Sketchbook containing sketches of the Middle East, mostly Iraq (with four inserts)

Description

Ink, crayon, graphite and watercolour on paper, 205 × 265 mm, plus four loose inserts

Page 1, inscription 'James Boswell Drawings Mostly in Iraq 1942/3'
Page 2, open lorry on road in fairly flat landscape, inscribed 'Shaiba'
Page 3, army camp behind barbed wire fence in desert with donkey, inscribed 'Shaiba'
Page 4, a large mound with a flag on top in the middle of an army camp, inscribed 'V.C. mound Shaiba'
Page 5, army buildings including a canteen, inscribed 'Shaiba'
Page 6, landscape with ruined house, inscribed 'Burjysia'
Page 7, left, standing man wearing shorts
Page 7, right, three figures under an open structure
Page 8, army lorry and tents, inscribed 'The canteen'
Page 9, landscape with flat-roofed buildings, inscribed 'The coachhouse [sic] 33'
Page 10, landscape with army structures and a tent
Page 11, two studies of groups of people
Page 12, faint outline sketch of a landscape
Page 13, seated woman wearing Arab dress, inscribed 'Chowkidar'
Page 14, six studies of men and boys
Page 15, army buildings and storage tanks
Page 16, street scene with prostitute standing in a doorway and two soldiers talking to a man in a shop, inscribed 'River Street Bagdad [sic]'
Page 17, seated soldier in army camp, inscribed 'Birjysia Tea for the Picquet'
Page 18, soldiers changing the wheel on an army lorry
Page 19, studies of soldiers, an army truck and the head of an Arab
Page 20, interior of army canteen, inscribed 'The Victory Canteen Shaiba'
Page 21, three studies of a man sitting on a box
Page 22, rough sketch of a standing figure by a window
Page 23, study of a female nude and study of a male nude
Page 24, two cold soldiers in a wagon, inscribed 'The Passion Waggon [sic]'
Page 25, seated soldier sniffing drugs, inscribed 'Eric goes to town with stardust! oh boy'
Page 26, standing Indian soldier, inscribed 'Punjabi Sepoy'
Page 27, small flat-roofed buildings with open-air ovens, inscribed 'Company Cookhouse'
Page 28, an open lorry parked by a house
Page 29, soldier inside a tent writing with another soldier standing outside, inscribed 'Second Stag 17'
Page 30, top, soldiers loading a stretcher into an ambulance
Page 30, bottom, study of the back of an ambulance
Page 31, two soldiers at their ablutions
Page 32, soldier doing exercises
Page 33, medical examination of a soldier by an army doctor, inscribed 'M.I. Tent'
Page 34, two doctors and a nurse carrying out an operation
Page 35, ruins of a house in the desert
Page 36, two soldiers loading a lorry at night
Page 37, two resting soldiers, one asleep and the other sitting with his hands on his knees
Page 38, desert landscape
Page 39, desert landscape with small mounds
Page 40, group of Arab herdsmen
Page 41, army room, inscribed 'One of our rooms. (The one we lived in)'
Page 42, (on piece of squared paper stuck into the sketchbook) landscape with ruined building
Page 43, army camp seen from the road, inscribed 'Shaiba'
Page 44, blank
Page 45, soldiers trying to push a lorry that has got stuck in the mud
Page 46, two soldiers unloading a crate from a lorry
Page 47, blank
Page 48, soldiers loading a truck
Page 49, blank
Page 50, group of native soldiers
Page 51, blank
Page 52, desert landscape with a T junction, burnt out hut and sign advertising petrol
Page 53, three soldiers trying to erect a tent in a heavy storm
Page 54, blank
Page 55, harbour scene, inscribed 'Malta'
Page 56, blank
Page 57, two studies of lorries on the road
Pages 58-61, blank, loose insert finished study of Mount Shaiba, similar to the drawing on page 4; loose insert soldiers trying to erect a tent, inscribed 'Tent pitching 17', loose insert two soldiers with a beggar girl; loose insert soldier sitting on a cushion smoking a cigarette

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