Published by Whitcombe & Tombs Limited, Christchurch, Auckland, Hamilton, 1963 1st Edition, Hard-back, Octavo, black and white plates, pp.122, good condition, tight binding, fading to spine, previous owner's name inside, dust jacket.

Excerpt from Hobb's foreword: "This book is written in the hope that it will amuse and stir the memories of some of the thousands of New Zealanders who, in Army issue clothing nearly twenty years ago, recieved a special and rather specialised education on their own Grand Tour of Italy - 'Freyberg's Forty Thousand Young Gentlemen', as nobody ever called them ... Italy was not a pleasant experience for many in the Army, but it was not unpleasant for everyone all the time. These pages will have fulfilled their purpose if they do evoke memories of the excitement of the impact on the unpredictable Italians and their countryside of the unpredictable New Zealanders from the other side of the world".