EIGHT ORIGINAL DRAWINGS CREATED IN FRENCH PRISONER OF WAR CAMP

WORLD WAR ONE: KURZWEG, Georg

Eight original drawings (five in pen and ink and three in pencil) and one hand-drawn postcard (postmarked 1 June 1915). Together with a sketchbook containing some superb pencil exercises done while Kurzweg was still at school. All contained within a contemporary cloth portfolio. The drawings are mostly dated 1916, either Toulouse or Villeneuve; the portfolio is marked as 'a memento of my time as a prisoner, 1915-16'. The drawings depict the life of a soldier and prisoner: cleaning the communication trenches ('we did this for a fortnight' 1915); portraits of comrades (Anton Gussner, 'who made me coffee; the teacher Rosner, 'drawn by candlelight 1917'); queuing for food in the camp; a soldier writing at a desk; a political caricature; 'Hans Meyer studying'; a soldier repairing his uniform (this in colour). The latter two were subsequently published in the charity publication Deutsche Kriegsgefangenenkunst (Bern, 1918); two copies are included here with the drawings.

World War One Photograph Album: Gallipoli and Egypt

WORLD WAR ONE:

Photograph album; 26 by 20cm; original green cloth; 48 pages; 97 sepia photographs 10 by 12cm. Each photograph is neatly annotated in white ink. An outstanding and important Great War Photograph Album compiled by a British or Australian soldier. The photographer obviously took a small portable camera wherever he went. The noted military historian John Keegan, has remarked that 'there are almost no private photographs of any episode of the First World War from any front. An event of the greatest historical importance, involving perhaps twenty-five million young men, many of whom owned cameras in private life and took 'snaps' of holiday family and everyday life as a matter of course, yielded no photographic record at all except that captured by the official photographers'. This album is therefore historically important in providing a visual record of the campaigns in Gallipoli and Egypt. The photographer would have been subject to censorship but given that his superior officers appear in a number of the photographs it seems they were unconcerned. The images themselves illustrate all aspects of the campaigns before unofficial photography was banned. Images include; ' Self & Dug-out, Anzac Hill ,' ' Anzac Beach ' (several views of the beach are present, showing unloading of troops and supplies), ' Turkish Prisoners Anzac ,' ' Queen Elizabeth ' (warship), ' Anzac Beach & stores on a rough day ,' ' Turkish prisoners digging our graves - Anzac ,' ' Pontoon over canal Ferry Post ,' ' Punt Over Canal, Ismalia ' ' Trenches Near Canal ', ' Australians crossing at Ferry Post before embarking for France ,' ' Suez Canal ', ' Aeroplane ship Ben Macree ,' ' Railway running to trenches from canal ,' ' Prince Of Wales House - Ismalia ,' ' Horse Train to Serapeum ,' ' Camp near Ismalia station,' ' Cairo ', ' Egyptian Barracks Cairo ,' ' Ghezireh Palace Hospital, Cairo ' (several views, including several of the soldier in the grounds), ' Kitchener's House Maadi ', ' Graves of those who died of wounds from Gallipoli ,' ' Indian Hospital San Stepheno ', ' Australian Camp in desert near Alexandria ,' (several views of this camp are present), several fabulous views on board SS Euripides - showing a very crowded deck of soldiers indulging in games - ' Pillow Fight on Euripides ,' ' Tub & Apple contest - Euripides ,' ' Deck sweeping ,' ' Church Service ,' etc,' Landing at Plymouth ,' ' Landing of Aust. Hd 2ters, Paddington ' and two views of the soldier back home in England ( ' Penwenack ' ). The album came directly from a large extended family, but the identity of the photographer has been lost. Fine.