Purnell's History of the First World War

Many of the articles in this 128 magazine series were written by the likes of Basil Liddell Hart, John Terraine and John Keegan. These pieces give us a fascinating glimpse of the 'top end' thinking about the Great War that was prevalent 50 years after the Armistice. We are now of course (alarmingly) more than 50 years on from the publication of this magazine and since publication, many new archives, collections, and material have been opened up.

Indeed, the 'revisionist' work that commenced in the 1960s has gathered momentum in the following years and has transformed and shifted the direction of First World War Studies. These magazines were published at the very start of this process and are therefore perhaps somewhat dated in terms of current thinking. 

Nevertheless, we believe that these are interesting and give an insight into the war and - as long as they are read with the above caveats in mind - may well be of great interest to members. 

The magazines were priced initially at 4 shillings each. At the end of the production run they were priced at 25 pence (in today's money that would be about £3 per magazine). The editor, Barrie Pitt had been involved - along with the WFA's (now deceased) Presidents John Terraine and Correlli Barnett - in the production of the landmark BBC TV series 'The Great War', and our co-Patron, Prof Peter Simkins worked for Sir Basil Liddell Hart. 

Many of these magazines can be purchased as individual editions or small sets, but only rarely are full collections of all 128 editions found. It is a shame that this material is no longer available to a wide readership.

Efforts to trace the copyright owners have taken place, and it was found that Purnells became the British Printing Corporation (BPC) which itself was part of the Robert Maxwell group of companies. After further investigation it was discovered that Maxwell acquired the BPC in 1981 and changed its name first to the British Printing and Communication Corporation and then to the Maxwell Communications Corporation. The company was later sold in a management buyout known as Polestar. Polestar Purnell Ltd – which itself changed its name to Terminus 39 Ltd was subsequently dissolved.

Because efforts to track down the copyright owners have been unsuccessful, we believe that making these available to members (only) of The Western Front Association and only for private, personal research is a course of action that is reasonable. If any copyright holder wishes to make contact with us, please do so.

The magazines can be read via members' area.