UK Services Editions 1943 - 1946

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

This is an interesting site that discusses the wartime paperback books produced for the troops fighting in the Second World War.

paperbackrevolution.wordpress.com/uk-services-editions/

"Around 30 million paperback books were produced as Services Editions for the UK Armed Services between 1943 and 1946, but now 75 years later they seem to have disappeared almost without trace. So far as I am aware there is no collection of them in any library, not even the British Library, the Bodleian or the Imperial War Museum, and there is no list of what exists, other than the incomplete checklists I have compiled, which are available at www.serviceseditions.com."

Anyone own copies of these, or seen them around?

(Not sure where to put this thread)

[dem bones]

Tom Tesarek contributed a fine article on these with mini-gallery to Pulp Horror 4, from which I scanned these. There were a load of them at the pulp fair one year, but can't remember the asking price. Hoping to make an ephemera fair before year's out, so will add them to expanding list of stuff to look out for.

[jamesdoig]

Aug 8, 2023 13:46:57 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

Anyone own copies of these, or seen them around?

I've got one, a mystery by Mary Reisner. I haven't read it, but with characters named Bunny and Serena it must be good:

[helrunar]

The format is unusual. I assume the size had to do with something that would fit as snugly as possible in a uniform pocket or a backpack. Or even netted to one's helmet (I think I've seen photos of men with a pack of cigarettes somehow clipped or netted onto the helmet).

Cool to see!

Hel.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Those books dem bones and jamesdoig kindly supplied photos of all seem to be the U.S. Armed Services Division series. I like the format.
The UK ones seem a more regular format.

www.serviceseditions.com/

www.serviceseditions.com/apps/photos/

According to the above site the publishers (and their editions) who contributed were:

Guild Services Editions

Collins Services Editions

Hutchinson Services Editions

Hutchinson Free Victory Gift editions

Penguin Services Editions

Methuen Services Editions

Hodder & Stoughton Services Yellow Jackets

Nicholson & Watson Services Editions

Hammond & Hammond Services Editions

There was also a Penguin Forces Book Club series, and a Penguin Prisoner of War editions.


These would be really interesting books to collect.

[samdawson]

They're the exact shape to fit into the breast pockets (where Tommies could carry personal items) of the 1937 battledress tunic used by British and Empire forces, and would have been designed that way deliberately. Definitely not for helmet use (you'll see field dressings tucked onto the MkIII 'turtle' helmet from 1944 on, but I'm sure cigarettes would not have been permitted; that, I think is a US thing from the Vietnam era). In WWI bibles were given out by church organisations, sometimes with a metal cover, to fit the breast pockets of the 1902 tunic (which were there to hold the soldier's paybook and personal items such as cigarettes and a wallet). The bibles were generally carried in the left pocket (erroneously seen as covering the heart). They generated considerable publicity when they stopped or deflected a bullet (if the bullet had lost force due to a ricochet or being near the end of its trajectory). Many soldiers in both wars kept a cigarette case in that pocket for that reason, and you'll find ones in museums with a bullet groove or dent in them.

[helrunar]

Thanks for all the info. I've heard the stories of a Bible stopping a bullet. From guys to whom it happened (a long time ago).

Military history isn't at all my forte so all of this is quite interesting to learn about.

Hel.

[jamesdoig]

Aug 9, 2023 10:58:12 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

These would be really interesting books to collect.

I agree. The horror/fantasy ones are quite expensive, but would be nice things to own.

[samdawson]

Aug 9, 2023 13:27:10 GMT helrunar said:

Thanks for all the info. I've heard the stories of a Bible stopping a bullet. From guys to whom it happened (a long time ago).

Military history isn't at all my forte so all of this is quite interesting to learn about.

Hel.

As a boy I remember a family friend who had a remarkable war record telling me about a fellow trooper just before the fall of France, who had had a bullet stopped by the possessions in his breast pocket. The chaplain heard about it and eagerly rushed to ask him, on parade, 'was it your bible that did it?' The soldier proudly pulled out the huge bullet-holed wadge of dirty French postcards he had been notorious for collecting since arriving there with the BEF in 1939

[helrunar]

That's a wonderful story, Sam.

Saved by the love and blessing of Holy Aphrodite. The chaplain may not have liked it, but I do.

cheers, Steve