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TYRER, NICOLA: : THEY FOUGHT IN THE FIELDS.The Women's Land Army: The Story of a Forgotten Victory

LONDON.SINCLAIR-STEVENSON/an imprint of Reed International Books Ltd.,1996.

ISBN 1856195546.

UK,8vo HB+dw.dj,illustrated,1st edn.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj - absence of publisher's price - these are generally believed to be export edns,released before the trade issue or distribution in the country of its origin.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,colour photographic illustrated top 3/4s of front panel of dw/dj,lower 1/4 with a white background and capitalised RAF blue l lettered part-title, remainder of title with other black-lettering along with Foreword credit,and capitalised,pale blue-lettered author name; white background with lightly sunned/faded thumbnail repeated colour photograph detail from front panel to head of spine,similarly coloured+lettered but lightly faded part title and author name as front and publisher's b/w colophon to foot of same,rear panel with top 1/4 with colour photograph, remaining 3/4s of panel a white background with a pair of black-lettered quotes - one a Landgirl's,the other a farmer's.Negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners – no nicks,tears or splits present,both dw/dj panels with some minimal but superficial scoring/indents but with no penetration to boards beneath.Top+fore-edges lightly toned but still clean without foxing/spotting or other blemishes; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread,other than my own collation.Publisher's bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original plain navy blue cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettered spine/backstrip,and publisher's immaculate repetitive b/w colophon illustrated endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,1-241pp [paginated] includes 20 chapters each with a b/w illustrated chapter headpiece and some chapters with potted biography of the then serving landgirls,illus with contemporary b/w photographs,b/w facsimile poster reproductions and contemporary b/w cartoons by assorted cartoonists interspersed over 32pp in 4 blocks of 8pp apiece throughout the text and the book,a Postscript,a select Bibliography with blank verso; plus [unpaginated] half-title,b/w thumbnail illustration illustrated title page with a dedication to its reverse,an epigram (from Lady Denham),also with blank verso, separate Contents & Illustrations lists/tables, Acknowledgements with blank reverse,and a facsimile Clarence House headed notepaper with typewritten foreword by the Queen Mother with Author's Note to its reverse.                    Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional,and particularly internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation for a book of its age.It is only the minor fault described that prevents a slightly overall higher grading. Despite that,it really is still an exceptional, exemplary copy for its cleanliness and brightness and lack of detracting faults.        They came from the cities: mill girls, machinists, shop assistants, typists, barmaids, milliners and manicurists - and when it cme to country life they were as green as the grass they found there.                                Their heroic mission: to feed a nation whose menfolk were away fighting for freedom on land,sea and air.Initially their efforts were met with scorn by a community famed for its conservatism: they were teased and humiliated, locked in with dangerous bulls,subjected to endless sexual innuendo.But before long the farmers were having to eat their words and acknowledge that the Women's Land Army was a rip-roaring success.                   By the spring of 1940,two million new acres had been broken to the plough.Not content with feeding hens and milking cows,women became ace mechanics; a thousand land girls volunteered as rat catchers; others drove giant excavators in vital land reclamation schemes,felled trees for pit props,ran mobile threshing gangs,and mastered the ancient art of thatching.            For many,what began as duty ended as a labour of love.Five thousand women stayed behind to work on the land after the WLA was disbanded in  November 1950.  Unforgivably,the contribution made by these young women to the successful outcome of the war has never been adequately acknowledged - it was largely due to their efforts that bread was not rationed.Churchill himself vetoed including the Land Army in the generous demobilisation grants available to other women's services,while thirty years after the war the WLA was refused permission to march in the Remembrance Day procession. The full story of the achievements of the Land Army of eighty thousand women has never been told.This book,which draws closely on the memories of many of them,is an attempt to change that.                                            The Women's Land Army [WLA] was originally a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during  WW1 to bring women into work in agriculture,replacing men called up to the military.Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls.The Land Army placed women with farms that needed workers,the farmers being their employers.The women picked crops and did all the jobs that the men had done.It was disbanded in 1919 but revived in June 1939 under the same name to again organise women to replace workers called up to the military during WW2.                    In April 1939,peacetime conscription was introduced for the first ever in British history,which led to shortages of workers on the farms.To grow more food,more help was needed on the farms and so the government restarted the Women's Land Army in July 1939.Though under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (derisively called the Ministry of Agg,for its unprecedented absolute powers and it rules and regulations) it was given an honorary head – Lady Denman.At first it asked for volunteers,but then was supplemented by conscription,so that by 1944 it had over 80,000 members.A separate branch was set up in 1942 for forestry industry work,officially known as the Women's Timber Corps and with its members colloquially known as "Lumber Jills" – though this was disbanded in 1946. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,that stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE.  ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of any inexpensive book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated 1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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