Eleven issues of 'O.B.C. (Old Boys' Corps) Magazine'. With sheet music of the 'Double-Double Cold Platoon. A Dolorous Dittie' , written by 'Blank File', composed by 'Left Incline'. Also two loose plans of 'Wembley Camp' and north and south district.

Publication details: 
'Printed and Published (for the Old Boys' Corps) by JOHN PROCTOR, at 33, 34, & 35, Fish Street Hill in the City of London.' Between 1914 and 1916.
£450.00
SKU: 12030

The eleven issues are: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15. Each issue is 32pp., small 4to, with a further 4pp. of plates on two leaves, and numerous illustrations in text. The last six issues, from no.7 (June 1915) to no. 15 (June to October 1916) are in fair condition, in their original worn printed wraps; the first five are in poorer condition, with issues 1 and 2 lacking wraps and with stained outer pages, and issue 3 with the covers loose and separated from one another; in addition, issue 2 has a jagged closed tear to the first leaf. The sheet music, like the plates on art paper, is 3pp., in a 4to bifolium. On front page: 'Dedicated to the Veterans of "D" Company'. It is loosely inserted into issue no. 5 (April 1915), the 'Editorial Notes' to which (p.160) contain the following explanation: '"The Idyll of 'D' Company," has been kindly set to music by an expert in that Company, and thanks to his generosity we are able to present a copy of the result free to postal subscribers only. A strictly limited number of copies are on sale and may be obtained in the canteen, price 3d.; or post free of the Editor, 4d.' Issue no. 9 (August 1915) contains the loose plan of 'Wembley Camp & District to the South', 1p., 8vo; and issue no. 12 (December 1915) carries the loose 'Wembley Camp & District to the North. O.B.C. Magazine Special Supplement', 1p., 4to. The editor's 'Foreword' to the first issue explains that the O.B.C. is a 'spare time' Corps of men who give up every available hour in order to learn to drill and shoot [...] We have in our ranks a number of England's leading black-and-white artists, but these men are not now sitting in their quiet studios thinking our artistic problems at their leisure; [...] We have well-known writers too, but their writing-tables at home are extraordinarily tidy, [...] And we have publishers, and a poet or two, and so on, all equally keen on learning something that they never dreamed of three months ago. [...] This is to be a Corps Magazine, and we want our own family gossip, paragraphs from the Companies, notes from the platoons, and so on. Such and all sorts of contributions are cordially invited.' It also contains an article titled 'O.B.C. Record. i. How the Corps came into Being. By Its Founder.' The 'Organisation Notes' on p.27 make clear the nature of the Battalion: 'Introducing Members. - The right of introducing as members friends who have not attended a recognised Public School or University is limited to members of the Corps who are themselves old Public School or University men.' The magazine contains poems, cartoons and serious articles by a number of contributors (Vachell Philpot; S. Arnold Marples; Col. S. G. Grant; A. A. Sykes; 'S. T.'; 'Simplex'; 'Puttees'; Capt. A. M. R. Bingham; Alfred W. Clifford; J. F. Leacroft; James Fraser Pigott; E. L. Bing; 'Wild Cat'), with the tone increasing in seriousness as the First World War proceeds.