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Bill Mauldin Combat Tips?


Guest Blitzdough
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Guest Blitzdough

Hi, there is a book on eBay that is attributed to Bill Mauldin titled Combat Tips for replacements for the 5th Army. Printed in Italy 1945. See image that has one of his cartoons as the cover. The description indicates Amazon.com as atrributing Bill Mauldin as the author, yet in all my reading by Mauldin, or about Mauldin, I've never seen this listed. Your thoughts?post-10-1173290537.jpg

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Hi, there is a book on eBay that is attributed to Bill Mauldin titled Combat Tips for replacements for the 5th Army. Printed in Italy 1945. See image that has one of his cartoons as the cover. The description indicates Amazon.com as atrributing Bill Mauldin as the author, yet in all my reading by Mauldin, or about Mauldin, I've never seen this listed. Your thoughts?combat_tips.JPG

 

 

These have been for sale at several places and I have seen them referenced in other places, which call it a "pamphlet." It was probably something he did for the Army and thus would not show in any lists of published books. There is on Google a link to a document that can only be accessed through a password protected site, but the Google synopsis says:

 

"... prepared "combat tips" booklet might assist in remedying this situation. ... ideas were then arranged in book form, with illustrations by Mauldin"

 

So, it appears that he was the illustrator but the writers obviously would have been Army personnel.

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Guest Blitzdough
These have been for sale at several places and I have seen them referenced in other places, which call it a "pamphlet." It was probably something he did for the Army and thus would not show in any lists of published books. There is on Google a link to a document that can only be accessed through a password protected site, but the Google synopsis says:

 

"... prepared "combat tips" booklet might assist in remedying this situation. ... ideas were then arranged in book form, with illustrations by Mauldin"

 

So, it appears that he was the illustrator but the writers obviously would have been Army personnel.

 

Thank you. Very helpful. Any idea of the pricing, or collectibility of this item?

David

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Highly collectable in my opinion. I have a series of MTO printed items, including many special editions from Stars & Stripes, such as Puptent Poets, Road to Rome, 19 Days From the Apennines to the Alps, Finito!, Mud Mules and Mountains and This Damn Tree Leaks!

 

The problem with these items is that they were almost always printed in whatever type of paper available. Usually that meant very cheap paper.

 

Depending on condition, examples of Mud Mules and Mountains sell for up to $80. That is especially true if you have been able to obtain an item printed in acidic paper that is well preserved. Most did not withstood well the passage of time and are almost always found crumbling apart.

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Thank you. Very helpful. Any idea of the pricing, or collectibility of this item?

David

 

Consider that Combat Tips copy on ebay just sold for $140.49!

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  • 11 months later...

Sorry for the late posting, but I just now became a member of this forum today. think.gif

I have been collecting Mauldin stuff for over ten years now, have written extensively on his life and work and have one of the most complete collections of his work and publications in private hands. I have been on "Mail Call" on History Channel on the subject in 2005 and have advised libraries, collections on the subject of WW2 cartoonists.

Combat Tips is a really tough one to find. Congrats on a good find!

The value is relative, as for most people it isn't worth more than, say 30-40 bucks at best, but for a die hard MTO or Mauldin collector, it could go well into three digits.

Think that one is rare? Try to find the 1941 edition of "Star Spangled Banter." I've been offered well into four figures for my copy!

ccmax is right about cheap printing. They were lucky to even find working print shops in Italy at the time and the paper was really poor quality. The exception is one of the two different editions of "This damn tree leaks," (yes, there are two different versions of that book, the same content but different sizes and paper quality), which is almost on semi-gloss paper. I've talked with one of the printers who actually handled the presses on that, he said he thought that the paper was brought in by the navy but he never found out from where...

PM me if interested, I can send you a link to a place where I store my PDF file of my first magazine article I did on the subject which talks about all his books... I can always field general questions on Mauldin stuff.

Oh, there is what I feel to be the definitive biography on Mauldin coming out this month. NO, I didn't write it or have a hand in it (the author was ticked when he found out all the stuff I had, he'd been told to look me up by several folks but never got around to it, but we're good friends now). I read an advanced copy back in November and was very impressed. Granted, it focuses on his whole life and doesn't linger on WW2 alone and doesn't have much in illustrations, but it's a darned good book. In conjunction, a series of books on ALL his work is coming out, and the first boxed set will be covering WW2.

http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Mauldin-Life-Up...3985&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156097838...d=2WHSO88P0TKH4

...and in case anyone is wondering, NO, I get nothing out this, it's not my book, just letting people know about it as right now, very few people know it's coming out...

FYI, I also belong to the only WW2 living history group ever to get Mauldin's personal endorsement (in 1995). The Friends of Willie and Joe are out of the Pacific NW. A few years back, we re-created one of Bill's more ironic cartoons, maybe you'll enjoy this, along with the original:

WnJ2a.jpg09.jpg

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Hey Lee- Test of skills

Do you know the Mauldin cartoon in the 1903 Springfield book?

Jon, I can think of maybe hundreds of books you might be talking about. The only one that comes to mind off the top of my head is "The Springfield 1903 Rifles" by William S. Brophy. Is that the one you're talking about, the drawing of Willie holding an 03?
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Hey Lee- Test of skills

 

Do you know the Mauldin cartoon in the 1903 Springfield book?

 

 

"Now thats a rifle...not a god-damn pepper grinder"

Love that cartoon.

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  • 15 years later...
strawberry 9

I've been looking for a copy of Combat Tips to complete my Mauldin collection.  If anyone has one they'd like to let go please message me.  Thanks!

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