# 46195
MINNS, B. E. (Benjamin Edward) (1863-1937) (artist)
Grand Military Tattoo. Tendered to the Admiral Commanding and Personnel of the visiting United States Battle Fleet, at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Ground, Sydney, New South Wales. Thursday July 30th at 8pm, 1925.
$120.00 AUD
[Drop title]. Sydney : The Motor Press Ltd., 1925. Octavo (225 mm), colour pictorial wrappers, the upper wrapper design signed in the image lower right ‘B. E. Minns’ and incorporating symbols of the United States of America and Australia, including the flags of both nations, the kangaroo and emu, and the New South Wales waratah; lower wrapper with the Australian coat of arms; each of the inside wrappers with a monochrome photogravure illustrating Yankee Doodle and the heroic British stand at Rorke’s Drift, respectively; stapled at centre is the double-page Programme; very fine.
The striking cover of this official programme for the military tattoo to commemorate the visit of the United States Fleet is illustrated in an article in the Sydney Sun, 30 July 1925, where it is noted that the design of the programme was a collaboration between Captain H. W. Grace and the Sydney commercial artist, B. E. Minns. The event itself was organised by Brigadier General Charles Brand, base commandant of the 2nd Military District (New South Wales), and staged at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Showgrounds, Moore Park, with all proceeds going to the T.B. Sailors’ & Soldiers’ Association and the Limbless Soldiers’ Association. Included among the evening’s entertainments were re-enactments from the Battle of Omdurman and Rorke’s Drift (!) and renditions by the massed bands of Advance Australia Fair and The Star Spangled Banner.
Rare. Only two examples traced in Australian collections (SLNSW; UoW Archives, Marjory East Collection)