Zeppelins Over England Freiherr von Buttlar-Brandenfels first edition 1931

BUTTLAR-BRANDENFELS (Freiherr Horst Treusch von). Zeppelins Over England. Translated from the German by Huntley Paterson.
 
London, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1931.
 
8vo (210 × 145 mm), pp. 232, with 28 photographic illustrations including frontispiece portrait of the author in naval uniform. Original blue cloth, gilt-lettered spine; pictorial dust-wrapper showing Zeppelins over London illuminated by searchlights, priced 8/6 net. to inside flap. Light rubbing at head of spine and minor edgewear to wrapper, tears to top and bottom of front panel, and a tear to the bottom of the lower panel, small piece of tape and moderate foxing to the reverse of the jacket, fading of colour to the lettering on the wrapper spine, and paperclip mark to the last 3 or 4 pages. Otherwise a better than found very good copy.
 
First English edition of the contemporary memoirs of the German Naval Airship Division in the First World War. Freiherr Horst Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels (1888–1962), commander of L6 and L11, recounts Zeppelin raids over Britain, encounters with British aircraft, and the hazards of hydrogen flight—“a journey through hell”, as he recalls his lightning-ridden Channel crossing. His reminiscences capture both the audacity of early strategic bombing, long before the Luftwaffe revived the idea on a far greater scale.
 
A smart copy that is becoming rare to find in its dramatic dust wrapper.