Eleven issues of the Arklite and four issues of the Arky-Press

U.S.S. Arkansas

Published by May-August, Various imprints, but all printed on board, 1937

About this Item

Fifteen issues in all, folio (approx. 13" x 8"), printed by spirit process and illustrated throughout; the Arklites are 4 or 6 pages each, the Arky-Press are all broadsheets; chipped at the edges, previous folds (some with short splits); good or better, but fragile. The Arkansas was a dreadnought battleship built at Camden, New Jersey and commissioned in September 1912. She operated with the British Grand Fleet as the Great War approached, and survived the conflict. During the interwar years she served primarily in the Atlantic, making annual training cruises to Europe in 1929-31 and 1934-37. It was on the 1937 cruise that these newsletters were produced. The ship called at Kiel, Madeira, Athens, Livorno, and Tor Bay, England before returning to her home port, Hampton Roads in Virginia. The issues include reports of shipboard sporting events (boxing, sabre-matches, tug-of-war, pie-eating contests, three-legged races, etc.), schedules for movies in the ship's theatre (Baby Blues, A Wicked Woman, The Painted Veil, Hell and High Water, Treasure Island, etc.), musical performances ("the band plays three times a day."), editorials, and church services; also, trivia quizzes, practical tips for shipboard life, historical details and occasional commentary about places visited, and news from stateside. The spirited illustrations are signed "Doggie," but credited in the text as being by M[ax] H[arry] Leighninger (1916-1963), a Coshocton, Ohio native who studied art before joining the Navy in 1934. Included is a full-page cover illustration of the 1937 match for the America's Cup between Ranger and Endeavour II, with a full-page account of the history of the Cup Races by one "Joe Puff." Other illustrations include Hitler, 3 maps of Madeira and one of the North Atlantic, a boxing match, Arkansas officers, Uncle Sam, etc.

Seller Inventory # 55169

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Eleven issues of the Arklite and four issues of the Arky-Press
• Publisher: May-August, Various imprints, but all printed on board
• Publication Date: 1937
• Seller catalogs:
  • Printing
  • Military
  • Naval