This replica of Byrd’s sketchbook is both an introduction to an under-appreciated American artist and a sensitive postwar portrait of those who served in World War II Though he rarely exhibited his art during his lifetime, American painter David Byrd (1926-2013) developed a sophisticated artistic practice alongside his career as a psychiatric ward orderly. A World War II veteran himself, Byrd was deeply affected by the nearly 30 years he spent working at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in upstate New York.In muted tones, Byrd depicts the alienation experienced by his patients with a particular sensitivity towards the illusion of space: even when crowded into the same room, his figures appear utterly alone.This publication is a replica of the journal that Byrd kept from 1958 to 1988, in which he documented the personal histories of his patients and reflected on humanity’s capacity for pain and survival. Filled with sketches and daily observations, Byrd’s journal is an introduction to an under-recognized artist as well as a record of psychological trauma during the postwar period in the United States.