'Lust for Life': The Van Gogh book designed to fit in pockets of US soldiers during the Second World War

"These 1944 wartime copies of Lust for Life are scarce and the few which do survive, like our example, tend to be bashed up, because they were often kept in the pockets of US uniforms. The thin pages have browned after more than 80 years, since paper was in short supply and the books were only intended to last for the duration of the war."

"Holding a copy, one wonders who was the first soldier to have been given it, and in which battlefield they were serving. After being read, these books were usually passed on to colleagues, and they were produced in such a way that they could be read by at least six people before falling apart. And one also wonders into whose hands our copy has passed through in the 80 years since the war, long after the original soldier would have died."

"Although Stone's novel was initially rejected by 17 publishers, it was eventually taken up and had been released in 1934. Based on Van Gogh's published letters, the fictionalised account of his life was to have a profound impact on how the public perceived the artist. Lust for Life had proved an immediate success, making it an obvious candidate for inclusion as an Armed Forces Edition. No doubt the word "lust" in the title would have appealed to young serving men, although nothing in the actual novel could be described as erotic."

Over 25 million copies of Irving Stone's 1934 novel Lust for Life have sold, and a special 1944 Armed Services Edition was produced for US forces overseas. The Armed Services Editions included 1,322 titles in a troop-friendly format with thin, short-lived paper and portable size. Wartime copies of Lust for Life are scarce and often heavily worn from being carried in uniform pockets; covers mark them as U.S. government property and prohibit resale to civilians. Copies were passed among colleagues and manufactured to survive multiple readers. The novel, based on Van Gogh's letters, was initially rejected by many publishers but became an immediate success and influenced public perception of the artist.

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