Upon the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917, Bailey was the first artist authorized to make drawings of navy yards, gun shops and munition plants ***."

Within the book was the following write-up: "At a meeting, in Paris, of Agnacio Zuloaga and Vernon Howe Bailey, Senor Zuloga having highly complimented Mr. Bailey on his work in Spain said, “But when I saw your book of watercolors and drawings of Spain, I was angry with you, for you have disclosed to the world the names of Spanish towns of which I hoped it would never learn, for the tourists will spoil them and gone will be their true character, and the life and the old costumes I have loved to paint will have vanished.

Having travelled extensively in the United States, England, France, Germany and Italy, Bailey seeking fresh subject decided in 1921 to see Spain, where during the summer of that year he made a considerable tour, visiting its largest cities and some provincial capitals and smaller towns.

This he did several years later, when by such means of transportation as was readily at hand-primitive motor buses, great two-wheeled mule carts, and at times astride a burro - he went far into the interior to towns often difficult of access.

This long period of travel represented intensive work in forty more towns, and it is they, their castle-crowned heights, their cathedrals, palaces, plazas, and bridges which compose his present exhibition.

His Excellency Merry del Val, former Spanish Ambassador to Great Britain wrote of this collection of Mr. Bailey's work, “It tells more of Spain and her spirit than a hundred volumes.” During his exhibition in Madrid, under the auspices of the Duke of Alba, His Majesty Alfonso XIII attended the exhibition and honored Mr. Bailey with a Royal Decree of Thanks in appreciation of his work in Spain; further recognition was evidence in his election as a corresponding member in the distinguished Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid, the fourth American to be so honored.

In anticipation of an extended sojourn abroad, the collection at hand has been entrusted to these Galleries by Mr. Bailey, who has made it possible for the works included to be offered at prices far lower than previously.

On Tuesday afternoon, January 5, the opening day of the exhibition, Mr. Bailey will give an informal talk on his roamings in those fascinating and unexploited towns, whose charm his pencil has caught forever.

[2] Once returning to the United States the series of lithograph studies of New York skyscrapers in 1927 that Bailey did were later exhibited in London under the patronage of the Dutchess of Rutland****."

Another significant moment in Bailey's life was the time when he had the chance to be the only artist permitted to produce a comprehensive collection of drawings of the Pope's private apartments.