Fragments Gallery

Dead Sea scroll fragment, 1st century AD C014/2074

Dead Sea scroll fragment. These scrolls, found in caves between 1947 and 1979 on the north-western shore of the Dead Sea, include some of the earliest surviving biblical documents. This fragment is known as the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, the War Rule, or 4Q491. It is a military text that is written in Herodian script (the language used at the time of King Herod) and dates to the early 1st century AD. It describes an apocalyptic prophecy, stating that war would occur between the Sons of Light (the Jewish army) and the Sons of Darkness (the troops of the Kittim of Assyria). Matson Photo Service image

© LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Fragments magazine poster by Bruce Bairnsfather, 1919

Poster advertising Fragments magazine, published by The Bystander and edited and contributed to by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather whose cartoons in the Bystander during the First World War were hugely popular. Price at 2d., Fragments was aimed at an ex-serviceman readership and boasted a circulation of 7 million within a few months of its launch. His character, Old Bill is pictured in a sailor suit asking, "Are ye comin to see the Prince off, Bert?" Bert was one of Old Bill's sidekicks in the trenches and his comment is about the Prince of Wales tour to North America that year. Date: 1919

© David Cohen Fine Art/Mary Evans Picture Library

Bairnsfather exhibition at the Graphic Galleries, 1916

A sketch from inside the Graphic Galleries at 190, Strand, London showing crowds gathered at the window, smiling and laughing at one of the Fragments from France, humorous war cartoons by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather whose illustrations were published in The Bystander. Hugely popular during the First World War, he was dubbed, the man who won the war and the soldier who made the Empire laugh'. His cartoons of curmudgeonly old soldiers and raw recruits on the Western Front, displayed the stoic humour of the typical British Tommy. Date: 1916

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans