The Wipers Times - A Complete Facsimile of the Famous World War One Trench Newspaper

Peter Davies, London, 1973, Dustwrapper scruffy, mainly spine extremities, top and corners, which has been repaired.

Comprising The `New Church' Time, The Kemmel Times, The Somme Times, The B.E.F. Times and The Better Times. Early in 1916, Captain F.J. Roberts of the 12th Battalion. Sherwood Foresters discovered an old bombed-out printing-house just off the square at Ypres - or `Wipers' as the British soldiers called it. In spite of the difficulties, Roberts decided to use the press to publish a monthly newspaper for the 24th Division. On February 12, the first issue of The Wipers Times appeared and was an instantaneous success. Then, just after the second was published, the Germans `found' the works with another bomb. Roberts then found another press at `Hell Fire Corner and resumed publication. As the Division moved, so did the press, and the paper was produced in various sectors of the Western Front until December 1928. The paper parodied all the incidents of daily life on the Western Front with `special effects' by literary stars of the Division, such as Gilbert Frankau. There was a wide variety of grim satire, humorous `serials' taking off the popular writers of the day and many comic `advertisements.' Here was a spontaneous chronicle of life in the trenches which vividly demonstrated the comradeship, cheerfulness and humanity that prevailed in the face of unspeakable horrors...