Vietnamese Propaganda Poster

Vietnam War

Original Vietnam War Propaganda Poster; gouache on paper, image 73.3 cm x 45.7 cm. Signed and dated Hieu 72. The caption reads "The people of Vietnam will win! - The United States is determined to lose." The poster depicts the head and shoulders of a Vietnamese woman in black and white above the slogan all against a blue ground. Propaganda posters were first produced in Vietnam in the 1940s, inspired by Soviet propaganda art. Ho Chi Minh fostered and supported the movement and spent time with the propaganda poster artists. He believed in the Leninist quote; "art is not art unless it becomes propaganda". The images were an important method of reaching the whole population, including the rural majority, in a country lacking the mass media of today. Women played a significant role during the War and were termed the 'long-haired warriors' and were expected to not only fulfil their domestic duties but also to take up arms. Many Vietnamese propaganda posters such as this one depict powerful and strong women. Very good a few short tears not affecting the image or slogan.

Good-Bye To All That. An Autobiography.

GRAVES, Robert

First edition; first state, 8vo; original salmon cloth boards. This is the first state with lines on pages 289-290 and 341-343 present. The Sassoon poem was suppressed at his insistence and was removed from further editions. Estimates vary as to the number of copies of the first state to survive after the publishers tried to recall them. The other passage removed was the knockings in the night. The cream coloured dust jacket, printed in black was designed by Len Lye and incorporates a photograph of Graves by Alfred Cracknell. The same photograph serves as the frontispiece. The book is near fine, spine ends bumped and boards a little dusty. The dust jacket is also near fine with some wear to top of spine and one short closed tear to both front and rear panels. A lovely copy increasingly difficult to find in this condition.

The Black Jacobins

JAMES, C.L.R.

First edition; 8vo; original black cloth and dust jacket. Inscribed by the author on the front free end paper 'For Gerry Bradley from C.L.R. James. With revolutionary greetings, and personal good wishes, August 26th 1938.' Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989), was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and socialist. His works were a pioneering and influential voice in postcolonial literature. James was a tireless political activist, his history of the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins, is a seminal text in the literature of the African Diaspora. Gerry Bradley having served during the Great War in the British Army became involved in the Irish Republican movement and was a founder member of the British Communist Party. By the 1930s he had become a Trotskyist and was expelled from the Communist Party. In an interview that James gave shortly before his death he related how he and Bradley became friends. They would attend Communist Party public meetings, such as one in 1936 on the Moscow show trials, and challenge the platform from the hall to debate with James. It would appear the Bradley had a reputation as a hard man as they feared he would physically break up the meeting. James stated that 'the audience listened, and I put the case for Trotskyism, and it wrecked their meeting.' A very rare copy of the author's most important work, with a superb inscription to a close friend, together with the rare dust jacket. The book is near fine with a little light foxing to the endpapers. The map at the rear of the work is in excellent condition. The dust jacket is in poor condition with chips especially to the top and bottom of the spine. The image to the front is complete.