Welcoming an old friend

The cover is a still from the film Waterloo which, despite my enthusiasm for the campaign I did not get to see until came out on Video. I have NEVER seen this film on the big screen! The picture is also of the softback version.

I have often mentioned my fondness for the 1815 Waterloo campaign and how my interest - despite a lull in the early 1980s - has by and large stayed with me since the early 1970s. I have amassed a modest library devoted to various aspects of the campaign and represents a selection of titles both old and new. I will post later about the contents of the library but for now I wanted to share with you the latest arrival to the man cave in the shape of the book you see above.

Back in the early 1970s my Napoleonic interest was fueled by a combination of the 20mm Airfix plastic figures, A Near Run Thing by David Howarth and the Airfix Magazine Guide on the subject by Bruce Quarrie. I should also add in Charge and the two Funcken titles but for 1815 the book above was a godsend. My copy was a paperback version and to my knowledge I have gone through no less than three copies as it was notoriously badly bound and would disintegrate after repeated use. I knew there was a hardback version but my teenage finances would not run to the £4.50 - I would have rather purchased boxes of Airfix figures instead!

Ugo Pericoli was responsible for the uniforms for the film Waterloo and essentially the book is almost a guide to the battle with lots of full page uniform plates. It is rather like a Blandford title although I prefer this to their Uniforms of Waterloo - if only because the full colour plates are so inspiring. I was absolutely delighted to have secured a hardback version of this book and so the early section of my 1815 library is now complete.