Published by The Folio Society, London, 1962. The book is in very good condition with its original blue cloth and a silver gilt India Medal device to upper cover. The spine is lettered in silver gilt. Missing its slipcase, sold without one. The book is edited and introduced by Michael Edwardes.
 
This is the classic account of the Indian Mutiny, where William Forbes-Mitchell's account is a 'voice from the ranks', and a view of the campaign from below stairs. Most memoirs of the Mutiny were written by officers or civil officials anxious to justify their own position or to protect that of others. Forbes-Mitchell - an articulate, intelligent and canny sergeant in the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders - saw a great deal more than his position might have warranted.
 
His memoirs were not published until 1893, under the title of Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny, and his words still have the fresh smell of immediacy, and he certainly made no attempt to dramatise his story. Most of Forbes-Mitchell's story deals with the campaign in Oudh and it has, as its highlights, the second relief of the Residency at Lucknow and the final capture of the city. In between are the sorrows, the miseries, the hell of a soldier's life in the heat of the Indian summer. All summed up in the words of this dry and observant Scotsman, as well as his brisk no-nonsense appreciation, brings alive an almost forgotten episode in British imperial history with a reality that more weighty historical works can never achieve.