Filson Young

"Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty PC, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (17 January 1871 ? 11 March 1936) was a Royal Navy officer. After serving in the Mahdist War and then the response to the Boxer Rebellion, he commanded the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, a tactically indecisive engagement after which his aggressive approach was contrasted with the caution of his commander Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. He is remembered for his comment at Jutland that "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today", after two of his ships exploded. Later in the war he succeeded Jellicoe as Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, in which capacity he received the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at the end of the War. He then served a lengthy term as First Sea Lord in which capacity he was involved in negotiating the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 in which it was agreed that the USA, Britain and Japan should set their navies in a ratio of 5:5:3, with France and Italy maintaining smaller fleets."--Wikipedia.

The Sands of Pleasure was written in five weeks at a rate of nearly 20,000 words a week. It was apparently finished on October 11 and was in the bookshops by November 22. Some years later, Filson claimed he had never written anything so earnestly or honestly, or so much for sheer joy of artistic expression. "The portraiture in the whole story is singularly and impressively human, and sympathetic without exaggeration."—The Globe.

A fantastic book covering the most popular operas of the year 1912. From the Magic Flute to Hansel and Gretel. To make this book even more special, it was published the year that the RMS Tiranic sunk ! A truly magical book, more precious than informative. Just my luck, I picked this wonder up for $2 !!!