WINSTON CHURCHILL AS I KNEW HIM.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn, and no price-clip to dw/dj.Laid in,publisher's headed, Advance Copy Review notelet and also loose,a paper, antique chain-laid,calligraphic compliments slip from Mr Geoffrey Harmsworth.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated dw/dj; with negligible shelf- wear and creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present - with some light fading/sunning to spine/ backstrip.Some miniscule chipping to bottom edges,a tiny,tiny closed tear to upper board's top right-hand corner - else sound.Top edge coloured - charcoal grey - fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight and near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips - an unread copy? Publisher's bright,clean,original,plain black cloth boards with crisp,bright,blocked gilt letters to spine/ backstrip and near immaculate plain white endpapers.UK, 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,15-495pp [paginated] includes 26 chapters,14pp contemporary b/w photographs interspersed throughout the text and the book,notes+ references,list of printed sources,and index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,subject b/w portrait photographic frntis,separate contents+illus lists/tables, author preface and acknowledgements.
This book is at once a portrait drawn from a lifetime and a memoir of the first years of a remarkable friendship.As a portrait it will surely rank amongst the most vivid and striking we are likely to have,and can we doubt that the sitter would approve the bold use of colour and the absence of drab and neutral tints? As a memoir it can have no rival.
Alone of Sir Winston's close friends Lady Violet Bonham Carter watched the long day of his political life from dawn to sunset. She first met him in 1906 when she was a girl of nineteen and he was a man of thirty-three.She was the daughter of H.H. Asquith, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and soon to become Prime Minister: he,as Under-Secretary for the Colonies,was holding his first political office.
Their friendship was as immediate as it has proved long-lasting. Although their paths diverged in the period after his resignation from her father's government and his subsequent return to the Tories,their political alliance was re-established in the thirties by common hostility to appeasement.
Of all the brilliant members of that administration it was Sir Winston who was her closest friend.About politics, people,books,they talked without reserve.She knew well the men that most influenced him,whether intellectuals like Morley of Lord Hugh Cecil,or Fisher,the First Sea Lord who so nearly ruined his political career.
These and a host of other figures are sketched with a masterly sureness of touch.
In the chapters that run from the outbreak of war to the failure of the Gallipoli expedition we see the greatest war minister of the age robbed of his opportunities by obstruction,distrust and faintheartedness.Whether she is describing men or recounting events,Lady Violet Bonham Carter writes with a spirit and a grasp that sweep the reader along.In her portrayal of the young statesman who believed himself destined,like his father,to premature death she has made a unique contribution to a subject that will last as long as our history is read or our language spoken.
Please contact seller @ rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the weight and the value of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,that stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of any inexpensive book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **