This off-beat autobiography of Arnold Leese was published in 1951.
Click here to go straight to the HTML version.
I had intended to scan and publish the entire book, but fortunately as you can see from the above, some kind person has already done it for me.
I have made a careful study of this, and it appears to be letter perfect. Nevertheless, I have added some actual scans below.
This file contains twelve pages scanned from two copies of the book as follows:
Page 1) The front cover – scanned in black and white here, this is actually red.
Page 3) The photograph of the author – the first photograph in the HTML version.
Pages 11-2) The Appendix – this was published initially as an anti-war leaflet, and appears at the very back of the book; leaving aside its obvious anti-Semitism, it is arguably the most sensible leaflet Captain Leese ever published.
The second copy of the book actually has a blue cover and is deficient the portrait photo of the author in later life. I don’t know why.
“OBTAINABLE ONLY” comes before ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. which comes before the PREFACE.
The layouts of the photographs differs. The photograph captioned “On the Bridge of the Ship of the Desert” appears on the plate before and immediately facing page 17; this is the bottom photograph. The top photograph is of the vultures feasting after a postmortem.
Regarding layouts, I have included a scan of page 10 and the facing plate – the Chingford Express photograph – so the reader can see for himself what I mean. Click here.
The photographs of Barry the dog and of Leese holding his cat Nandy appear on a plate immediately before and facing page 45: the dog at the top, the cat at the bottom. The photograph of Hamilton Beamish appears on a plate immediately before and facing page 69. I need write no more about this except to repeat that this HTML version is as faithful a reproduction of the original as possible short of an actual scan. It is also searchable.
A couple of final points, this book was definitely published in 1951 rather than circa, and the date of death of Captain Leese has been added by the publishers of the HTML edition, the date of birth as well, actually.
My Find-A-Grave entry for him can be found at this link.
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