Up Front (Signed) by Bill Mauldin (1945)

Description: Condition Continued: And with the exception of the signed inscription, no one has written their name or anything else anywhere in the book.Henry Holt And Company, New York, 1945. Hardcover. Written an illustrated by Bill Mauldin. Here is a rare signed copy of a very famous book. I bought it a good number of years ago from the home of former New York Congressman Peter A. Peyser. The inscription is accompanied by a drawing. The inscription reads 'For Peter with regards from a tardy friend, Bill Mauldin.' I haven't identified this book as a First Edition. I'm a little confused on the matter. My copy shows no additional printings. Henry Holt changed from NAP to stating first edition around 1944-1945. But only one first edition seller is referencing that his book has a statement. That would be enough, but other sellers are referencing statements of second and third and fourth printings, so I'm wondering why my copy doesn't have a later printing statement. Moving along, Bill Mauldin and Peter Peyser may have become friends through politics. In 1956, Mauldin ran unsuccessfully for the United States Congress as a Democrat in New York's 28th congressional district. Peyser's entry into national politics did come fifteen years later. It is also possible they knew each other as early as World War II. Mr. Peyser served in an Army infantry unit and took part in the Battle of the Bulge and the battles of Hurtgen Forest and Remagen. He received the Bronze Star Medal and later commanded a National Guard unit in New York. Mr. Mauldin 'was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the archetypal characters Willie and Joe, two weary and bedraggled infantry troopers who stoically endure the difficulties and dangers of duty in the field. His cartoons were popular with soldiers throughout Europe, and with civilians in the United States as well. But Mauldin was not without his detractors. His images--which often parodied the Army's spit-shine and obedience-to-orders-without-question policy--offended some officers. After a Mauldin cartoon ridiculed Third Army commander General George Patton's decree that all soldiers be clean-shaven at all times-- even in combat-- Patton called Mauldin an "unpatriotic anarchist" and threatened to "throw [his] ass in jail" and ban Stars and Stripes from his command. General Dwight Eisenhower, Patton's superior, told Patton to leave Mauldin alone. He felt the cartoons gave the soldiers an outlet for their frustrations. "Stars and Stripes is the soldiers' paper," he told him, "and we won't interfere." GIs often credited Mauldin with helping them to get through the rigors of the war. By the end of the war he received the Legion of Merit for his cartoons. Mauldin wanted Willie and Joe to be killed on the last day of combat, but Stars and Stripes dissuaded him. The film Up Front was based on Mauldin's Willie and Joe characters. However, when his suggestions were ignored in favor of making a slapstick comedy, he returned his advising fee.In 1945, at the age of 23, Mauldin won a Pulitzer Prize for his wartime body of work, exemplified by a cartoon depicting exhausted infantrymen slogging through the rain, its caption mocking a typical late-war headline: "Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry, ragged, battle-weary prisoners". The first civilian compilation of his work, Up Front, a collection of his cartoons interwoven with his observations of war, topped the best-seller list in 1945. After war's end, the character of Willie was featured on the cover of Time Magazine for the June 18, 1945 issue.'

Price: 375 USD

Location: Pound Ridge, New York

End Time: 2025-01-19T01:23:02.000Z

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