Between the Covers

Hardcover. Complete runs of two rare US Army Hospital periodicals bound together in brown buckram covered boards with glossy marbled endpapers and gilt titles on the spine and "L.H. Triponel" stamped in gilt on the front board. Slight fading on the boards, spotting, and edgewear else very good with very good or better content with some tears on the margins of the pages not affecting the text.

*The Star Shell* Vol. 1, Nos 1-9. All published. Nos 1 and 2 are quartos. Mimeographed with blue paper wrappers (both bound without rear wrapper). Front wrapper of No. 1 faded with some tears and a little loss. No 3, also a quarto with mimeographed wrappers, linotype text. Nos 4-9 are octavos with pictorial card wrappers, offset text with halftone photographic illustrations. U.S. Army General Hospital, Markleton, Pennsylvania.

*Biand-Foryu* Vol. 1, Nos 1-10. All published. Quartos. Pictorial card wrappers. Offset printed with halftone photographic illustrations. A few marginal ink annotations. U.S. Army General Hospital, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

A bound run of two U.S. Army Hospital periodicals compiled by Private L.H. Triponel while serving with the Army during World War I. The publications are dated between October 1918 and September 1919 and often include Triponel’s ownership signature. According to the Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume 5: “Toward the latter part of the year 1918 a distinct need was felt for some means of disseminating items of news, not only to the patients, now beginning to return to the United States from hospitals abroad, to their relations and friends, but to the personnel of the hospitals as well. To fulfill this need the publication of newspapers and magazines by the hospitals was encouraged; and in November, 1918, the General Publicity Board of the Surgeon General’s Office was charged with the duty of the establishment and supervision of newspapers at Army hospitals… .” These newsletters discuss hospital and war news, from new commanders to medical discoveries to lighthearted humor to lift soldiers’ spirits. Most of the magazines were self-supporting and any profits were generally used for the benefit of the soldiers. *Biand-Foryu*, for example, raised a total revenue of $645.71, before it was discontinued on September 25, 1919.

Historian John Griffiths writes, “Many of the names of these newspapers suggest the implied cheerful nature of the contents of the pages they captioned … Within their pages were to be found interesting articles which dealt with the Medical Department at large, with the hospitals concerned, and with the individuals within them. They were used for the more serious purpose of affording the opportunity to patients to mentally or manually benefit themselves by the training and education embraced in any branch of printing and the mechanical operations of newspaper

Historian John Griffiths writes, “Many of the names of these newspapers suggest the implied cheerful nature of the contents of the pages they captioned ... Within their pages were to be found interesting articles which dealt with the Medical Department at large, with the hospitals concerned, and with the individuals within them. They were used for the more serious purpose of affording the opportunity to patients to mentally or manually benefit themselves by the training and education embraced in any branch of printing and the mechanical operations of newspaper work, as well as reporting, advertising, circulating, editorial writing, illustrating, cartooning and story writing.”

Scarce, these ephemeral publications are one example of a government initiative to both disseminate information while educating and keeping recuperating soldiers occupied. *OCLC* finds only one incomplete set of *The Star Shell*, at the National Library of Medicine (lacking Nos 1, 2 & 3) and sets of *Biand-Foryu* at LOC, UNC, Virginia Historical Society, and National Library of Medicine.

Item #447055