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"Sketches of Sammy's Life" & other rare Fergus Mackain cards

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 11:35 pm
by wbremner
Do you have any examples of Mackain’s “Sketches of Sammy’s Life in France”? This very rare series, depicting the life of American soldiers (“Sammy” as opposed to British “Tommy”) in France in WW1 was published later in the war. It is believed that four sets were prepared by Gaultier in September 1918 for US forces arriving in Calais:
1. At the Base
2. Up the Line (set a)
3. Up the Line (set b)
4. Out on Rest

Only a handful of examples of “Sammy’s Life” cards are known to exist, and it has not even been confirmed whether all the sets were ultimately printed and distributed for sale. The cards that do exist are very similar in style, layout and content to their “Sketches of Tommy's Life” counterparts, with some obvious differences in uniform, setting, and language that would be more recognizable to US soldiers.

Please help us catalog these rare cards (or other, as yet undiscovered Mackain cards), by visiting http://fmsketches.blogspot.com/p/help-needed.html.

Thanks!