Walter had sent the chapter to one or two people to read over the
wireless portion. Sir Richard Glazebrook sent him some valuable notes.
“I have just got the proofs of Chapter V. I am an unnatural parent--I
yawn over them. But I could do something to them while I am in the
country and thus break the tedium of a holiday, if I might have the
Glazebrook notes.” He could not take--what he badly needed--a real
carefree holiday. “I am taking down Chapter VI for a week into the
country, where American and other visitors to Oxford can’t call on me
at 11 a.m. I hope to finish it.”
At last came the Preface.
“I am drafting a Preface. What is our office called?... The Preface, I
think, will be very brief, and will try to avoid the sin of prefaces,
which mostly speak with the voice of a hen when she has laid an egg....
Some civilians must be mentioned. C. G. Grey certainly, and I should
like your opinion on the others....”
The question of names in the Preface was debated. Wherever possible
they were instead acknowledged in the text.
“I enclose a draft Preface. Will you see what you think of it? It gets
into a flowing style before it ends, but the important thing is--does
it say all it ought to say?
“I am jolly glad to be relieved of the necessity of giving long lists
of helpers’ names. They only cumber a book, and are tombstones that are
read by none but the corpse.”
There were still a few outstanding questions. The index was one which
caused a certain amount of discussion. He was anxious not to have an
index for each volume. He contended that there must eventually be a
final index and that this could only be made by combining the indexes
from each volume which he thought was clumsy. So it was decided not to
have an index, but instead to have rather full summaries of each
chapter.
Another question that was debated was that of maps and illustrations.
He was all against a lot of illustrations. He thought they were
unnecessary for a good book and useless in a bad one. There was talk of
a large map of France to go into a pocket at the end of the book. Some
sort of a map was necessary to illustrate the chapter dealing with the
early days in France from Mons to Ypres. “I am still in favour of the
one page map wherever possible--and I hate the pocket business.
Map-makers care nothing about books. A book with a pocket is not a
book.... The chart-makers who are admirable want a book to help the
maps. I want maps to help the book. If stuff is good to read you don’t
break it off repeatedly to look up places on a map.” And the question
of type for the book, “Will you settle the type?” he wrote, “I am tired
of my own open-mindedness.” And then sending a specimen page from the
Clarendon Press, “This is the page, I think. I like the old-fashioned
uniform type--it does not depreciate quotations as the modern system of
mixed types or closer spacing does. If you agree, can we fix it up?”
Then came the death of General Sir David Henderson at Geneva and of
Air-Commodore Maitland in the R38. Emendations were made in the proofs.
“I have added a kind of summary on Henderson, rather bold I think, but
true and appreciative. I call him a white man which he was. If I can
find the time I will write an additional bit on Maitland to be added in