Up Front by Bill Mauldin; 1945 1st/1st; ROUGH SHAPE, low cost reader

Description: Up Front by Bill Mauldin; 1945 1st/1st; ROUGH SHAPE, low cost reader. Bill Mauldin is one of the greatest and most celebrated American cartoonists in history. An infantryman in World War II, he became popular for his cartoon depictions of Willie and Joe, two typical American soldiers, dealing with the rigors of wartime. Mauldin's work had a huge impact on both the troops fighting and the families back home. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, a fellow veteran of World War II, was deeply inspired by Mauldin's work, and paid annual tribute to Mauldin on Veteran's Day by having Snoopy go to Mauldin's house to "quaff a few root beers." Said Schulz: "I got Up Front, read it, and was stunned by the genius of the artwork. It was like a hidden transcription of the war. I wanted to know what was behind the cartoons, and why they were allowed to be published." At one point, General George Patton became so incensed with Mauldin's everyman portrayal of US soldiers that he demanded Mauldin be fired from Stars and Stripes and jailed. Only the intercession of Dwight Eisenhower - then Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, and Patton's immediate superior - saved Mauldin's job. Immediately after the end of the war, Mauldin received the Pulitzer Prize for his wartime work, and published Up Front, a collection of his wartime content, along with his prose observations about the war. This is a truly important book and a sought-after collector's item for anyone interested in cartooning, World War II, or American history in general. That said, this copy is in rough shape. I've provided a lot of photos to get the sense across. There's no dust jacket. It's ex-library, so it has exterior library markings on the spine. There is major exterior wear. The front endpapers show signs of the book's ex-lib status, including paper damage where a library card folder was removed and remains of library stamps. There is a library embossing on the title page. There are at least two instances of pages having separated and being repaired with tape; this appears to have happened a long time ago (a notation on the title page lets us know that the book was withdrawn from its library in July of 1964, so this book has seen some things.) There is staining and chipping throughout. However, the book is complete and (mostly) intact. There's no water damage; the pages are supple and lie flat. And it's an interesting and important book, offered here for a low price so that someone can enjoy it as a reader copy.

Price: 5 USD

Location: Urbandale, Iowa

End Time: 2025-02-04T17:03:09.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6.25 USD