GREAT WAR AT SEA: The Opening Salvos

A remarkable gallery of artworks, presented on big glossy white pages, all in original line art, charcoal and pencil drawings, the books showcases the work of contemporary combat artists and illustrators from the Great War era. It is a vivid graphic record of life and death on the high seas from the outbreak of the war just prior to the Battle of Jutland as reported to contemporary audiences while the events were still unfolding. There is a heart wrenchingly tragic image of rescue work after the disappearance of the Lusitania, with drowning and drowned casualties being hauled from the water into small rescue boats by sailors; a Zeppelin holding up a merchant vessel in the North Sea in a dramatic image, the sinking of the Turkish battleship Messudiyeh by submarine B11, a captioned diagram of the enemy destroyer sank at the mouth of the Ems River, a pen and ink portrait of the First Lord (Churchill with his two highest executive Officers), the famous exploit of Commander Cecil H. Fox who sent four German destroyers to the bottom, his men standing alongside their huge guns, watching the vessels flounder; upturned vessels and propellers, Britain's deadly mosquitos of the ocean, throwing overboard all inflammable luxuries when a battleship is cleared for action, mine layers at work and an amazing drawing giving a splendid idea of the hugeness of provisioning a warship with 120lbs of cake, six cases of sardines, 36 cooked hams and 270 dozen fresh eggs among the cargo. Here is a remarkable double page spread of the painting Gassed by John Singer Sargeant with many blinded casualties and 1st Artist Rifles by Paul Nash. Hundreds of images, 128 page softback, 8" x 10".