RICHARDS, Frank, & Robert Graves.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Old-Soldier Sahib. First edition, first impression, of the autobiographical prequel to Frank Richards's Great War memoir Old Soldiers Never Die (1933), silently co-written by his friend Robert Graves. This work details Richards's early years and Edwardian soldiering in India and Burma. "Vivid and proudly imperialist, it expressed his and his fellow soldiers' attitudes, including their dislike of Curzon, the viceroy of India, and Lady Curzon" (ODNB).Richards and Graves served together on the Western Front in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. In 1930, Richards began writing his memoirs and sent his manuscript to Graves for advice. Impressed at how the private's frank account related the experiences of a common soldier, Graves substantially edited and had Faber publish Old Soldiers Never Die to great success, leading to their further collaboration on Old-soldier Sahib."Graves attributed Richards's style to his signals training - vivid, cynical, and sometimes bawdy... Richards's books are unique as accounts by a socio-economically and educationally typical regular army private infantryman of Edwardian imperial soldiering and the western front. They are considered classics and have been repeatedly cited by military historians" (ODNB).

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