Passport to Hell By Robyn Hyde. 1936, 1st ED, 6th impression, EXTREMELY SCARCE.

Passport to Hell By Robyn Hyde.

Publisher: Hurst & Blackett, 1936, FIRST EDITION, 6th impression. (Printed the same year as the first impression.) EXTREMELY SCARCE.

Good hardback, no jacket. Red cloth boards with black titles. Some marks, fraying, bumping and creasing to covers. No inscriptions. Binding firm. There doesn't appear to be any tears but pages are quite foxed. Slight lean to spine.

Passport to Hell is the story of James Douglas Stark--Starkie--and his war. Journalist and novelist Robin Hyde came across Starkie while reporting in Mt Eden Gaol in the 1930s and immediately knew she had to write his 'queer true terrible story'. The result was greeted by John A. Lee, war veteran, author and politician, as 'the most important New Zealand war book yet published'. Hyde took the raw horrors, respites and reversals of Starkie's experiences and composed a work of literature much greater than a mere documentary of war. She portrays a man looting a dead man's money-belt and filching beer from the Tommies; attempting to shoot a sergeant in a haze of absinthe, yet carrying his wounded captain back across No Man's Land; a man recommended for the V.C. and honoured for his bravery - but also subject to nine courts martial. In its psychological acuity and emotional depth, Passport to Hell is one of the finest war books we have. Starkie served with The Otago Infantry Battalion, New Zealand. 22nd Feb 2022 will be the 80th anniversary of his death.