Four Stamps Designed by Arthur Szyk – The Wise Son – Issued by the American League for a Free Palestine – USA, 1945

Four Stamps Designed by Arthur Szyk – The Wise Son – Issued by the American League for a Free Palestine – USA, 1945
Four stamps designed by Arthur Szyk, depicting the wise son of the Passover Haggadah as an American soldier. Mounted on an album leaf, alongside cutouts from the propaganda leaflet "There were 4 Sons". New York: American League for a Free Palestine, [1945].
The propaganda leaflet "There were 4 Sons" was published after World War II by the American League for a Free Palestine, introducing American commentary on the Midrash (Talmudic legend) of the four sons from the Passover Haggadah. Each one of the sons got an "American version" with an illustration by Arthur Szyk and an accompanying text inspired by the Haggadah. Alongside the leaflet, the League issued stamps depicting the wise son, in four different colors.
The present lot consists of an album leaf on which the four stamps are mounted along with two leaves that were cut from the leaflet – the title page and the leaf dedicated to the wise son; Szyk's illustrations of the other three sons: the wicked son, the simple son and the son who doesn’t know how to ask, cut out of the leaflet; illustrated paper strips (presumably, also from the leaflet); and handwritten labels (Hebrew).
The American League for a Free Palestine was founded in May 1944 by the members of a delegation of the Irgun to the USA, in order to influence American public opinion and make a case for the idea of a Jewish state. The organization worked for saving Jews in Europe and promoted the establishment of a Hebrew army and an independent Jewish state in Palestine. Its members included Hillel Kook ("Peter Bergson"), Eri Jabotinsky, Yirmiyahu Halperin and others.
Stamps: approx. 4.5X4 cm. Album leaf: 33.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains and blemishes to stamps and leaflet cutouts. Tape to edges of leaflet leaves. Creases, closed and open tears to album leaf. Filing holes.