Raiders of the Deep – Lowell Thomas – First UK Edition, 1929 – First World War U-Boats

Author: Lowell Thomas
Title: Raiders of the Deep
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd., London
Date: 1929
Edition: First UK Edition
Format: Octavo
Pagination: xi, 363pp
Illustrations: Black-and-White Photographic Plates
Binding: Original Publisher’s Blue Cloth, Gilt Lettering to Spine
Condition: Very Good
Stock Number: 004215
Location: Bookroom

Description

A very good copy of the first UK edition of Lowell Thomas’s Raiders of the Deep, published by William Heinemann in 1929, an extensively illustrated account of German submarine warfare during the First World War.

The work had first appeared in the United States in 1928 through Doubleday, Doran & Company, with the British Heinemann edition following the next year.

Thomas’s narrative ranges across the development and operations of the German U-boat arm during the war, combining accounts of submarine commanders, individual actions, sinkings, patrols and escapes with photographs and anecdotal material. The contents include episodes involving early German submarines, operations against Russian and British targets, the sinking of major warships, encounters with Q-ships, the Dover Patrol and the later expansion of submarine warfare into the Atlantic.

A good example of an accessible inter-war account of the German U-boat campaign, written for a broad contemporary readership only a decade after the end of the First World War.

Lowell Thomas

Lowell Thomas (1892–1981) was an American journalist, broadcaster, lecturer and author whose career was built around popularising contemporary history, travel and military subjects for a mass audience.

He became internationally famous through his lectures and presentations on T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt, helping to create the popular image of “Lawrence of Arabia”. His later work ranged widely across exploration, aviation, war reporting and biography. Thomas had a particular talent for combining documentary material with a strongly narrative style. Raiders of the Deep reflects that approach: rather than presenting a purely technical history of submarine warfare, he reconstructs the personalities, dangers and dramatic episodes associated with the German U-boat campaign.

Condition

First UK Edition, 1929. Octavo. xi, 363pp. Original publisher’s blue cloth with gilt lettering to the spine. Illustrated with black-and-white photographic plates.

The binding is nice and tight, with minor rubbing, bumping, marks and creasing. The blue cloth remains attractive overall and the gilt spine lettering is clear. There is occasional slight foxing, but the pages and illustrations are generally nice and clean.The book is in very good condition overall. Now housed in an easily removable clear acetate cover.

A good and attractive copy of the 1929 first UK edition of Lowell Thomas’s important inter-war account of German U-boat warfare during the First World War.

Stock Number: 004215

Location: Bookroom

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