Beschreibung:

WORLD WAR I]. A very extensive collection of approximately 1,183 original postcards, written and illustrated by Austrian soldiers serving in the front lines in Europe during WWI, addressed to the editor of der Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung (Vienna), various places, various dates [1915-1917]. Each 2pp., oblong (3½ x 5½ in.), all on a specially printed "Feldpostkorrespondenzcarte," with original postal markings and address on one side and a full-page drawing or sketch by the soldier on the blank obverse. Each card enclosed in a protective mylar sleeve (removable), each numbered; contained in 6 archival boxes . Accompanied by three notebooks of photocopies, with full English translation of the messages on the card. A VAST COLLECTION OF ILLUSTRATED POSTCARDS FROM AUSTRIAN SOLDIERS AT THE FRONT A very remarkable archive of original art (and occasionally, verse) created by over a thousand Austrian men serving on the war front (or, in some cases, recuperating in military hospitals). The series richly documents the concerns and impressions of these men during the war. The archive is the result of a competition instituted by the Vienna newspaper Der Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung . In each issue, the newspaper reprinted (in simple black-and-white) an illustrated card from a soldier. The cards are signed, sometimes by many men in the same unit, and offer typically high-spirited salutations: "Cordial greetings from the Landwehr Reserve Hospital...from several diligent readers"; "Hearty greetings to our dear City of Vienna," and the like. The artist, the sender and his regiment are clearly identified in the return address, which carry dated postmarks. The range of artistic talent displayed in the cards is predictably wide, and the artistic styles very diverse, but a large number are exquisitely executed in pen-and-ink, pencil, and sometimes watercolor (see illustration). The cards can be divided into several broad categories: 1) cards expressive of a soldier's daily concerns: rations, drink, comfort, companionship, homesickness; 2) Holiday greetings, especially for Christmas, Easter, New Year's; 3) Bitingly satirical caricatures of the Allies, especially the Russians and Serbs but also including the French and English, and (late in the series), the Americans. 4) Subjects chosen at the whim of the artist: trench landscapes, Alpine villages, animals, pretty girls, old people and many others.