Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses.
Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1917. Pocket Edition for the Trenches. Hardcover. Inscribed by Paterson to Kermit Roosevelt, son of Theodore Roosevelt. The inscription reads: "To Kermit Roosevelt with best wishes of the author A B Paterson "The Banjo" Major Australian Remounts Egypt 10/6/18". Kermit Roosevelt was the 2nd son of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the US, who had joined the British Army before the United States had entered WWI.
"Roosevelt joined the British Army to fight in the Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) theater of World War I. He was attached to the 14th Light Armoured Motor Battery of the Machine Gun Corps, but the British High Command decided they could not risk his life and so they made him an officer in charge of transport (Ford Model T cars). Within months of being posted to Mesopotamia, he mastered spoken as well as written Arabic and was often relied upon as a translator with the locals. He was awarded a Military Cross on August 26, 1918.
Roosevelt relinquished his British commission on April 28, 1918 was transferred to the AEF in France. In 1918, he learned that his youngest brother Quentin, a pilot, had been shot down over France and had been buried by the Germans with full military honors.
He was commissioned a captain in the United States Army on May 12, 1918 and commanded Battery C, 7th Artillery of the 1st Division. He participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive near the end of the war. He returned to the United States on March 25, 1919 and was discharged from the Army two days later." (Wikipedia)
Square 8vo, (4 3/4" square), (8), 171pp, with the errata slip inserted opposite the inscription detailing the different pocket editions, printed in red. Frontispiece, decorative title page by Hal Gye, decorative endpapers, the inscription written on the verso of the ffep. Publishers red cloth printed in black with circular design on front cover. A slim waterstain on the bottom margin of the text block margin and covers, with a couple of spatters on the spine. Otherwise a very bright copy. M&Mc p.374. Otherwise very good condition. Item #22926
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