FIRST WORLD WAR and THE CHANNEL TUNNEL
Sir Arthur CONAN DOYLE. Great Britain And The Next War. Boston: Small, Maynard and Company, 1914.
8° (189 x 125mm). Half-title, title with publisher's device, note, 48pp. Original publisher's red paper over boards, the upper pictorial board blocked in black with title, design of 4 soldiers behind a gun with exploding gunfire, and in red on black, 'A reply to Bernhardi's "Germany and the next war"'. Provenance: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (armorial bookplate pasted inside upper cover). [With]: loosely inserted autograph letter signed from Conan Doyle to an unnamed recipient, Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex, April 24, 1913, one page, headed notepaper, 8vo.
CONAN DOYLE'S COPY OF THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, IN FINE CONDITION, WITH A RELATED LETTER. Great Britain and the Next War, written in answer to General Friedrich von Bernhardi's description of German policies, was first published in the Fortnightly Review in February 1913 (vol. 93, pp.219-36). In it Conan Doyle warns England of the dangers of German policies and argues the need for a Channel tunnel, to safeguard supplies in the event of a submarine blockade. The accompanying letter was sent with a marked up copy of the Fortnightly Review, urging the recipient, 'I do hope you will read it for I am sure that if you do you will admit that it is because Europe is an armed camp that we must have the Channel Tunnel. We should be working at it day and night for it is our great insurance'. Conan Doyle felt himself vindicated on this point after the war (see The Wanderings of a Spiritualist, pp. 35-6). Green and Gibson B13.
[And]: The Channel Tunnel. Military Aspect of the Question. Important Address by Rt. Hon. Lord Sydenham of Combe, G.C.S.I.. House of Commons: Grand Committee Room No. 10, Monday 29th June, 1914. 8°, 36pp. Pinned to page 33 is a note in Lady (Jean) Conan Doyle's hand, 'note - how true my darling's prophecies were'. Pages 32-33 comprises the speech of Sir John Rolleston, M.P., in which he refers to Conan Doyle's article in The Strand Magazine of June 1914, and his call for a Channel Tunnel. (3)