Album of ink and watercolor drawings

[Woolwich, 1870. 10 ink and watercolor drawings of elevations and plans of fortifications, signed in a lettering hand; with 9 lithographs of classical fortifications &c. (some signed or initialled by Kitchener, with additions). 1 vols. Oblong 8vo. Leather and cloth over boards, upper cover stamped in gilt. Upper corners perished. Internally clean and fresh. 10 ink and watercolor drawings of elevations and plans of fortifications, signed in a lettering hand; with 9 lithographs of classical fortifications &c. (some signed or initialled by Kitchener, with additions). 1 vols. Oblong 8vo. Highly competent album of drawings of fortifications, mines, and elevations by the young Kitchener while a student at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Kitchener (1850-1916), born in Ireland to English parents and raised in Switzerland, spent "an undistinguished two years" at the Royal Military Academy. When he progressed to the School of Military Engineering, Chatham, he began to distinguish himself. He worked with the Palestine Exploration Fund and on the survey of Cyprus, and gained a reputation as a man who knew the Near East. "In 1884 he acted as an intelligence officer for the relief expedition sent to the Sudan to rescue Charles George Gordon; he continually pressed Wolseley, the commander of the expedition, to push forward more rapidly. Despite the expedition's failure to save Gordon, Kitchener emerged with credit and some fame." He was named sirdar or commander of the Egyptian army in 1892, and instituted needed reforms. Under his leadership, Anglo-Egyptian forces defeated the Mahdist armies in the Sudan in 1898, avenging Gordon's death and reconquering the country. Kitchener's administrative talents came to the fore in the South African War, where superior transportation and the policy of destroying farms and interning Boer civilians in concentration camps prevailed against the guerrilla tactics of the Boer forces. In his role as secretary of state for war in 1914, his advocacy of preparations for a long and global conflict defined British policy.

A choice item from early in the career of this larger than life and still controversial figure.