The Asquiths (Signed copy)

London: John Murray, 2002. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Good/Very Good. First edition, first printing, Hardback in dustwrapper. 24 × 16cm, 528pp. Signed and dedicated to the title page by Colin Clifford to Anne Powell, historian and author, as well as a handwritten letter from Colin Clifford to Anne Powell. This book recounts the lives of the Asquith family as Britain descended into turmoil, with the sons fighting in the trenches as their father, the Prime Minister, struggled to direct the bloodiest war in his country's history. Margot Asquith's remarkable role as the most intriguing of prime ministerial wives is fully explored: her feuds with Lloyd George, her mistrust of the gutter genius Winston Churchill, and her hatred of Lord Northcliffe, the press baron who ultimately drove her husband from power in 1916. At the heart of the story are four of the Asquith children, Raymond, the brilliant scholar and outstanding President of the Oxford Union, who died leading his men into attack on the Somme; the shy Beb, artillery officer and poet, who overcame shell shock to face the horrors of Passchendale; 'Oc', whom General Freyberg - himself a VC - described as the bravest man I ever knew; and their mercurial sister Violet, her father's most ardent supporter but the bane of her jealous stepmother's life. Drawing for the first time on Margot Asquith's own journals, Asquith's letters to her, and a mass of hitherto unpublished correspondence, Colin Clifford provides an engrossing picture of a remarkable political family at a time of crisis. Condition: This copy is in good solid condition, with some spotted foxing to the pages' top edge.