Description
The first edition of Winston Churchill As I Knew Him, signed by Violet Bonham Carter.
Octavo, 496pp. Black cloth, title stamped in gilt on the spine. The first impression, with no additional printings noted. Top edge dyed black. Light wear to tips of spine, solid hinges. Includes seven illustrated plates. Previous gift inscription on the front free endpaper. In the publisher’s first issue dust jacket, price clipped, a few closed tears, bright illustrations, glossy covers, a very good example.
This copy is signed by Violet Bonham Carter on the title page.
Violet Bonham Carter (1887-1969), later Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury, was a British politician, diarist, and orator, and the daughter of H.H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. She had a close, lifelong friendship with Winston Churchill, beginning in their youth when he was a friend of her father’s. Their relationship was intellectually and emotionally intimate, though never romantic, and they corresponded frequently. Violet was a strong supporter of Churchill during his wilderness years in the 1930s when he opposed appeasement of Nazi Germany, and she remained a loyal political ally throughout his career. She was also godmother to Churchill’s daughter, Mary.
