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CHURCHILL, Winston.
Great Contemporaries.
Macmillan edition, second printing. This copy inscribed on the front free endpaper; "From Winston to Sylvia, 1948." Most likely Sylvia Maxwell-Fyfe, wife of Sir David, later Earl Kilmuir, Churchill's wartime solicitor-general and the chief British prosecutor at Nuremberg. Maxwelll-Fyfe was very much "the blue-eyed boy" in the "depleted ranks of the [post-war] parliamentary Conservative Party," and "in sustaining [his] prodigious workload [he] was greatly assisted by his wife, who herself became active in Conservative politics, emerging as a competent public speaker; she was invited to become a party vice-chairman in 1950, and was created DBE in 1957" (ODNB). Series of essays on "Great Men of our age", the biographies of Boris Savinkov., Leon Trotsky and Franklin Roosevelt were removed from this edition, that of Hitler was retitled 'Hitler and His Choice'; "We cannot tell whether Hitler will be the man who will once again let loose upon the world another war in which civilization will irretrievably succumb, or whether he will go down in history as the man who restored honour and peace of mind to the great Germanic nation and brought it back serene, helpful and strong, to the forefront of the European family circle."
Octavo. Original blue cloth, title gilt to spine. 3 pages of facsimile letters. Cloth a little spotted and mottled, slight damp-stain to the fore-edge, consequent mild ripple at the lower edge of the text block, but overall very good.
