Description
Presentation copy of Battle Report: The End of an Empire, inscribed by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Octavo, xii, 532pp. Gray cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine. A first edition, with Rinehart “R” in circle. Notes in pencil on front free endpaper, otherwise clean text throughout. Light toning to front endpaper near inscription. In publisher’s fine dust jacket, retail price on front flap, faint toning to spine, some edge wear, a bright example.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper: “28 Feb. 1950 – 5 years after the End of the Empire Of Japan – I enjoyed a most agreeable evening with Mr. + Mrs. Scheffelin in New York. C.W. Nimitz – Fleet Admiral, USN.”
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885-1966) was the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during WWII. On September 2, 1945, he was the United States signatory to the surrender terms of Japanese forces, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. After WWII, he served two years as Chief of Naval Operations. He retired from active service in 1947 and moved to California. Admiral Nimitz died in 1966 and was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.
