SIGNED, NUMBERED THE ELITE RHODESIAN SPECIAL AIR SERVICE DELUXE BOOK Vtg RARE

  

Rhodesia fought a grueling 15 year bush war against two insurgent groups, ZIPRA and ZANLA. Though small, her army was extremely professional, and was never defeated in the field.

The Rhodesian Special Air Service pioneered the "fireforce" tactic, which involved rapid reaction teams of paratroopers and helicopter borne infantry deploying within minutes to overwhelm the enemy once contact was made. Their numerous other impressive feats of arms have been of great interest to military historians for decades, leading Barbara Cole to write an authoritative reference book on the subject in 1984. The first edition of her classic work was a deluxe, leather bound, signed, and numbered series limited to 1500 copies, any surviving examples of which remain quite scarce today. This SIGNED, NUMBERED "THE ELITE: RHODESIAN SPECIAL AIR SERVICE" DELUXE BOOK is in good condition, with the upper middle and left portion of the inset SAS insignia at the upper front cover having chipped away long ago, some weakening and fragility to the binding, some scattered nicking, wrinkling, and separating to the edges of the slip case, and with some scattered age wear evident (ALL pictured). Otherwise, the book is in fine shape, with no other damage.

Most interestingly, it's a First Edition (published in 1984 by the South African firm Three Knights Publishing) signed by the author and numbered "1096" on the title page, boasts an elegant blue leather binding with the title and author in gilt lettering along the upper spine, and sports 443 gilt edge pages (plus a few more with the bibliography and index) full of descriptive text and black and white photographs pertaining to the Rhodesian Special Air Service before, during, and after the bush war. It features the original, matching blue leather bound slip case, retains the original gilt embellished "THE ELITE / SAS / RHODESIA" blue leather bound bookmark, and is a fine example of a very rare, original SIGNED, NUMBERED "THE ELITE: RHODESIAN SPECIAL AIR SERVICE" DELUXE BOOK. The item "SIGNED, NUMBERED THE ELITE RHODESIAN SPECIAL AIR SERVICE DELUXE BOOK Vtg RARE" is in sale since Tuesday, September 17, 2019. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Militaria\Vietnam (1961-75)\Original Period Items\Books". The seller is "abramsantiques" and is located in Claremont, California. This item can be shipped worldwide.