Government Gertie. By One. [Cover title.]

[Chicago:] Dorothy A. Bond, [1945.] 5th printing of a scarce piece. First published September, 1944, but this is the January 1945 printing. It was obviously very popular when it came out, as it had five printings in just a few months. But with World War II raging, it was a timely topic. Original, tan paper wrappers printed in red and blue. 8 x 5 in. . Illustrated on every page with Dorothy Bond's cartoons. "Dedicated with sincere admiration to that perfectly swell girl – THE GOVERNMENT CLERK." Small stain to back wrapper and small cup stain to front wrapper. Otherwise clean throughout. A very good copy of a fragile item. These cartoons good-naturedly satirize the harried life of the World War II-era government clerk. The women portrayed by Bond in Government Gertie are overworked, bothered by their bosses, rushing to catch the train, stressed by their friendships and their relationships with their mothers, and stumbling in to work in the morning after a long night out. Bond's irreverent humor is obvious in every page, especially in her parody profiles of the types of women one finds working in clerk positions, including "The Shy Timid One — Spends all day running around agreeing with everyone – when she gets home at night she horsewhips her old mother." Dorothy Anne Peterson Bond (1905 – 1982) was a newspaper cartoonist born in the United States to Hungarian immigrant parents. Her cartoons were inspired by her work as the secretary for a furnace manufacturer and, during World War II, as the secretary for a Navy admiral. She self-published the cartoon book series Life with the Army (1943), under the pseudonym "Navy Nora," as well as the book Office Daze! (1945), which further lampooned the life of the working girl. Bond also illustrated the comic strips The Ladies, Chlorine, and Champion of the Working Girl, whose titular character was based on her own real-life secretary Dee Mulvey. (Inventory #: 17843)