1968 Mark Twain The War Prayer with Drawings by John Groth SIGNED to Ben Shahn [Library of Ben Shahn] ...

1968 Mark Twain The War Prayer with Drawings by John Groth SIGNED to Ben Shahn [Library of Ben Shahn] Jewish/American Artist w/Bookplate Plus two others

This lot includes three books.

#1 - "Pudd'nhead Wilson" by Mark Twain, illustrated by John Groth (Limited Edition Club, 1974).

#2 & #3 - Two copies of Mark Twain's "The War Prayer with Drawings by John Groth". One copy is signed by Groth to Ben Shahn [Library of Ben Shahn] Jewish/American Artist with bookplate.

“To Ben Shahn who feels deeply about things and does something about it.”

Written by Mark Twain during the Philippine-American War in the first decade of the twentieth century, "The War Prayer" tells of a patriotic church service held to send the town's young men off to war. This is the 1968 edition with drawings by John Groth.

Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was a Lithuanian-born American-Jewish artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content. This copy has Ben Shahn’s library sticker. “ From the Library of Ben Shahn and Bernarda Bryson Shahn” Bernarda was his long time partner. Bernarda Bryson Shahn was an American painter and lithographer. She also wrote and illustrated children's books including The Zoo of Zeus and Gilgamesh.