The IBSN system was devised in the mid-1960s. Before that time there was no uniform system of identification of books. Consequently, these older books cannot be added to the forum list of book reviews unless a reprint is reviewed.
Not long ago I came across such a book at a city book sale. The book is titled They Fought for the Sky by Quentin Reynolds. This paperback book, which cost me fifty cents, shows a lot of wear, indicating it passed through many hands. Yellow brittle pages fall loose when the book is opened. But I bought the book anyway to add to my collection because I recalled reading this book as a boy. It was this book, and others like it, that first arroused in me an interest in WW1 aircraft and the men who flew them. This book's narrative of those men and their machines, and the wonderful line drawings of single-seat fighters and the two-seaters captured my imagination and ignited in me a life-long interest.
I won't be reading this book. It would likely fall apart in my hands. But having it in my collection makes me smile.
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