LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3053, 14 April 1917, Page 13

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

The Anzac Book,

Written and illustrated in Gallipoli by the men of Anzac, and published for the benefit of patriotic funds connected with the Australian and New Zealand Array Corps, "The Anzac Book" (Cassell and Co., per_S. and W. Mackay) is a handsomely-produced quarto, the interesting and, attractive character of the literature and art included in which should make insistent appeal to book buyers! "Practically every word in it was written and every line drawn beneath the shelter of a water-proof sheet or a roof of sandbags, either in the trenches or at most well within the range of the oldest Turkish rifle, and under daily visitations 1 from the smallest Turkish fieldpiece." So runs one of the' opening sentences of the editorial introduction. Could any book, so produced, have a better claim to the support of the NewZealand, reading public? As for the contents they vary in subject from the tragic to -the broadly ..humorous. Pathos and comedy are constantly alternatingj but throughout each and every article runs a vein of that cheery patience with discomfort and danger, that splendid determination ,to do their duty, come weal come, woe, which nas ever characterised the Anzacs.;Many of the articles and stories reach a, high standard of literary merit, and the illustrations are uniformly excellent. An admirable feature is a series of. extracts from the dispatches of Sirlan Hamilton, entitled "The Story of Anzac." Some excellent panoramic photographs of the Peninsula will greatly, assist the reader in understanding the official account of the operations. '."Special Orders," issued on notable occasions, are also included. The humorous element is very prominent in. the book,, a copy of which should find an honoured place in every New. Zealand home. For some , time copies pf "The Anzac Book" were unobtainable in New Zealand, the earlier' supplies being rapidly exhausted. Even now very few are available, and those desirous of securing copies should do so without delay.