MORRIS, Alan. Bloody April. London: Jarrolds, 1967.
First edition, first impression. A specially bound copy for Marshal of the Royal Air Force Viscount Portal of Hungerford, who contributes the foreword. Bound in RAF colours by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London, in dark blue half morocco over pale blue cloth boards, with raised bands, gilt spine lettering, and blue endpapers. The original text was set in Plantin, printed in Great Britain, and bound for the ordinary edition by Anchor Press; this copy has been elevated into a bespoke presentation-style binding.
A powerful association copy of Morris’s account of “Bloody April,” the disastrous air fighting over Arras in April 1917, when the Royal Flying Corps suffered grievous losses against the German air service. Portal’s connection is unusually direct. Before he became Churchill’s wartime Chief of the Air Staff and one of the central architects of Allied air power, Portal had himself served in the First World War as an RFC pilot and later as a squadron commander. His foreword gives the book both authority and memory, describing the story as one that would “evoke poignant memories” in those still living who had been there.
The subject clearly mattered to Portal. In the foreword, he presents the RFC airmen of 1917 as men ordered into battle with inferior machines, yet whose courage helped build the foundations of the Royal Air Force. This is therefore not simply a history of First World War aviation, but a volume looking back to the ordeal from which British air power was formed, preserved in a special binding for one of the RAF’s greatest later commanders.
Condition is very good. The binding is handsome and bright, with only light rubbing and minor handling. Internally clean, fresh and well preserved. A distinctive RAF high-command copy, visually striking and historically resonant.
