[WWII ARCHIVE OF OFFICIAL BRITISH PROPAGANDA]. Bulletins From Britain [TOGETHER WITH]: Archive of materials issued by (and about) the British Library of Information [TOGETHER WITH]: Rare Churchill Speech on the Surrender of the Belgian Army (1940)

British Library of Information / Winston S. Churchill

Verlag: British Library of Information, New York, 1942

Nos. 1-111, August 27, 1940 - October 14, 1942 COMPLETE SET. Various formats: stapled mimeograph sheets (5 pp. and 8 pp.) and pamphlets (16 pp.). WITH ALL BUT ONE OF THE SUPPLEMENTS (final page of Supplement to No. 42 significantly browned). Texts of Nos. 1-13 were created via typescripts on legal-sized paper (folded horizontally and stapled on upper left corner), all others professionally printed on letter-sized paper (folded vertically and stapled in folds). Some dust-soiling (not objectionable) from long-term storage. TOGETHER WITH: Archive of 21 items issued by and about the British Library of Information, generally 1940 (one leaflet slightly browned on account of the wartime paper stock). SEE THE 58 IMAGES ON OUR WEBSITE. COMPLETE SETS OF "BULLETINS FROM BRITAIN" ARE BASICALLY UNFINDABLE: not in Rare Book Hub which currently lists more than 13 million records in the Rare Book Transaction database. TAMU Military Collection has only four (4) of the 111 issues. Owing to the fact that our set of the "Bulletins from Britain" is complete, and the cohesiveness of the additional archival material (see below), it is likely that the present collection was assembled by someone closely associated with the British Library of Information. Our set is meticulously organized in Hollinger boxes and MUST BE SEEN to be fully appreciated. "Bulletins from Britain" was created in late August, 1940 by the British Information Services, an agency of the British Government, and published weekly until 1942. The goal was to display the political determination of all British people in the war effort, and to bring the inspiration and steadfastness of Churchill to an American nation that had not yet engaged in the conflict. The publication was a "curated" compilation of the cables and news, sent privately to British officials around the world that the editors thought fit to be shared with the [primarily American] public. Despite heavy losses by the British Army and the British nation, the texts herein are highly skewed in favor of the British Army, and must therefore be classed as official propaganda. The editors state that "This service is intended to give [Americans citizens and British citizens abroad] intimate knowledge of the activities of Britain's fighting forces, of the magnitude of the Empire's effort, of the impact of the war upon the daily lives of the people which is available to their colleagues at home." The "Bulletins" were probably preceded by "Cables from Britain," a crudely typewritten production of which only two issues appeared (July and August, 1940 -- both of which are present here). A complete set such as ours contains over 1,500 pages of weekly British reports and provide modern historians with a blow-by-blow, almost "real-time" narrative of the WWII that is simply not available elsewhere. A random sample of text from the Aug. 6, 1941 issue of the "Bulletins": "Ships in the Mediterranean: Considerable satisfaction has been expressed in London over the successful passage under persistent enemy attack of a large Mediterranean convoy; only one merchant ship was damaged, and she able to continue to port. Despite German boasts that the capture of Crete would close the Mediterranean, British convoys continue to pass through, providing fresh additions to British strength in the Middle East (already greatly increased by a steady inflow of ships from the United States as well as those coming from Britain via the Cape). Contrasted with this is the fate of Axis convoys to and from Libya. Typical was the attack made on an enemy convoy off Pantellaria on July 22; a vessel of 5,000 tons, carrying munitions, blew up and sank, a 7,000 ton tanker, hit by aerial torpedoes, became a total loss, another 7,000 ship was hit by bombs and set ablaze. Severe damage was also inflicted on a 6,000 ton vessel and an escorting destroyer. "The Air Offensive Against Germany: Striking evidences are now available of widespread damage inflicted on German war indus. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 4186

Bibliografische Details

Titel: [WWII ARCHIVE OF OFFICIAL BRITISH PROPAGANDA...
Verlag: British Library of Information, New York
Erscheinungsdatum: 1942
Einband: Softcover
Auflage: First Edition.