[Naked Warriors, cover] Metadata

Title

• Main Title [Naked Warriors, cover]
• Series Title UNT Special Collections Artifact Photography

Creator

• Photographer: Sylve, Joshua
  Creator Type: Personal

Contributor

• Author: Read, Herbert
  Contributor Type: Personal
• Former owner: Thomas, Donald
  Contributor Type: Personal
• Donor: Thomas, Donald
  Contributor Type: Personal
• Former owner: Lamb, T. A.
  Contributor Type: Personal

Publisher

• Name: Art & Letters
  Place of Publication: London
  Additional Info: 1919

Date

• Creation: 2016-09-23

Language

• English

Description

• Content Description: Photograph of "Naked Warriors" by Herbert Read, held by UNT Special Collections. In 1917, poet and literary critic Herbert Read co-founded the avant-garde quarterly journal Arts and Letters, which in 1919 published Read’s book Naked Warriors. (The volume’s first section “Kneeshaw Goes to War” originally appeared in Arts and Letters, as noted in the contents.) This sixty-page volume of poetry and prose explores the arc of the British soldier’s combat experience in World War I. Read, who served in the war and was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross, includes an epigraph before each section, visually separating sections that are joined by a thematic progression rather than common characters. Before the contents page, readers encounter a six-line poem entitled “Parody of a Forgotten Beauty” and a one-paragraph preface in which Read encourages his generation to “strive to create a beauty where hitherto it has had no absolute existence” (5). This desire is reflected in the cover illustration, thought to be the work of artist Wyndham Lewis. The central figure employs Vorticism, an early twentieth-century British art movement using a form of urban cubism to express the dynamism of the modern world. The book is bound in textured, tan paper boards printed in striking red, featuring the title, Vorticist illustration, author, and price (“three shillings net”) on the front cover, and information on the journal Arts and Letters on the back cover. The front leaf of this copy is inscribed “T. A. Lamb, from W. R. Childe. 8.4.1919” under the title. Considering the place of publication and publisher, we can speculate that this copy was given to T. A. Lamb, author of T.N.T. Tales (Oxford, 1919)—a collection of anecdotes describing the work of munitionettes at the Barnbow shell-filling factory near Leeds—by Wilfred Rowland Childe, editor of Oxford Poetry in 1916-1917 and a contributor to Arts and Letters. Page 21 of this copy shows a handwritten emendation to the epigraph, attributing it to “H. D.” rather than “H. R.”; this is the same as some other extant copies. The final section, “Killed in Action,” is a prose selection from an unfinished novel and ends with a fleuron, visually marking the conclusion of the work.
• Physical Description: 1 photograph : col. ill. ; 2443 x 2028 px.

Subject

• University of North Texas Libraries Browse Structure: Education - Colleges and Universities - University of North Texas
• University of North Texas Libraries Browse Structure: Military and War - Wars - World War I
• University of North Texas Libraries Browse Structure: Literature - Poetry
• Keyword: exhibits
• Keyword: UNT Special Collections
• Keyword: Naked Warriors
• Keyword: Price Three Shillings Net
• Keyword: poems
• Keyword: book covers
• Keyword: Read, Herbert

Primary Source

• Item is a Primary Source

Coverage

• Time Period: new-sou
• Coverage Date: 1919

Citation

• Preferred Citation: University Photography Collection (U0458), University of North Texas Special Collections

Collection

• Name: University Photography Collection
  Code: UNTPC
• Name: World War One Collection
  Code: WWI

Institution

• Name: UNT Libraries Special Collections
  Code: UNTA

Rights

• Rights Statement: Reproduction and publication of materials in this collection are subject to the policies of the UNT Special Collections department. Copyright restrictions may apply.

Resource Type

• Photograph

Format

• Image

Identifier

• Accession or Local Control No: UNTA_U0458-2019-003-392
• Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc1703705

Note

• Display Note: This image was taken for use in the digital version of UNT Special Collections' Spring 2017 exhibit "The Lost Generation: World War I Poetry Selected from the Donald Thomas War Poetry Collection."