Austin Briggs - Illustration from Flash Gordon and the Fiery Desert of Mongo Better Little Book 1447, Whitman Publishing, 1948

Let me begin by saying that I am not positive of the source. Many years ago I purchased five of these illustrations; the seller told me that they were done by Austin Briggs for a Big Little Book. Over the years, I have sold all but this one.

The research I have done (and I do not own a copy of the book) is that this may have appeared in "Flash Gordon and the Fiery Desert of Mongo" published as Whitman as Better Little Book #1447 in 1948.

From the description, this book was reprinted from the Sunday pages beginning January 3, 1943, and ending June 1943 (strips #470 through #495) that were done by Briggs. Definitely, the characters depicted here match that story. However, if this is a reprint, I am not sure why Briggs would have done this new drawing. Regardless, a nice portrait of the main characters of the story including Flash and Dale.