Always interesting...

[Mark F. Jenkins]

... when there's some sort of bookplate or library mark in a used book. One book I have on rockets and missiles is marked 'Redstone Armory, Huntsville AL', and I can't help but wonder what noted missile engineers may have handled it from time to time.

In this most recent case, as I'm cataloging and reshelving my book collection, I noticed in my copy of MacBride's Civil War Ironclads a owner's impression stamp reading Edwin H. Olmstead-- whom I recognized with a start as one of the authors of the classic The Big Guns, the invaluable reference work on Civil War heavy artillery pieces (also on my shelf).

 

[Old Soldier]

It's rather like the old GB Musketry and Infantry Training instruction booklets which always had the 'unit stamp' in them. There are those without any, as they could be bought by civilians in authorised bookshops too! Sometimes they can be found with NCO's names and numbers too. A real trip back in time.

 

[DixieRifles]

I paid $2 or less for "So Far From God" at a garage sale. In the front cover was a personal note signed bt the author John Eisenhower, the President's son.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I'm noting down all of the signed copies I have... a few more than I'd remembered. Doesn't necessarily make a book worth a fortune, but AFAIK it never *hurts* the value!

 

[DixieRifles]

BTW, John Eisenhower was a West Point Grad. He was signing the book as from one Lieutenant to another.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

...And I just found a book signed by Ed Bearss that I didn't know I had. I guess this re-cataloging is long-overdue!

 

[Lampasas Bill]

I was luck enough at Half Priced Books to get a first-edition copy of From Texas to Rome: A General's Journal by Fred L. Walker. Walker commanded the "T-Patch Division," the 36th Division Texas National Guard, from 1941 to 1944. He signed it "For Ken Nixon, 111th Engineers, Fred L. Walker." Nixon served under Walker in Italy.

 

[rebelatsea]

I picked up many years ago, a copy of the program for the 1937 Naval Review at Spithead. The centre fold is a pictorial map of the review lines, much to my surprise virtually every big ship has the signature of its' commanding officer nearby!