TOY ARMIES

Peter Johnson. A4 hardback. 144 pages. Illustrated throughout in full colour. The author was the curator of the Forbes museum of toy soldiers at the Palais Mendoub in Tangiers, Morocco and this book is based very much around the collection which represented all types of figures (except plastic). Malcolm Forbes was a prolific collector of all manner of things, toy soldiers being just one, after his death the museum was closed and the majority of the exhibits sold at auction in London and New York. I attended the London auction and sad to say the condition of the figures was generally very poor due to the humid conditions they had been displayed in, the composition was very cracked and the lead had much rot.

At the end of the day it was still a great collection and I'm glad this book remains to document it. Published 1981. BT Batsford Ltd. London. ISBN 07134 39017

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