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1911 BRITISH ARMY SERVICE CORPS MANUAL DETAILING
THE USE OF ANIMALS FOR TRANSPORTING THE ARMY – USE OF
HORSES, MULES, OXEN, CAMELS, ELEPHANTS & YAKS – SADDLES,
WAGONS: This 1911 printing of the manual for
the Army Service Corps – Training – Part III –
Transport, printed in London, by His Majesty’s
Stationary Office, details every aspect of transporting
the army at a time when animal transport was just beginning
to be augmented by the use vehicles powered by the
combustible engine.
While the text of the manual “mentions” mechanical
transport, the engine powered vehicles are not discussed
or shown in diagrams. The
totality of the manual’s content is concentrated on
animal powered transport, to include saddles, both
riding and pack, wagons, and the use of horses, mules,
ponies, camels, elephants, oxen, and yaks. In addition
to the detailed 253 page text, the manual also includes
numerous diagrams of the various saddles, harness and
wagons employed.
The average military collector
has never considered adding an elephant pack saddle to
his collection, however the detailed information contained in
this manual makes for an interesting study into the use
and deployment of a variety of beasts to support an army
stationed literally around the world. As you read
through this manual it is very easy to imagine one of
His Majesty’s Tommies, fresh from a quiet English
village, attempting to cope with a recalcitrant
elephant, and thinking that they never mentioned this at
the recruiting depot.
The condition of the manual
shows a little use on the hardboard covers, but the
binding is tight, all the pages and plates are intact.
The company who sold these manuals pasted lists of
additional volumes available from their inventory inside
the front and back covers and these flyers alone are of
a lighter paper and show more wear along the edges and a
couple of the pages of these advertising flyers are
loose, but the primary text is all intact and tight.
Overall, a great manual.
SOLD
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