Two World War I Books, 1918 and 1922. These two World War I books are titled “In The Day of Battle, Poems of the Great War” and “The Blocking of Zeebrugge”. “In the Day of Battle” was edited by Carrie Ellen Holman and published by William Briggs in 1918, and it’s a third edition. The book was published to raise money for the King George and Queen Mary Maple Leaf Clubs, which were places for Canadian soldiers to go in London when they were on furlough during World War I, especially if they were on sick furlough, and it helped them take their minds off the worries of war for a while; the first club had 60 beds and provided food and shelter for the soldiers, and the book must have done its job because this was already the third edition of the book; the first edition was published in 1916. The book is 3/4 bound, with five raised bands, six gilt-ruled compartments with gilt lettering and the date on the spine, marbled covers and marbled endpapers, the title page, a page describing the purpose of the book - to raise money for the Maple Leaf Clubs - then a dedication page to the men and women who served in the Great War, a note to the Third edition by the author, a four-page Foreword, four pages of Contents, the text runs from page 13 to 224, and the top edge is gilt. The book is 8vo. and measures 7 5/8 x 5 1/4 in. wide and is in great condition. The binding is tight and the pages and text are clean, the gilt is bright, and there is just a tad of rubbing along the edges of the boards and at the tips. A great book of poems with a purposeful past and a message of care and safety, and there are only three copies offered for sale on the rare book website we use. The second book is titled The Blocking of Zeebrugge,” written by Captain A.F. B. Carpenter, V..C., R. N., with an Introduction by Admiral Earl Beatty. “V.C.” stands for the Victoria Cross and we believe that Captain Carpenter received the award when he served in the Royal Navy (“R.N.”); the book is illustrated and was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1922, and it is a first edition because there is a just a single date on the title and copyright pages and no other printings. The book details the history of the British fleet trying to contain and destroy German submarines during World War I, and blockading the submarine bases at Zeebrugge was vital to this effort. Otherwise Britain and the allies could have lost the war. Bruges-Zeebrugge was a Belgian port that was raided in April 1918 by the Royal Navy, with the hope of sinking obsolete ships in the port entrance to prevent German U-boats from leaving port; the U-boats were a threat to Allied control of the English Channel and the southern North Sea, but the wind changed and the smokescreen to cover English ships was blown offshore, and the English lost many lives after being exposed like that. The attack basically failed, and the ships to be scuttled were sunk in the wrong position and the port was obstructed for only a few days. The Germans removed two piers on the western bank of the canal and dredged a channel through the silt, and at high tide, U-boats could move along the new channel past the blocking ships. German submarines left port at a slower rate than before, but still managed to get to open sea to continue raids on British navy and merchant ships till the end of the the war. The Zeebrugge Raid was promoted by Allied propaganda as a British victory and eight Victoria Crosses were awarded, including one to Captain Carpenter, who was commander of the British ship Vindictive, but the raid was actually unsuccessful. The book has blue boards with orange lettering, blank endpapers, a half-title, an illustrated frontis depicting an assault on the concrete pier at the harbor entrance, then the title page, a three-page Introduction, a one-page message from Marshall Foch of France, who was commander of allied forces near the end of World War I, then more appreciations by other naval figures, a five-page Preface by the author (xv - xix), two pages of Contents, a two-page list of Illustrations, including maps, the text runs from page 3 to 267, then there’s a two-page Appendix and a six-page Index, for a total of 276 pages in the book. The book is 8vo. and measures 8 3/4 x almost 6 in. wide, and is in good condition. The binding is tight and the pages and text are pretty clean, with bumps and wear on the heel and crown of the spine, light rubbing at the tips, faint brown spots on the end- papers, the frontis, and title pages, a plate on page 55 is loose, and the rest of the book is in good condition. See Bill McBride’s “A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions” published by Bill McBride in West Hartford, Conn. #208.5 #1519