On
5th January 1916 The Bystander published an advertisement announcing that their
new Bairnsfather book, to be titled Fragments from France - described as “48 pages of screaming
comicality” - would be on sale shortly. Three weeks later, Fragments from France appeared in bookstalls across England, and was
an instant hit. In a
full page advertisement on 26th January, The Bystander stated “Letters we have
received by the score from officers and men on active service in all the
theatres, assure us that nothing since the war began presents the actual facts
and feelings of the fighting men so realistically or so humorously as do these
sketches by one of themselves….To get an immediate copy of Fragments from
France is a duty you owe to yourself. No dug-out, billet or mess room will be
complete without it. And if you ever feel in a generous mood towards the enemy,
cheer him up too by hurling a copy over to his trenches. It will prove a high
explosive of mirth, even to him.” Over the next three years a further seven volumes of Fragments from France and a larger format Edition De Luxe were published, each one a best seller. Click on any of the covers below to see a selection of cartoons from that volume.
Various editions of Fragments from France were also published in America (by G.P. Putnam), Canada (by William Briggs) and Australia (by Sands & McDougall Pty Ltd).
