Barrage of bombs: illustrating the poem 'Barrage', in a book of poems by Richard Aldington

Hand-coloured woodcut illustrating the poem 'Barrage', the seventh illustration in a book of poems by British poet and novelist Richard Aldington (1892-1926), published by Beaumont Press, London, 1919. This illustration is on p. 28. The image is the same as the red cover design. It is an abstract depiction of a barrage of bombs hurtling to the ground. The poem reads: 'Thunder,/ The gallop of innumerable Walkyrie impetuous/ for battle,/ The beating of vast wings above Prometheus,/ The contest of tall barbaric gods smitten by the hammer of Thor,/ Pursuit! Pursuit! Pursuit!/ The huge black dogs of hell/ Leaping, full-mouthed, in murderous pursuit!' The work is taken from one of a series of black-and-white sketches that Nash inscribed with colour notes. These sketches are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. There are copies of this book without the hand-colouring at the Minories, Colchester and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 'Images of war' was Aldington's second volume of poetry.