Lot 97
"Careless Talk Costs Lives"
lONDON: Ministry of Information, 1943
lONDON: Ministry of Information, 1943
12 x 8 in (31 x 20 cm) 8
29 April 2015, 10:00 EDT
New YorkUS$1,500 - US$2,500
Looking for a similar item?
Our Books & Manuscripts specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Client Services (New York)
"Careless Talk Costs Lives"
lONDON: Ministry of Information, 1943
lONDON: Ministry of Information, 1943
British Propaganda Poster Series by Cyril Kenneth Bird alias Fougasse (1887-1965). A series of 8 color-lithographed small (window paned sized) propaganda posters issued under the auspices of the Ministry of Information, 4 are on thicker card, 4 on thinner paper.
A fine unused set of the "careless talk costs lives" series in almost mint condition. The series was a very popular poster during the war years and his gentle humor and satirical point of view made these posters some of the most successful that the MOI produced. Bird was a cartoonist of some standing, editing Punch from 1937 to 1949, but his work on posters for the MOI was mostly in an unpaid capacity. However after the war he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1946, for his contribution to the war effort. His pen name Fougasse comes from the name of a mine; he was serving in Gallipoli in World War I and was invalided out after such a mine injured him severely. The size of these posters is an interesting as they were small enough to fix inside of windows of bombed out buildings as well as boards on stations and shop windows Of course with paper shortages, the smaller poster size was more popular with the bureacrats.
12 x 8 in (31 x 20 cm) (8)
A fine unused set of the "careless talk costs lives" series in almost mint condition. The series was a very popular poster during the war years and his gentle humor and satirical point of view made these posters some of the most successful that the MOI produced. Bird was a cartoonist of some standing, editing Punch from 1937 to 1949, but his work on posters for the MOI was mostly in an unpaid capacity. However after the war he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1946, for his contribution to the war effort. His pen name Fougasse comes from the name of a mine; he was serving in Gallipoli in World War I and was invalided out after such a mine injured him severely. The size of these posters is an interesting as they were small enough to fix inside of windows of bombed out buildings as well as boards on stations and shop windows Of course with paper shortages, the smaller poster size was more popular with the bureacrats.
12 x 8 in (31 x 20 cm) (8)