The Tin-Pot Foreign General signed by Raymond Briggs first edition 1984

The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman 
London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1984  
 
Folio, illustrative boards featuring the two title figures to the upper board, and a sketch of a man to the lower; unpaginated [pp.xlviii]; a very good copy, a few marks to boards and pushing to spine tips; marking and denting to edges; front endpaper a trifle creased; the odd spot and touch of toning throughout, but altogether a clean and bright example. 
 
First edition, inscribed by the author to the title page “For/David/With Best Wishes/Raymond Briggs 1984” in the year of publication. 
 
A darkly comedic work, and a thinly-veiled interpretation, by Briggs, of the Falkland War. Although neither of the characters, nor the islands themselves are named in the text, both Margaret Thatcher and General Galtieri are evident, portrayed here as giant iron monsters who send men to fight overseas over a “sad little island”. Indeed, they can be seen on the cover, clashing forehead to forehead as the island in the middle shouts ‘Help!’. For Thatcher in particular, the interpretation is a pun on the former Prime Minister’s nickname ‘the iron lady’, while the general derives from the phrase "tin-pot dictator", meaning an authoritarian character with poor leadership skills.
 
The book is graphic both in its depiction of the central characters (one double-page spread sees the Iron Lady, legs akimbo, surrounded by guns and piles of money), and for its black and white sketches of the casualties: “Some men were shot”, Briggs writes “...some men were burned alive. Some men were blown to bits. Some men were only half blown to bits and came home with half of their bodies missing”. 
 
It was not the first time that Briggs had tackled themes of war. In When the Wind Blows (1982), he had critiqued the government for its suggested preparations for civilians in the wake of Nuclear War. The present title, he wrote in his biography, Blooming Books, was a 'ready made satire' waiting to happen. 
 
Rare signed.