American Posters of World War I; A Price and Collector's Guide

New York: Dafran House Publishers, Inc, 1973. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Fair. 252, [4] pages. Illustrated with black and white and color reproductions of famous posters of the war. Edges of several early pages have a smallish tear. Cover has some wear and soiling and price sticker in upper right corner. This essential reference work addresses poster sizes, condition, pricing, reproductions, prewar enlistment posters, public awareness posters as well as War Enlistment posters, Liberty Loans, War Savings Stamps, Tribute posters, United War Work, Red Cross, Relief, Shipping Board, Causes, Postwar Readjustment, Miscellaneous Advertising, and Sheet music. It presents biographical data on war artists. George Theofiles was a Pennsylvania poster dealer, appraiser, and consultant in the area of poster art and paper Americana. The First World War was the first war in which mass media and propaganda played a significant role in keeping the people at home informed about what was occurring on the battlefields. This was also the first war in which the government systematically produced propaganda as a way to target the public and alter their opinion. Propaganda worked on a variety of ideological underpinnings such as atrocity propaganda, propaganda dedicated to nationalism and patriotism, and propaganda focused on women. In 1917 President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information. It reported directly to President Wilson and was essentially a massive generator of propaganda. The Committee on Public Information was responsible for producing films, commissioning posters, publishing numerous books and pamphlets, purchasing advertisements in major newspapers, and recruiting businessmen, preachers and professors to serve as public speakers in charge of altering public opinion at the communal level. Creel and his committee used every possible mode to get their message across, including printed word, spoken word, the motion picture, the telegraph, the poster, and the signboard. All forms of communication were put to use to justify the causes that compelled America to take arms. Creel set out systematically to reach every person in the United States multiple times with patriotic information about how the individual could contribute to the war effort. The CPI also worked with the post office to censor seditious counter propaganda. Creel set up divisions in his new agency to produce and to distribute innumerable copies of pamphlets, newspaper releases, magazine advertisements, films, school campaigns, and the speeches of the Four Minute Men. The CPI created colorful posters that appeared in every store window to catch the attention of passersby for a few seconds.