Kaaterskill Books

Rare Photographic Record of the Argentinean Military

[Argentina. Military. Photography].

Ejercito Argentino. Regimiento no. 3 de Infanteria "General Belgrano". Recuerdo de mi vida militar. Buenos Aires. Año 1940. [Cover Title].

Buenos Aires: n.p., 1940. Unpaged [20 leaves]. Illus. with 19 mounted silver-gelatin photographs with spider-web tissue guards, 29 b/w photo-reproductions on 7 plates, and two small portraits. Obl. 4to. (12 x 8.5 inches). Patterned maroon leather album, two holes with string ties and tassels, gilt titles and illustrations on front board. First edition. A very good copy with wear to spine ends and corners of boards, writing on front pastedown and on a few leaves, edgeworn first leaf. Item #41816

Over forty original signatures and inscriptions, some a paragraph long, on the front pastedown and verso of first leaf, plus one or two later on, all presumably members of the regiment. Includes a short history of the Regiment. A group photo of 28 officers has a separate bound-in key identifying them by name and rank. Created on May 29, 1810 and immediately sent as part of the relief expedition to the interior provinces, Regimiento no. 3 de Infanteria "General Belgrano" is the most prestigious brigade in the Argentinean army. This 1940 album, produced on the 140th anniversary of the regiment, was a crucial time for the military in Argentina, with the country officially neutral, but much influenced by the German military. The Regiment was led by General Ambrosio Vago (first photograph), a supporter of the Allies, who had refused to take part in the coup of 1930, though at this time was urging a new coup, along with a number of Axis-leaning officers, to oust President Ramón Castillo, with the goal of holding non-fraudulent elections. But it would be Peron who would lead the coup in 1943, with Vago, though ostensibly a Peronist, not participating, and exiled to Bahia Blanca. A rare photographic record of the Argentinean military before Peron's ascendancy. We could locate no copies of this nor any similar items in OCLC or other Latin American or European library databases.

Price: $750.00