l. Member Ralph Morrison at ul. Zachodnia, 13/7 53-643 Wroclaw, Poland writes:

During the recent SYWA trip to Moravia-Bohemia, it was suggested that I write up the following two items and submit them to the Journal as articles. . . It was a splendid trip! Such a pity that more members were not able to participate!

Maps

Whether one calls it "toponomohistoriography," or, more correctly, "onomastics," dealing with changed place-names in Europe remains a vexing problem for the historian and the thinking tourist alike.

After a long search from the Map Section, British Library (very helpful but rather expensive), to the Silesia Automobile Association, established 1923 (lunatic), I'm pleased to announce that modern, accurate, BI-LINGUAL maps of Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland are available in the scales 1:200,000 and 1:100,000. I can't say with regard to Alsace, Lorraine, Lithuania, East Prussia, etc. [the address is:]

Hofer Verlag D-63112 Dietzenbach Germany
Phone: 06074-27550
Fax: 06074-44964

Email: HOEVERLAG@AOL.COM
Net: www. hoeverlag. de
The phone numbers don't include international and country codes.

[Editor's note]: For Ralph's second article, see the one entitled "Grenz and Graves" earlier in this issue.

2. Announcing a new Seven Years War Books project: As a result of my many hours of research concerning the French involvement in the Seven Years War and War of the Austrian Succession, I have started work on a new book that I hope to have finished soon. Motivated by my interest in the lives of the generals and admirals who fought under Louis XV, I am writing a book entitled Louis' Lieutenants. The title of this piece was of course inspired by Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command, by Douglas Southall Freeman.

Thus far, I have done research on over one hundred generals, admirals, or ministers of state who participated in the campaigns or policy making during the reign of Louis XV. I am in the process of putting together a series of brief biographies of as many of these individuals as I am able to find material on. The biography of the Chevalier de Levis that is found in this issue is, in fact, an excerpt from my proposed book.

I am also preparing a series of brief essays to include in this book with a view towards explaining the military structure, both formal and informal, that prevailed during Louis' reign as well as a brief biographical portrait of the King of France himself. Included in this book will be an abundance of illustrations, mostly in color, of the various commanders and heads of state that I am discussing. I have been fortunate to acquire many photographs of paintings of these gentlemen through my wanderings abroad as well as from the marvelous "Base Joconde" French government web site that includes many public domain images of a number of French military and civil leaders of the time period in question.

If any of the members should have access to sources of information on these various leaders or pictures of them, I would truly appreciate their input. I am especially desirous of acquiring an image of any of the following people: General Chevert (there is a painting of him by Tischbein - does anyone have a print of this in color? It is reproduced in black & white in Nancy Mitford's Frederick the Great biography), Marshal Contades, the Duc d'Estrees, Admiral Conflans, Lally, Bercheny, or Jean Christian Fischer, among others.

I am also looking for a publisher for this book, once it is finished. I would prefer to have it professionally published, if possible, but if that does not happen, I have determined to print out each copy on my personal computer at home. This sounds like a daunting project, but I want to see this in print in one form or other, complete with lots of color!

Thus far, I have got seventy-three pages of text and illustrations in an 8 1/2" x 11" format. I suspect that the final product may number somewhere around one hundred and twenty, when complete; but this is honestly just a guess at this point. I have yet to figure out the eventual price of this book, but, as I am assuming that it will have a soft cover, I would hope to keep it under $40.00 or so. Here again, I am just guessing.

This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com