I Remember the Last War

York, PA: Strength & Health Publishing Co, 1940. First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Card wrappers; portrait frontispiece; 320pp. Clean, tight, and unfaded - an attractive copy, Near Fine and quite unusual thus.

Hoffman (1898-1985) served on the front in France as a lieutenant in Company A of the 111th Infantry; his memoir provides perhaps the best first-hand account of the American engagement at Hill 204 in Chateau Thierry in May, 1918. Hoffman went on to become an important American entrepreneur, the founder of York Barbell Co. in Pennsylvania and the acknowledged guru of American bodybuilding through the 1960s. This memoir, issued under the imprint of Hoffman's own publishing company, has long been a sought-after work, never common thanks no doubt to the rather mediocre production quality. This is easily the nicest copy we have seen, free of the usual toning and wear. No hardcover issue was produced for sale.