Felicia Browne: 'Drawings by Felicia Browne. Killed in Actio...

Hammer

£240

Felicia Browne: 'Drawings by Felicia Browne. Killed in Action with the Spanish Government Militia', London, Lawrence & Wishart, 1936, 1st edition, [28]pp, 20 full page b/w illustrations, 4to (24.5 x 18cm), original stapled printed wraps. Felicia Mary Browne (1904–1936) was an English artist and communist. She was the only British woman combatant and first British volunteer to die in the Spanish Civil War. On 25 August 1936 Browne was killed in action on the Aragón front near Tardienta, while part of a band of raiders that attempted to dynamite a Fascist munitions train. The party was itself ambushed and Browne was shot dead while assisting an injured Italian comrade. Browne's body had to be left there but comrades retrieved a sketchbook from her possessions filled with drawings of her fellow fighters. These made their way to Tom Wintringham, a journalist for the Daily Worker, who suggested to Harry Pollitt that they be sold by the Artists' International Association to raise money for Spanish relief.