Description
First edition, second printing of The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery, from the library of U.S. Navy Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk.
Octavo, 508pp, [1]. Blue cloth, title in gilt on spine, author’s signature stamped in gilt on front board. Stated “second printing” on copyright page. Solid text block, red stain to top edge, sunning along spine, a near fine example. In publisher’s dust jacket, $6.00 retail price on front flap, sunning on spine, a touch of wear on corners and a single small closed tear on bottom corner of spine, a vibrant, near fine example. This copy is signed by U.S. Navy Admiral Alan G. Kirk on the front free endpaper, with a note: “from John Mason Brown / New York / Xmas 1958.”
Field-Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery was a British Army officer, serving in both World Wars and the Irish War of Independence. Alan Goodrich Kirk served in the U.S. Navy during both World War I and World War II. He was a commander in 1942 and 1943 during the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, and the senior U.S. naval commander on D-Day, June 1944. In retirement, Kirk became a U.S. diplomat, serving in Belgium, the Soviet Union, and Taiwan. The man giving this copy to Kirk, John Mason Brown, was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II and served with Kirk during the invasion of Sicily. Brown wrote of the invasion in his book To All Hands, which features a foreword by Kirk. The two were photographed together in New York.
