BRIGGS, Raymond Sussex After the Bomb

 Oblong 4to., stapled card covers featuring an image of Jim Bloggs and his wife Hilda; pp. [i], 2-28; with several photographs, illustrations and diagrams throughout in red and black; a very good copy, covers a little creased and marked, with a couple of small dents to the upper cover; another couple of spots internally but otherwise clean. 

First edition, published two years after the appearance of Raymond Briggs’ Where the Wind Blows (1982), an apocalyptic graphic novel which tells the story of an elderly couple, Jim and Hilda, who are forced to cope with the impact of a nuclear bomb dropped on the UK by the Soviet Union. The present work uses the same cover image motif of the couple used in that earlier publication. 

The text is provided by a series of writers, including Cherry Baden-Powell, Dip Archt, Dr Tim Carter, Gerard Macdonald, Kate Macintosh and others. Together they discuss the various implications and impact of a potential nuclear attack, and how survivors (here, living in Sussex) might survive after the immediate impact. Following an initial explanation of how the aftermath would pan out in terms of light, heat, blast radius and electrical effects, the writers pose a series of questions: Who would care for the injured? Would there be enough water, electricity and sanitation? Who would be in charge? And finally, Will it Happen? 

A poignant booklet, perhaps just as relevant today as when it was first published. 

Surprisingly scarce.

SKU: 1800276