Essential Militaria by Nicholas Hobbes

Essential Militaria by Nicholas Hobbes was published in London in 2003 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Grove Atlantic Ltd.

It is a compact hardcover bound in black cloth with silver lettering on the spine, issued in a pale grey dust jacket illustrated with engravings of a suit of armour and a field gun.

Essential Militaria is a miscellany of military facts and curiosities drawn from warfare through the ages.

The jacket highlights the complete Wars of the Roses, the greatest generals of all time, the costliest military blunders and Napoleon’s medical problems.

The pages are illustrated with period-style engravings of arms and armour, and the text includes quoted material from Siegfried Sassoon’s poem “The General” and an excerpt from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.

Written in the spirit of the popular miscellany books of the early 2000s, Essential Militaria is meant to be dipped into rather than read cover to cover.

It mixes serious history with the odd and the irreverent, which makes it equally good for a quick browse or for settling an argument about a battle or a commander.

Essential Militaria will suit military history enthusiasts, quiz and trivia lovers, and anyone looking for a well-made gift for a reader with an interest in battles, generals and the stranger corners of military life.

Condition – Near Fine

A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket, with no notable defects. The black cloth boards are clean, the silver spine lettering is bright and the binding is firm.

The dust jacket is clean and complete. The pages are clean, with no inscriptions or markings noted.