[WW I] Children's drawing book of Gérard Steenbeke

Convolute of 6 drawing books bound together, (40);(12);(14);(24);(16);(26) p., with various drawings in pencil/pen and crayon, first book with Steenbeke's address: Rue de la Station, Tronchiennes (Dongen), here and there dated (1915-1917), plain contemporary binding bound using covers between two cardboard strips with cloth strip for a spine, 4to size.

Contents loose/tender and here and there small defects. A touching drawing book in which the young pupil Steenbeke shows in a playful and therefore intense manner how he was eyewitness to one of the most atrocious wars in history. A recurring theme is the train, not surprising considering the boy's address. A sizeable part of the drawings (e.g. virtually the entire last book) show geometrical figures. The first book ("Cahiers cartographique") consists entirely of coloured maps of Belgium and the other European countries, Belgian provinces (incl. Congo), the world and the continents, with a bookmark on the inside of the back cover. Here and there, pasted "scraps" of soldiers in uniform have been added. The next 4 books (all with printed title "Cahier de dessin") are more war-oriented, with remarkable illustrations in the second cahier such as a double-page drawing of "De stoomwagen over de brug" and a "Nachtelijken aanval op het vijandelijk vliegplein". The fourth book contains an amazing, illustrated story titled "Het bed van mijnheer Vindingrijk", about this gentleman's latest invention, a bed on wheels "om heel de wereld rond te reizen zonder mijn bed te verlaten". But also in this book images of "Kapitein Bolke de beroemde Deutsche Vlieger", "Engelsche soldaten in de woestijn van Afrika", "De Duitsche vliegtuigen in België", an incredible image of a Zeppelin, and a foot soldier with speech balloon "Ik ben er byna". The fifth book contains a detailed double-page drawing dated "3 augustus 1917" and titled "De Duitsche hulptroepen [a military transport train] worden door de vijandelijke vliegers aangevallen". Also in this book pencil drawings of a "Duitse aanval op Engeland" (in which a submarine is attacked with depth charges) and the "Engelsche overval bij Cambrai einde November" (with bird's eye perspective of a battleground with tanks, infantry and artillery).