Description
Signed first edition of Fulness of Days, the memoirs of Edward Wood, the 1st Earl of Halifax.
Octavo, 319pp. Blue cloth, title stamped in silver over black print. Stated “second impression” on copyright page. Frontispiece and seven photographic illustrations. Foxing along top edge of text block, light soiling to leafends, boards lightly bent upwards. In the publisher’s dust jacket, retail price on front flap, bright illustrations. Signed on the front free endpaper: “With the compliments + love from the Author / 1957.” Additional TLS from Lord Halifax to a friend, with humorous note from a colleague.
Edward Wood (1881-1959), also known as Lord Halifax, was a British politician and diplomat. Halifax served as the Viceroy of India from 1926 to 1931 and British Ambassador to the United States from 1940 to 1946. Wood was a member of the Conservative Party and held several ministerial posts, notably as Foreign Secretary from 1938 to 1940. He played a crucial role in British foreign policy during World War II, particularly in negotiations with Nazi Germany. His diplomatic efforts, including the failed negotiations with Adolf Hitler in 1938, have been subject to historical scrutiny. After his diplomatic career, he served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1937 until his death on December 23, 1959.
