Ronald Searle — Forty Drawings

London , Cambridge University Press, 1946. Paperback. A first edition collection of sketches depicting life as a Japanese prisoner-of-war. Introductory biography of Searle by Frank Kendon. Drawings of soldiers and civilians in Africa and Singapore during the war, along with numerous portraits and the effects of cholera, sickness and war injuries. Ronald William Fordham Searle was a British artist and satirical cartoonist who is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's School. However, his professional career really begins with his documentation of the brutal camp conditions of his period as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in World War II in a series of drawings that he hid under the mattresses of prisoners dying of cholera. Searle recalled, "I desperately wanted to put down what was happening, because I thought if by any chance there was a record, even if I died, someone might find it and know what went on." But Searle survived, along with approximately 300 of his drawings. In a paper binding. Externally sound with dark spotting to boards. Internally, firmly bound with light spotting to end papers, otherwise pages bright and clean Very Good . Ill.: None. Very Good .