[BUCHAN, John (1875-1940)]. These For Remembrance, Privately Printed, 1919, 4to, [?]original boards. FIRST EDITION, ONE OF A SMALL UNSPECIFIED LIMITATION, PRESENTATION COPY.

[BUCHAN, John (1875-1940)].  These for Remembrance. [No place:] [Colophon:] "Privately Printed at the Riccardi Press Fount at the Chiswick Press by the Medici Society, Ltd.", 1919. 4to (230 x 160mm). Half title. [?]Original plain grey paper boards, uncut (lightly rubbed, with loss of letters to spine label, corners lightly bumped). FIRST EDITION, ONE OF A SMALL UNSPECIFIED LIMITATION, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by John Buchan on the front free endpaper, "[?]F. S. O. [?]l.l, J. B., June 1919." We have been unable to identify the recipient of the present copy from the initials in the inscription. The book contains poignant memoirs of six of the author's friends who were killed in the First World War, namely Thomas Arthur Nelson, Auberon Thomas Herbert, Cecil Rawling, Basil Temple Blackwood, John Stuart-Wortley and Raymond Asquith. Although no limitation is stated in the book, it is thought that only a small number of copies were printed of this first edition (which was not reprinted until 1987) including one for the author, and one each for the families of the subjects of the biographies. The author's preface, addressed to his four children, states: "... In these short chapters I have tried to set down how those friends of mine appeared to me ... I am convinced that few man have ever had more lovable, more brilliant, more generous, more gallant friends ... So I want  you to cherish the memory of the war because of the price that was paid for victory - victory for you. When you realize what riches of heart and mind, what abounding zest for life, what faithfulness and courage, were bartered for six feet of French or Flemish soil, you will come to think of those years as a consecrated stage in the procession of time. And when you read the great tales of other ages, you will not thrill to them the less for remembering that a still greater and more momentous drama was played while you were beginning life, and played by your father's friends." RARE. Blanchard A47 (not stating a limitation).