Orlando Norie is considered to have been one of the foremost illustrators of the British army in the 19th century, with thousands of watercolors to his credit in public and private collections. His pictures are highly sought after and command high prices. Yet his life remained a mystery that is only now being uncovered. Many of these wonderful pictures are revealed here for the first time. The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection in Brown University Library, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, possesses one of the largest, if not the largest public collection of original military watercolors by Orlando Norie. The pictures in the Brown military collection range from single figure uniform studies or composites, to genre and battle scenes and at least one named portrait. These are published as a group for the first time along with Michel Tomasek's masterful account of Norie's life, including comments on the artist's British pictures by Peter Harrington.

Charles Nedham was just twenty when he arrived in India in July 1845 as an ensign in HM 10th Foot. For the next four and a half years he lived as a young officer on duty in the sub-continent, finally seeing action in the Second Sikh War at the siege of Multan and the battle of Gujerat. His journal which he illustrated with fine pencil drawings of various sites and buildings offers glimpses of life in peace and war in India, as well as the contempt and prejudices shown by the British towards the native population. He was equally cynical and critical towards a number of the British commanders for their poor handling of the campaign. The journal provides a window into attitudes towards the empire, as well as the life of a bachelor officer in the early 19th century.

Captain Roger Morris, a young British officer in the Coldstream Guards, served in France, Belgium and Holland during the Duke of York's campaign against the armies of Revolutionary France. During the period from May 1793 until March 1795, he kept a diary in which he described the various actions, commanders and incidents, noting failures and poor leadership, and commenting on some of the wider events. Morris also travelled extensively on horseback throughout the region when he was not campaigning, often visiting local churches to view or play the organs!

Gale and Polden's postcards of British uniforms are now widely collected but little is known about the artists and few of their original paintings have survived. Now over 130 of these rare works by artists such as Harry Payne, Edgar A. Holloway, John McNeill, and Ernest Ibbetson are reproduced here for the first time in full colour with background information as to how the pictures were created. This book is a useful reference for postcard collectors, miniature modelers, as well as collectors and scholars of early twentieth century British uniforms.