CHURCHILL (Winston). Great Contemporaries. - Lot 119

CHURCHILL (Winston). Great Contemporaries. The copy that belonged to Winston Churchill's childhood sweetheart, Pamela Plowden, Countess of Lytton, accompanied by a handwritten letter from her. London, Thornton Butterworth, 1937. In-8, publisher's blue boards with gilt title, duck-blue headband. 334 pp. - 1 f.n.ch., 21 black portraits. Spine slightly oiled and some wear to boards, head edge slightly faded. First edition of this political work by Winston Churchill, once owned by Pamela Lytton. Published when he was still only a member of the House of Commons, Churchill gives 21 biographies of political figures of his time (John French, Adolf Hitler, Clémenceau, Lawrence of Arabia...), each with their portrait in the frontispiece of the text. Four further biographies were added in the second edition of 1941. Our copy is accompanied by a handwritten note (180 x 115 mm) in which she recommends the work of her former love to a close friend: "I think this very early book of Winston's may entertain you a little? I am going away today & will ask you about it when I return - next Monday - Pamela Lytton". I am going away today & will ask you about it when I return - next Monday). Lovely copy. Provenance : - Countess de Lytton's handwritten bookplate on the first white endpaper "P. Lytton".