnaissances, he throws interesting side lights on the famous Retreat of Sir John Moore. Subsequently he became Quartermaster-General of the Portuguese Army under Marshal Beresford, being transferred later to the command of a Brigade of Caçadores. He gives a detailed first-hand account of the eleven battles and sieges in which he personally took part, and of the delaying tactics of the Duke of Wellington, luring Masséna to the Lines of Torres Vedra. The Journal is therefore an illuminating guide to the study of the campaign which played such an important part in the final overthrow of Napoleon. Sir Benjamin D\'Urban\'s eminent services were rewarded with Governorships in the West Indies, British Guiana and the Cape. He died in Montreal, where he was Commander of the British Forces in Canada, just after he had suppressed the Montreal Riots in 1849.\"
- Sold By: Christison Rare Books
- Contact Person: Lindsay Christison
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 073 290 2830 / 041 371 4844
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