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Hutchinson's Pictorial History


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I just went for my annual visit to a big charity book fair here in Sydney. I picked up a set of books called "Hutchinson's Pictorial History of the War". They are red hardback books, each one with about 5-600 b&w photos of WW2. Look to have been printed fairly contemporary with WW2.

Anybody come across these before? A quick Google shows me a few individual volumes turning up on Ebay and 2nd hand dealer sites. But it looks like I have snaffled a complete set.

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Sounds like something I have one volume of. The photos are kind of interesting although not too good graphically and a lot of them look retouched. One of these days I'll pull it out to check if it's the same author as yours and get back to you. ISTR the one I have just covers the first year or two of the war.

Michael

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Yeah looking around on the web seems that the volumes covering 1940 and 41 are much more common. And from my set they seem to have published more prolifically about the early years of the war. For example, there are about 9 volumes covering 1940, but only 2 for 1944 (though they're thicker).

It also seems as if the volumes are compilations of what was likely a weekly magazine at one stage.

Anyway it seems I have made a tidy profit. Single volumes are selling for about GBP10 or US$20 on ebay and the like. I have a complete set of 26 volumes and I paid AUS$50 for it.

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Okay, you tickled my curiosity sufficiently that I climbed up into the book loft and recovered my copy. It doesn't say anything about Hutchinson's. The full title is Pictorial History of the Second World War: A Photographic Record of All Theaters of Action Chronologically Arranged. No author or editor is listed anywhere that I could find in a casual thumb through, but the publisher is listed as WM. H. Wise and CO., INC., New York, 1944. It has a total of 512 numbered pages with typically two images per page plus explanatory captions.

As stated, the quality of the images is mostly second and third rate by modern standards. Some have obviously been heavily retouched and a few are outright drawings depicting important scenes that were not photographed. But most of the photos I have not seen elsewhere and some are downright interesting. I'm glad you brought this to my attention. I'll have to go through it again.

Michael

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