Enlarge [A complete unused set of six satirical map postcards showing the German & French front-lines during the first three months of the War] No.1: 14 Aout / No.2: 2 Septembre / No.3: 8 Septembre / No.4: 11 Septembre / No.5: 21 & 26 Septembre / No.6: 10 Novembre
- £sold
- Stock Code: 22312
- Product Archive
- Author: Unidentified British Artist
- Publisher: Editions Lorraine (after “The Bystander”) (Publishers)
- Date: 1914
- Dimensions: 14 x 8.9 cms (6)
Description:
A rare set of French satirical map postcards incorporating the struggling figures of Marshal Joffre and the Kaiser, late 1914
About this piece:
A complete unused set of six satirical map postcards showing the German & French front-lines during the first three months of the War. No.1: 14 Aout / No.2: 2 Septembre / No.3: 8 Septembre / No.4: 11 Septembre / No.5: 21 & 26 Septembre / No.6: 10 Novembre
Printed Colours. Unused. Fine complete set.
A rare complete set of six unused map postcards forming a satirical recapitulation of the respective frontlines of the Allied and German Armies along the Western Front during the first three months of the war. Maps form backdrops to an ongoing struggle between the stylised stick figures of the French leader Marshal Joffre and the German Kaiser, their two elongated bodies, invariably in close combat, representing the front line positions of the respective Armies. The maps denote the disposition of French and German lines following the retreat after the Battle of Mons in August 1914, then the movements during the decisive victory of the First Battle of the Marne [5-12 Sept 1914]. The last-gasp French resistance along the line of the Marne River prevented a swift German advance on Paris, an integral element of the original Schlieffen Plan. It wrecked hopes of a speedy German victory & condemned the combatants to a long drawn out war of attrition in the trenches of the Western Front. The ensuing “Race to the Sea” and the First Battle of Ypres in October-November 1914 are scarcely covered in this set, though the decisive Allied knock-out is here shown as November 10th 1914, when Marshal Joffre delivers a powerful blow to the Kaiser’s right ear.
The first postcard references the English tabloid, “The Bystander”, in whose pages these original designs first appeared. Amongst its regular artistic contributors were illustrators and artists such as H. M. Bateman, W. Heath Robinson, Alec P Ritchie and Edmund Blampied. During the War “The Bystander” became immensely popular through its weekly publication of the much-loved “Old Bill” cartoons of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather [1887-1959].
The listed price is for the set of all six postcards, not often found together or in this relatively fine unused condition.