[ 'Purnell's History of the Second World War.' ] Folder of material gathered by editor Barrie Pitt, mainly consisting of typescripts of signed translations from Italian by H. Fields, but also containing a typewritten paper on the Special Boat Service

Despite the name, the series was published by was published by Phoebus Publishing Ltd, in co-operation with the Imperial War Museum, from 1966. Sir Basil Liddell-Hart was first editor-in-chief, followed after his death by A. J. P. Taylor. The items in this collection are loosely inserted in a buff folder, with 'Sub-editing, Production | Illustrations, Art-work etc' in red ink on cover, under which, in black ink, the name 'Peter Dunbar'. Nine articles, together with nine notes and 'integrating notes' on various articles, all translated by H. Fields, totalling 88pp., 8vo; each of the eighteen items signed and dated by the translator to dates in 1968. The nine articles, the last five of which are by General Giuseppe Mancinelli, are: 'Alamein: A Glorious Defeat' (Issue 42); 'The Prompt Rejoinder by the Axis to the Allied Landing' (Issue 44)'; 'The Withdrawal of the Italo-German Army' (Issue 44); 'The Creation of the Army Group in Tunisia' (Issue 46); 'The Battle of Mareth - An Italian Point of View' by Mancinelli (Issue 48); 'The Abandonment of Tripolitania' by Mancinelli (Issue 48); 'The Battle of Akarit' by Mancinelli (Issue 49); 'The Battle of Enfidaville' by Mancinelli (Issue 50); 'The Cessation of Resistance in Africa' by Mancinelli (Issue 51). Accompanying Mancinelli's article on 'The Battle of Enfidaville' is a slip of paper with an unsigned autograph note by Pitt, ending 'Reading this long list of Italian victories makes one wonder why the Axis forces left N. Africa.' The anonymous typescript on the Special Boat Service is 9pp., 8vo. It gives no indication of date or place of writing. The first pages are numbered, but it is clearly part of longer piece. Also present in the folder are: part of a typed chronological table, describing 'Political and Strategic', 'Scientific and Technical', 'Artistic' and 'Social and Miscellaneous' factors during the Second World War, together with a typed page discussing 'The 1920s'; a typed 'Bibliography to accompany Sir John Smyth's article on the First Burma Campaign' (1p., 4to); a page of pencil notes, headed 'O. H.'; two pages of ink notes, the first headed 'Murphy' and the second 'Pinder'; and a photocopied section of a work titled 'An Infantry Officer with the Eighth Army'.