Macewen of Glasgow. A Recollection of the Chief

Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1957. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1957. Octavo, iv, 52 pages plus a frontispiece portrait. Cloth slightly flecked; endpapers expertly renewed; an excellent copy. A memoir of Sir William Macewen (1848-1924), former Regius Professor of Surgery at Glasgow University, by one of his students (the well-known 'Doctor among the Aborigines'). The author has inscribed and signed the title page, and amended one of his qualifications (from FRFPS to FRCS). A short autograph note on his letterhead, dated 12 October 1971, is loosely inserted: 'I hope this my first book will give you some pleasure. It was written from my heart'. A wonderful head-and-shoulders portrait photograph (180 × 125 mm) of Dr Charles Duguid (1884-1986) is also loosely inserted. (Dr Duguid was 87 when he wrote the short letter, so he can be forgiven for not remembering that more than half a century earlier he had pseudonymously published 'The Desert Trail. With the Light Horse through Sinai to Palestine. By Scotty's Brother'. The book was written in honour of 'Scotty', his brother William George Duguid, an original member of the 8th Light Horse Regiment at Gallipoli; he had transferred to the 3rd Light Horse when he was killed in action on 19 April 1917, near Aseifiyeh. The author's foreword recounts in pathetic detail the circumstances of his death. This classic war memoir went through four editions in less than six months.) [3 items].