JM's World War One Sketchbook

October 11, 2006 5:10 PM

A World War One sketchbook from an unknown soldier. Some of them are quite enigmatic.
posted by tellurian (18 comments total)

Great find, thanks.
posted by interrobang at 5:16 PM on October 11, 2006

I wonder if I need to email the webmaster of the site? I believe the "goilu" is actually a "poilu."
posted by pax digita at 5:18 PM on October 11, 2006

Fantastic post. I find myself wondering about the identity of JM, or at least his nature. Most of the images are quaintly naive, or conscious aping of the caricatures of the day, but the moment he includes a horse in a picture -- whomp! the whole thing comes alive. He knew horses.
posted by Hogshead at 6:24 PM on October 11, 2006

Thanks for the rich site, tellurian.
posted by taosbat at 6:41 PM on October 11, 2006

Amazing. What a find. Thanks, tellurian. Some of the sketches include some sharp political commentary, too, like example # JM01_022, a pile of dead bodies with the caption: "Not pictured by the daily papers".
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:45 PM on October 11, 2006

I have absolute faith in the ability of the MeFi detectives to find out the true identity of JM.
posted by I Am Not a Lobster at 7:33 PM on October 11, 2006

Yeah, why only six comments? This is fabulous!
posted by odasaku at 8:52 PM on October 11, 2006

Yeah, why only six comments?

Stick around MeFi for awhile and you'll see there are lots of good posts that don't get lots of comments. And a fair amount of crummy posts that get a good deal of comments. And sometimes posts that are just so bad, they get hundreds of comments. Welcome to MetaFilter!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:04 PM on October 11, 2006

Darn. I had hoped to discover something by my own grandfather, who was an artist and in France for the war. The only things I know he produced there was a beautiful etching, on his mess kit, of the U.S. Seal, and a water color of a bridge over a river or canal.
posted by Goofyy at 10:13 PM on October 11, 2006

wow. My favourite.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 10:25 PM on October 11, 2006

One of millions:

No. 22224
Pte. J. Nicol
17 Royal Scots

From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission — Casualty Details:

Name: NICOL
Initials: J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Royal Scots
Unit Text: 17th Bn.
Date of Death: 18/10/1918
Service No: 22224
Additional information: Son of Mr. J. Nicol, of Alexandra Buildings, View Glen, Aberdeen.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: III. C. 13.
Cemetery: DADIZEELE NEW BRITISH CEMETERY

More about the cemetery and the Royal Scots Regiment. Private Nicol was killed in action a few weeks before the War ended on November 11, 1918: his grave is one of the United Kingdom's 477,584 identified burials [PDF] from WWI.

Estimates of total WWI deaths vary from 15,000,000 to over 30,000,000.
posted by cenoxo at 10:34 PM on October 11, 2006

Hey, I work at this university.

One of the main university benefactors were the Maltwood family, an artsy Anglo-Canadian family. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the "M". Though the archivists might have more information in that case.

The "questions" page seems a good place to start to unravel this.
posted by Rumple at 11:44 PM on October 11, 2006

Nice try Rumple. The Maltwoods never had any children though.
posted by tellurian at 12:07 AM on October 12, 2006

Excellent. Great post!
posted by tickingclock at 1:55 AM on October 12, 2006

Yes, a fantastic find!Thanks
posted by ob at 5:27 AM on October 12, 2006

Great post—thanks.
posted by languagehat at 6:22 AM on October 12, 2006

Very very nice post. Thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 6:28 AM on October 12, 2006

Thx. Tellurian. I'm surprised the library doesn't seem to have any information on these notebooks -- usually there is a donation record or something. Maybe I'll email the special collections librarian.
posted by Rumple at 8:42 AM on October 12, 2006