Item Details
M Richardson Rare Books
Towards Armageddon The Defence Problem and its Solution (Signed and dedicated to author's Mother)
DescriptionBeautifully preserved copy of this very scarce first edition. The dust jacket has only very minor edge wear and a touch of fading to the spine. See pictures. Not price clipped. The book is in very clean and fresh condition. Most importantly the book is inscribed to "Boney" Fuller's mother from the author and reads: "To Mother with love from the author, her son, John. 29.4.37. It is further later inscribed in light pencil by Fuller's brother, AWF Fuller who was famous in his own right, "AWF Fuller from Mother" then there is a further note/annotation from AWF Fuller commenting on how unworthy the comments in a newspaper article (laid in) were about his brother. In essence he defends his brother in the notes. This is a truely exceptional copy and an important piece of military history. Boney Fuller was at the forefront of armoured and tank warfare, when many around him were doubters of its capabilities. Some say that if the First WW had gone on another year the Boney would have been more famous than Montgomery later was due to the massive tank battle which was planned for 1919. J.F.C was also a colourful character because of his early dabblings in esoteric matters and the occult, particularly in his association with Aleister Crowley. Later he is said to have been a Nazi sympathizer and Oswald Moseley supporter in the 1930s. Part of a collection acquired from descendants of the Fuller family. The Oxford dictionary of Biogs has this to say about J.F.C. Fuller: Fuller thought of himself as a frustrated great commander and in the early 1920s as a reformer, but his true significance lay in his military thought. His reforming zeal was, in any case, blunted by the orthodoxy of the British army in the inter-war years-reflecting the 'safety' sought by successive governments. As a thinker Fuller sought to develop a system by which to evaluate ideas about war. His works were initially on subjects that were primarily of interest to soldiers, notably on the conduct of military operations; but later he extended his concepts to the relationship between war and society. These more ambitious and wide-ranging works, especially in the 1930s, attempted to define the character of the age in terms of its dynamism and political turmoil. Such an effort to divine the conditions of war, he believed, could help determine future policy. His political philosophy was unashamedly authoritarian and anti-democratic. Even though Fuller's flirtation with fascism blighted his career, his sympathies were by no means atypical as the fascist 'mood' influenced thinkers from a variety of political backgrounds. Despite his extravagances, limitations, and errors, J. F. C. Fuller ranks as one of the most significant thinkers of the twentieth century.
Price£1999.00
