And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder. Autobiography of an Artist at War and What Came After

Rawlings, Leo. With supporting account by Bill Duncan, Foreword by Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Admiral of the Fleet

ISBN 10: 0903488000 / ISBN 13: 9780903488006

Edité par Rawlings Chapman Publications, London, 1972

A propos de cet article

Stated first edition, first impression. Some slight edge wear, chipping and rubbing to top and bottom of fab orange 'Rising Sun' jacket and spine, corners slightly rubbed and bruised, folds slightly rubbed, not price clipped (£3.00), no inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg+ copy. 160pp, lavishly illustrated. 'And the Dawn Came Up Like Thunder' is the experience of an ordinary soldier captured by the Japanese at Singapore in February 1942. Artist Leo Rawlings' (1918-90), story is told in his own pictures and his own words, a world that is uncompromising, vivid and raw. He pulls no punches. For the first time the cruelty inflicted on the prisoners of war by their own officers is depicted as well as shocking images of POW life. As the Japanese began their last offensive in northern Burma and into India further south the building of the Burma-Thailand railway was nearing completion. More men would die in this last push as they were forced into even greater labours to lay the track. The Japanese urgently wanted the railway in order to support their invasion army. Suffering from a huge open 'jungle sore' that had eaten two inches into his left foot, Leo Rawlings had been transferred into a convalescent camp. Men in this camp were spared the hard labour but very little else of the horrors of the 'Death Railway'. In addition to injuries everyone was suffering from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies, easily treatable conditions that left untended, caused terrible diseases like Beri Beri, often leading to death. Rawlings was doing his best to record it all. An artist before the war, he risked his life to make what sketches he could of the conditions men lived under. Rawlings came to the notice of Lt. Gen. Sir Louis Heath who commissioned him to keep an accurate record of his experiences and those of his fellow POWs. Rawlings had no paints, paper or brushes so was forced to use plant and clay pigments, scavenged paper and his own hair in the execution of his works. During captivity he stored works in an old stove pipe buried beneath his bed, as their discovery would have been fatal. After the war he worked for the 'Victor' and 'Hornet' boy's comics.

N° de réf. du vendeur 008095

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder. Autobiography of an Artist at War and What Came After
• Éditeur: Rawlings Chapman Publications, London
• Date de parution: 1972
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0903488000
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780903488006
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Illustrateur: Jacket and illustrations by the author
• Édition: 1st Edition
• État de l'article: Very Good
• État de la jaquette: Very Good

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Used book

Présentation de l'éditeur

And the Dawn Came Up Like Thunder is the experience of an ordinary soldier captured by the Japanese at Singapore in February 1942. Leo Rawlings' story is told in his own pictures and his own words; a world that is uncompromising, vivid and raw. He pulls no punches. For the first time the cruelty inflicted on the prisoners of war by their own officers is depicted as well as shocking images of POW life. This is truly a view of the River Kwai experience for a 21st Century audience.The new edition includes pictures never before published as well as an extensive new commentary by Dr Nigel Stanley, an expert on Rawlings and the medical problems faced on the Burma Railway. More than just a commentary on the history and terrible facts behind Rawlings' work, it stands on its own as a guide to the hidden lives of the prisoners.Most of the pictures are printed for the first time in colour as the artist intended, bringing new detail and insight to conditions faced by the POWs as they built the infamous death railway, and faced starvation, disease and cruelty.Pictures such as those showing the construction of Tamarkan Bridge, now famed as the prototype for the fictional Bridge on the River Kwai, and those showing the horrendous suffering of the POWs such as King of the Damned have an iconic status. Rawlings' art brings a different perspective to the depiction of the world of the Far East prisoners. For the first time the pictures and original texts are printed in a large format edition, so that their full power can be experienced.The new edition includes an account of how Rawlings' book was published in Japan by Takashi Nagase (well known from Eric Lomax's book The Railway Man) in the early 1980s. Rawlings visited Nagase in 1980 and at last reconciled himself to his experiences as a POW.